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Just a quick headnote: I'm a complete Ubuntu & Linux noob. I've given it a go as I'd love to learn how to use Linux as effectively as I use Windows, but I've ran into some rather glaring issues that I was hoping somebody could assist me with resolving.

I've recently installed Ubuntu on my Windows PC. I had originally intended to install it to a separate partition on my sole internal drive (running Windows 10) and had shrunk my Windows partition by 40GB and created a blank one in its space for Ubuntu. This was so that I could easily wipe it out if it became corrupt or I lost interest in using Ubuntu on that machine.

Now when installing Ubuntu (I used the 17.10 version) it offered me the chance to install inside the same partition as my Windows installation. Being drawn in by the possibility of booting up into Ubuntu at the point of power-on instead of booting first into Windows and then booting into the partition via the Recovery Menu, I accepted without considering the consequences.

Having done that, I booted back into Windows 10 and decided to expand my main partition (now dual-booted with Windows 10 and Ubuntu 17.10 via the Windows Bootloader) back into the 40GB empty partition which I had originally intended to install Ubuntu within.

Following this, I tried booting back into Ubuntu but was met with a CLI titled 'GNU GRUB'. Being totally unfamiliar with this, I attempted a couple of online fixes (one from this site, matter of fact) within the GNU GRUB interface which involved attempting to locate the Ubuntu directory within the partitions listed via the ls command.

Unfortunately, this was to no avail and so now I appear to be stuck with a corrupted Ubuntu installation that I cannot remove but has reserved around 50GB of my Windows partition's space for itself, which I also cannot seem to recover.

Any assistance with this would be greatly appreciated as, like I said, I'm very new to Ubuntu and would be really put off getting to grips with it if my only option is to format my drive and install Windows again.

Oliver Saer
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  • Hi there, Windows 10 still boots up just fine, it's Ubuntu that is failing to boot. What appears to have happened is that Ubuntu has created its own partition that Windows can't read for some reason? Might be totally wrong but the important point is that Windows is working 100% fine while Ubuntu is not. – Oliver Saer Dec 09 '17 at 01:10
  • You question is not clear: Are you trying to repair or reinstall Ubuntu, or to delete Ubuntu and reclaim the space for Windows? – user535733 Dec 09 '17 at 01:13
  • Well ideally I'd like to still have Ubuntu but after this malarky I think I'd rather just remove Ubuntu from my main partition and reclaim the space for Windows, then reinstall Ubuntu at a later time to a separate partition managed by Windows. – Oliver Saer Dec 09 '17 at 01:16
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    Then open your Windows disk tools and reclaim the space. Advice: Try a Virtual Machine to house Ubuntu instead of dual-boot (dual-boot is hard for beginners, thanks to Microsoft, not us). There is no such thing as an Ubuntu partition "managed by Windows" - they are unrelated and independent Operating Systems, not applications. – user535733 Dec 09 '17 at 01:24
  • Possible duplicate of How to remove Ubuntu and put Windows back on? – user535733 Dec 09 '17 at 01:27
  • I've tried to wipe out the partition that Ubuntu has reserved for itself during the dual-boot installation process, but unfortunately it does not appear in the disk management tool. It just appears as though 50GB has been magically shaved off from my disk capacity, so I'm not sure what to do. – Oliver Saer Dec 09 '17 at 01:59
  • There are many ways to delete the Ubuntu partition and restore the Windows partition to full size listed in https://askubuntu.com/questions/133533/how-to-remove-ubuntu-and-put-windows-back-on . Honestly, beyond those instructions to delete the Ubuntu partition, it's more of a Windows support question. – user535733 Dec 09 '17 at 02:02
  • I managed to delete the Ubuntu boot option in my UEFI interface, but unfortunately the Main Partition capacity remained the same. Contacted Microsoft Support who sold me some drivel about Drive Capacities not being as advertised if the manufacturer used 1GB = 1000MB and that the 'Shadow Files' took up the rest of the space. I'm not sure if I believe them, but for my own personal sanity I've accepted that the 43GB is gone and have since installed Ubuntu on a separate partition. Thanks for your help, I'll be posting on this site again if I need further assistance with using Ubuntu! :D – Oliver Saer Dec 09 '17 at 17:13

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