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I'm wanting to reset my Windows 10 for a fresh start, but I'm worried it might break my dual boot, or will it leave it untouched?

kaleb.
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  • It will probably break GRUB, but you can always use boot-repair to fix it. – TheWanderer Aug 25 '16 at 03:40
  • Well, I hope not, but I'm probably gonna try and hope for the best... – kaleb. Aug 25 '16 at 03:45
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    See this post in case resetting windows damages the GRUB. – g_p Aug 25 '16 at 04:50
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    Anyone who attempts dual booting without reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power-on_self-test , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIOS , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFI is doomed to confusion, failure and frustration. – waltinator Aug 25 '16 at 05:04
  • Well, luckily everything worked with out any problems! Thanks anyway tho~ – kaleb. Aug 25 '16 at 06:45
  • The best answers would start with: I tried and this is what I found… I just setup a new Virtualbox VM and will be going to install Windows 10 1607 and Ubuntu 16.04 along once in EFI mode and MBR mode. In theory this feature is just about removing cruft from Windows, but it has the entire image for installation on disk, it shouldn't be necessary to touch the bootloader part of the installation from the Microsoft point of view and can also be an unnecessary risk. Let's see what happens. – LiveWireBT Aug 25 '16 at 06:47
  • Oh, I'm a bit too late I guess. Good that you had no issues. – LiveWireBT Aug 25 '16 at 06:49
  • @KalebNoobMaster Please mark an answer as accepted or write your own, that's how this site works and you can gain a few reputation points. – LiveWireBT Aug 25 '16 at 14:28

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I just set up a new VM to test. Installing Windows 10 in legacy mode and Ubuntu 16.04.1 after it, then doing a complete reset, didn't modify the Grub bootloader. I will test later with UEFI installs which should be the default for new computers shipping with Windows 8/10 according to Microsoft's requirements, but I don't expect any issues there either. Edit: UEFI if also fine.

With all my findings I still recommend to be cautious, having working installation media for Windows and Ubuntu ready. Virtual machines with fresh installed copies of both operating systems behave ideally, the way Microsoft and Canonical — the companies behind Windows and Ubuntu — intended. The various computer manufacturers however can completely break a well defined behavior as they have done in the past.

LiveWireBT
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