Uninstalling Ubuntu

[Guest]

So, way back when I had a crappy windows 7 prebuilt, I wanted to install ubuntu - no idea why, I wasn't particularly tech savvy at the time - and because of this, I installed 32bit ubuntu onto a 64bit computer. whoops.

Whenever I tried to boot into ubuntu, the screen would do some funky black and white stuff and then restart. This was installed on the same SSD as windows that my friend put in for me

Fast forward to now

I have custom built machine and decided to salvage that SSD, and install windows 10, but the ubuntu partition is still on this drive. Every time I boot up the system I have the option to start in ubuntu. I want to delete these partitions but when I go into disk management, there are no ubuntu partitions, there are no ubuntu files on my C:\ drive. So basically, after some googling, I can't find anybody who has the same issue and was hoping somebody on here could help me get rid of the option to boot into ubuntu

[Omon_Ra]

Sounds like the grub bootloader is still on the drive. Don't boot off of it and then format it. See if that works.

[Guest]

Just now, powderbanks said:

Sounds like the grub bootloader is still on the drive. Don't boot off of it and then format it. See if that works.

Don't boot off the C:\ drive, or don't boot off of grub bootloader? How does one go about doing that

 

I should probably add that whilst savvy with hardware, I lack the same knowledge in software

 

[Sunshine1868]

@powderbanks has it. Format the drive without partitions and then run the WinX installation that will correctly initialize the drive for Windows and only Windows

[Omon_Ra]

Just now, Probably_Harry said:

Don't boot off the C:\ drive, or don't boot off of grub bootloader? How does one go about doing that

 

I should probably add that whilst savvy with hardware, I lack the same knowledge in software

 

Is it the only drive in the system? If so, you may need to load up another Linux distro (I like GParted) specifically for disk management on a USB stick. From there you can reformat the drive. When it's the only drive in the system, you can't very well format it from the OS running on it.

[Guest]

Just now, powderbanks said:

Is it the only drive in the system? If so, you may need to load up another Linux distro (I like GParted) specifically for disk management on a USB stick. From there you can reformat the drive. When it's the only drive in the system, you can't very well format it from the OS running on it.

 

I have a WD Green in here too, does the procedure change much then?

[Guest]

And I assume after partitioning the C:\ drive, I won't have a dualboot option but would need to reinstall windows 10

[Omon_Ra]

1 minute ago, Probably_Harry said:

 

I have a WD Green in here too, does the procedure change much then?

 

Is it just a storage drive? Just make sure you know which one it is, so you don't reformat that one. You could disconnect it just to be super safe, but you should be able to tell just by the capacity information.

 

1 minute ago, Probably_Harry said:

And I assume after partitioning the C:\ drive, I won't have a dualboot option but would need to reinstall windows 10

 

Yes.

[Guest]

Am I able to create a windows install file on my wd green and then boot onto that, then install windows onto the C:\ drive?

7 minutes ago, powderbanks said:

Is it just a storage drive?

And for the record, it is just a storage device 

[Omon_Ra]

5 minutes ago, Probably_Harry said:

Am I able to create a windows install file on my wd green and then boot onto that, then install windows onto the C:\ drive?

Do you mean the Windows installation files? I don't think you can. How many USB flash drives do you own? This is what I would do:

 

1) Download GParted and Rufus (http://rufus.akeo.ie/)

2a) Use Rufus to install GParted to a USB flash drive

2b) Use Rufus to install W10 to a second USB flash drive

3) Reformat/repartition your SSD to a clean state using GParted

4) Reinstall W10 on the SSD

5) ????

6) Profit

 

If it still is showing up for some reason after that, check your bios boot order.

[Guest]

15 minutes ago, powderbanks said:

Do you mean the Windows installation files? I don't think you can. How many USB flash drives do you own? This is what I would do:

 

1) Download GParted and Rufus (http://rufus.akeo.ie/)

2a) Use Rufus to install GParted to a USB flash drive

2b) Use Rufus to install W10 to a second USB flash drive

3) Reformat/repartition your SSD to a clean state using GParted

4) Reinstall W10 on the SSD

5) ????

6) Profit

 

If it still is showing up for some reason after that, check your bios boot order.

I don't own many USB drives. I might have difficulty actually finding one. I did have one to create a windows boot device in the first place but I can't seem to find that anywhere.

I shall have a search though

[Guest]

For the record, this is what comes up when I boot into ubuntu.

 

Pardon the use of a cheap tv for a monitor, it's a budget build

[Omon_Ra]

Just now, Probably_Harry said:

I don't own many USB drives. I might have difficulty actually finding one. I did have one to create a windows boot device in the first place but I can't seem to find that anywhere.

I shall have a search though

 

Hit up the local wallyworld, staples, kmart, thrift store..I tend to buy a two pack whenever I happen to be in the electronics section just to have them. You can always burn the ISO's to a DVD/CD if you have an optical drive. And it looks like the MBR is gone/corrupted. You need to reformat the disk.

[Tallix]

Something nobody has brought up yet is that Windows relies on certain files being in certain places on your boot disk (a mediocre design at best, but it is what it is). Therefore, simply removing the Ubuntu partitions and expanding the Windows partitions may not work. It would be wisest to just do a completely clean install of Windows on the SSD.

 

In addition, the GRUB bootloader overwrites the MBR when it is installed. I don't know what Windows needs in the MBR to work, but it's not there anymore. GRUB will continue to work and allow you to boot into Windows as long as you have Linux installed so that GRUB can look at a config file on the Linux file system.