Delete Dual Boot on Windows

[niraj72]

I have Windows 10 operating system on HP Notebook laptop. I have installed Kali Linux on another partition and both the operating systems work fine (I am able to use both of them).Whenever I turn on the laptop, I am directly taken to Windows 10 and not given an option for Kali Linux. To boot into Kali Linux I have to each time press F9 to show boot options then i have to choose kali.
My problem is: i want to delete dual boot (kali Linux) but i am confused that does the GRUB is installed or not. To delete kali, deleting kali partition is enough or is something more i have to do.. plz help i don't know much... learner... any help is appriciated... thanks in advancee...

 

[lucaslah]

Ment:
When in F9 boot change boot order to kali Liunx as the first one in the line
Thanks

 

[captain-sensible]

well a very basic overview and what I say here is only from my rather poor memory so is probably not totally accurate and thus will be clarified im sure by someone : so basically your PC boots up and at one point it looks for master boot record . Now when I used Windows and slackware using lilo it gave me a choice of using MBR of 512 bytes on the start of the first partition. Windows was installedfirst so in that case it was the partition containing Windows. So if i deleted slackware I would still have the instructions on the first partition. Now with grub last time i did dual it looked like it installed a boot record to the start of the the second main partition. So your problem might be if your boot instuctions are now on the kali Linux partition you delete that then you just lost your whole boot instructions ! So hang on a while before you do anything drastic ! i'm sure someone will clarify in great detail :^)

 

[atanere]

I have Windows 10 operating system on HP Notebook laptop. I have installed Kali Linux on another partition and both the operating systems work fine (I am able to use both of them).Whenever I turn on the laptop, I am directly taken to Windows 10 and not given an option for Kali Linux. To boot into Kali Linux I have to each time press F9 to show boot options then i have to choose kali.
My problem is: i want to delete dual boot (kali Linux) but i am confused that does the GRUB is installed or not. To delete kali, deleting kali partition is enough or is something more i have to do.. plz help i don't know much... learner... any help is appriciated... thanks in advancee...

My very best advice to anyone running Windows 8 or 10 is to get a USB flash drive and make a System Recovery Drive (16GB might be big enough, but 32GB USB drives are cheap enough to be on the safe side). If your hard drive fails at any time and you have to replace it, the System Recovery Drive will boot your computer and reinstall Windows and all of the HP programs that came with it. It will NOT save programs you have installed yourself... other tools are needed if you want to do that.

Besides restoring your hard drive, you can boot on this System Recovery Drive and use it for diagnostics or repairs. This is what could be important to your current issue. If you delete the Kali partition and have a problem, you may need a System Recovery Drive to restore your Windows bootloader. If you have a DVD drive, you can also create a System Repair Disc that will let you restore the bootload, but this will not restore the Windows operating system. See more info about these Windows tools here.

With all of that said, because of the way that you describe how your computer is booting... I think, I think but I am not certain, that you can delete the Kali partition from Windows Disk Management (and you can delete a SWAP partition too, if Kali created one). I think you will be okay... but I strongly recommend that you create one (or both) of the Windows tools that I just mentioned in case things go badly. You should also be sure to save any important data files to a USB or DVD in case things go really badly.

@captain-sensible's comments are accurate for older systems running MBR/BIOS, but your Windows 10 system is almost certainly a GPT/UEFI system. I think this is what will let you delete the Kali partition... because it is never trying to boot Kali and goes straight to Windows. If you were using MBR, you would definitely kill the bootloader by deleting Kali and would need a Recovery or Repair disk to restore the Windows bootloader. And if my guesswork is wrong, you may still need the Recovery or Repair to restore the Windows bootloader. Don't take a chance... make a Recovery or Repair Disk and keep it in your computer toolbox.

Good luck!

 

[TechnoJunky]

Once again, I agree with @atanere, create the ability to recover before doing anything. Also, since your computer boots straight into Windows and you never see Grub, you're not loading Grub. On my Dell, in the Bios(UEFI) there's a setting for which partition I want to boot to. I tri-boot, so I have 3 options there. I can choose my default Neon Grub, or I can change it and it'll load Fedora's Grub, or I can select Windows and it won't load any Grub. This is probably what's going on with our computer. The Bios is set to load the Windows partition and skipping Grub altogether. But don't take a chance, do as atanere suggests, then wipe out your Kali partitions. I unfortunately did not do that and for some reason my Windows won't load anymore and the recovery tools won't work either, no idea why. So if I want Windows back, I have to reinstall, which will likely wipe out my Neon install also, ugh. Thank goodness I don't care that much about the Windows install.

BTW, why are you giving up on Linux? Is it because you don't like Kali?

 

[wizardfromoz]

G'day @niraj72 and welcome to linux.org , and Hi to Lucas, Stan, Captain S and TJ.

(Wizard, yawning on his 2nd coffee for Sunday morning).

I'd like you to take a look at three (3) items on how to fix this problem.

The first is a video narrated by a fellow Adam from England, I have seen a lot of his work and he is good, but speaks quickly so use your pause and rewind where necessary.

The 2nd and 3rd are articles from good sources

https://itsfoss.com/uninstall-ubuntu-linux-windows-dual-boot/

and

https://www.howtogeek.com/141818/how-to-uninstall-a-linux-dual-boot-system-from-your-computer/

If you follow them closely, you will see the similarities and differences of how to get to the command line whether from Rescue Disk/USB stick or from Windows itself.

A difference is that Adam in the video uses 2 commands, the others one.

These were found from a Google search using keywords

dual boot windows 10 linux delete linux

... how easy is that? Make Google your friend.

So get the Rescue disk sorted or use an Install disk if you have one, and try this out and report back your results.

Cheers

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz

 

[atanere]

I have always used both bootrec commands, not just one. No harm, and never failed me.

But all of the detailed instructions given in the links may not be necessary... because GRUB is not loading. The advice to make a System Recovery Drive is twofold: 1) "just in case" deleting the partitions does cause a hiccup in the boot process (even without GRUB)... and 2) "just because" every Windows user should make a System Recovery Drive for their computer, pretty much right after they buy it. Not enough people seem to realize this.

Cheers