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I had a Windows 8.1 and Ubuntu (probably the latest version) dual boot. I decided to delete the Ubuntu OS and proceeded to delete the Ubuntu disk partition. I then deleted the Linux boot loader. However when I access the boot menu of my computer I still find the Ubuntu options. So I suspect that some of the Ubuntu memory partitions in my Disk Management are still intact.

Here is a picture of the view in my Disk Management before I deleted the 30.00 GB Healthy (Primary Partition) which I know was definitely Ubuntu.

I now suspect that the 15.01 GB Healthy (Recovery Partition) might also be Ubuntu but the 100 MB Healthy (EFI System Partition) is a mystery to me. When right-cliking either one I only get the option "Help" but not "Delete".

Which partitions are Ubuntu and how can I be sure before deleting them?

user638757
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  • The partitions you're talking about seem to be empty(free disk space is 100%). – Manish Kumar Bisht Jan 06 '17 at 13:28
  • I am quit sure that the Recovery Partition belongs to windows. Can you boot on a live Ubuntu and run gparted to show the same as above. Gparted is better showing linux partitions. – Soren A Jan 06 '17 at 13:28
  • The EFI partition contains your UEFI boot loader files and may not be deleted. The recovery partition is not a part of Ubuntu either but belongs to Windows or holds recovery data of your computer manufacturer, don't know. – Byte Commander Jan 06 '17 at 13:29
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    @ManishKumarBisht Note that Windows will show partitions with an unknown file system (like ext4) or hidden partitions (like EFI) as 100% free although they are not. – Byte Commander Jan 06 '17 at 13:32
  • Your ESP - efi system partition still has /EFI/ubuntu and your UEFI has NVRAM which remembers settings in /EFI/ubuntu for booting. You need to remove both of those. Details already here: http://askubuntu.com/questions/63610/how-do-i-remove-ubuntu-in-the-bios-boot-menu-uefi – oldfred Jan 06 '17 at 15:00
  • Oldred, thank you for the reply. I made a Ubuntu USB stick which I will use following the linked guide. But I cannot remove the new Ubuntu file from my Windows. From diskmgmt I can see that the new Ubuntu download has made a new disk partition: Ubuntu 16.04.1 l (E:) 1.41 GB CDFS Healthy (Primary Partition). How can I get rid of that partition now that I have the Ubuntu moved to my USB stick using the Rufus program? It seems that I just cannot get rid of Ubuntu. – user638757 Jan 06 '17 at 19:11

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before I deleted the 30.00 GB Healthy (Primary Partition) which I know was definitely Ubuntu. I now suspect that the 15.01 GB Healthy (Recovery Partition) might also be Ubuntu but the 100 MB Healthy (EFI System Partition) is a mystery to me. When right-cliking either one I only get the option "Help" but not "Delete".

Most certainly the 30.00 GB partition was Ubuntu, because the others are clearly something else. It's not recommended to mess with the EFI System Partition, so it's not surprising that potentially dangerous operations are disabled there, and that's why you cannot delete it.

Which partitions are Ubuntu and how can I be sure before deleting them?

You can delete the 30.00 GB partition and either use the space from it to extend the data partition labeled D:, or create a new partition from it. In the latter case, formatting it will delete Ubuntu's data.

janos
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I suggest downloading some Linux Live CD and checking either the content of those partitions or at least file system (can easily check with GParted or KDE Partition Manager). If it's ext4, btrfs, xfs, etc then they are Linux partitions.

Andrius Štikonas
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