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Here's my situation:

  • I have Windows 8.1 installed on my SSD
  • I have Ubuntu installed on my HDD
  • I have the boot loaders for both installed on my SSD

I want to remove Windows, and reinstall Ubuntu onto my SSD. How can I do this cleanly, without messing anything up?

Daniel
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  • So you want to put Ubuntu onto ssd. What will be on the hdd ? – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy Aug 17 '15 at 01:27
  • @Serg I will leave it for storage, or probably install Windows on it since I use Ubuntu as my primary OS now – Daniel Aug 17 '15 at 01:40
  • In that case, I suggest you physically disconnect that HDD, run installation with SSD connected only. Choose to erase disk and reinstall OS . This will be the most harmless and easiest way. Once you want to set up that HDD, you can add its UUID into /etc/fstab file, so that it's mounted each time you boot. Or mount it manually every time you need it. – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy Aug 17 '15 at 01:57
  • Let me know if you want that as an actual answer, I'll post. The above are just comments – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy Aug 17 '15 at 02:01
  • @Serg yes please that would be great. Why do you need to disconnect the HDD? – Daniel Aug 17 '15 at 02:13
  • That way , you don't have to figure out which disk to select. When you go to "Something else" option in the installer, you will see disks listed as /dev/sda and /dev/sdb. Now, if it says , ntfs next to /dev/sda1 that is your windows partition. Linux is ext4 . At that point you can delete ntfs partition and create new ext4. But why do guessing, if you can make sure it's operating on just one disk right off the bat ? – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy Aug 17 '15 at 02:34

2 Answers2

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Before doing anything drastic, always make a back-up and then go on to the easiest and safe way to do this is using os-uninstaller.

  1. Boot to Ubuntu from a LiveCD/DVD/USB

  2. Open a terminal by pressing ctrl+alt+T and copy paste:

    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair
sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install -y os-uninstaller && os-uninstaller

  3. Open os-uninstaller from the dash and you'll get this window:

    enter image description here

    choose the OS you want to remove. You'll be asked to confirm, click OK and wait tell it finishes removing.

Community
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    are you sure this will work? I don't want anything to mess up – Daniel Aug 16 '15 at 11:41
  • Yes this will work. Keep the live-usb with u for in case grub missed you will be able to use boot repair to fix it. But that won't happen. –  Aug 16 '15 at 12:11
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    @mightyspaj: verified... – Fabby Aug 16 '15 at 21:47
  • Okay thanks this works. You should also mention that when you reinstall Ubuntu, that you should erase your drives. – Daniel Aug 21 '15 at 03:31
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Boot up your system with the ubuntu bootable disk or USB and choose the manual partitioning. Delete the windows partition and reinstall with the new OS on your HDD or SSD.

Kalle Richter
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vrkansagara
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