How to Remove Linux and Install Windows on Your Computer

For a Microsoft Windows XP version of this article, see 314458.

Summary

This article describes how you can remove the Linux operating system from your computer, and install a Windows operating system. This article also assumes that Linux is already installed on the hard disk using Linux native and Linux swap partitions, which are incompatible with the Windows operating system, and that there is no free space left on the drive.

Windows and Linux can coexist on the same computer. For additional information, refer to your Linux documentation.

More Information

To install Windows on a system that has Linux installed when you want to remove Linux, you must manually delete the partitions used by the Linux operating system. The Windows-compatible partition can be created automatically during the installation of the Windows operating system.

IMPORTANT: Before you follow the steps in this article, verify that you have a bootable disk or bootable CD-ROM for the Linux operating system, because this process completely removes the Linux operating system installed on your computer. If you intend to restore the Linux operating system at a later date, verify that you also have a good backup of all the information stored on your computer. Also, you must have a full release version of the Windows operating system you want to install.

Linux file systems use a «superblock» at the beginning of a disk partition to identify the basic size, shape, and condition of the file system.

The Linux operating system is generally installed on partition type 83 (Linux native) or 82 (Linux swap). The Linux boot manager (LILO) can be configured to start from:

The hard disk Master Boot Record (MBR).

The root folder of the Linux partition.

The Fdisk tool included with Linux can be used to delete the partitions. (There are other utilities that work just as well, such as Fdisk from MS-DOS 5.0 and later, or you can delete the partitions during the installation process.) To remove Linux from your computer and install Windows:

Remove native, swap, and boot partitions used by Linux:

Start your computer with the Linux setup floppy disk, type fdisk at the command prompt, and then press ENTER.

NOTE: For help using the Fdisk tool, type m at the command prompt, and then press ENTER.

Type p at the command prompt, and then press ENTER to display partition information. The first item listed is hard disk 1, partition 1 information, and the second item listed is hard disk 1, partition 2 information.

Type d at the command prompt, and then press ENTER. You are then prompted for the partition number you want to delete. Type 1, and then press ENTER to delete partition number 1. Repeat this step until all the partitions have been deleted.

Type w, and then press ENTER to write this information to the partition table. Some error messages may be generated as information is written to the partition table, but they should not be significant at this point because the next step is to restart the computer and then install the new operating system.

Type q at the command prompt, and then press ENTER to quit the Fdisk tool.

Insert either a bootable floppy disk or a bootable CD-ROM for the Windows operating system on your computer, and then press CTRL+ALT+DELETE to restart your computer.

Install Windows. Follow the installation instructions for the Windows operating system you want to install on your computer. The installation process assists you with creating the appropriate partitions on your computer.

Examples of Linux Partition Tables

Single SCSI drive

Multiple SCSI drives

Single IDE drive

Multiple IDE drives

Also, Linux recognizes more than forty different partition types, such as:

FAT 16 > 32 M Primary (Type 06)

FAT 16 Extended (Type 05)

FAT 32 w/o LBA Primary (Type 0b)

FAT 32 w/LBA Primary (Type 0c)

FAT 16 w/LBA (Type 0e)

FAT 16 w/LBA Extended (Type 0f)

Note that there are other ways to remove the Linux operating system and install Windows than the one mentioned above. The preceding method is used in this article because the Linux operating system is already functioning and there is no more room on the hard disk. There are methods of changing partition sizes with software. Microsoft does not support Windows installed on partitions manipulated in this manner.

Another method of removing an operating system from the hard disk and installing a different operating system is to use an MS-DOS version 5.0 or later boot disk, a Windows 95 Startup disk, or a Windows 98 Startup disk that contains the Fdisk utility. Run the Fdisk utility. If you have multiple drives, there are 5 choices; use option 5 to select the hard disk that has the partition to be deleted. After that, or if you have only one hard disk, choose option 3 («Delete partition or logical DOS drive»), and then choose option 4 («Delete non-DOS partition»). You should then see the non-DOS partitions you want to delete. Typically, the Linux operating system has two non-DOS partitions, but there may be more. After you delete one partition, use the same steps to delete any other appropriate non-DOS partitions.

After the partitions are deleted, you can create partitions and install the operating system you want. You can only create one primary partition and an extended partition with multiple logical drives by using Fdisk from MS-DOS version 5.0 and later, Windows 95, and Windows 98. The maximum FAT16 primary partition size is 2 gigabytes (GB). The largest FAT16 logical drive size is 2 GB. For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

105074 MS-DOS 6.2 Partitioning Questions and Answers
If you are installing Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000, the Linux partitions can be removed and new partitions created and formatted with the appropriate file system type during the installation process. Windows allows you to create more than one primary partition. The largest partition that Windows NT 4.0 allows you to create during installation is 4 GB because of the limitations of the FAT16 file system during installation. Also, the 4-GB partitions use 64-KB cluster sizes. MS-DOS 6.x and Windows 95 or Windows 98 do not recognize 64-KB cluster file systems, so this file system is usually converted to NTFS during installation. Windows 2000, unlike Windows NT 4.0, recognizes the FAT32 file system. During the installation of Windows 2000, you can create a very large FAT32 drive. The FAT32 drive can be converted to NTFS after the installation has completed if appropriate.

Скачивание пакетов дистрибутива подсистемы Windows для Linux вручную Manually download Windows Subsystem for Linux distro packages

Существует несколько сценариев, в которых вы не сможете (или не захотите) устанавливать дистрибутивы WSL Linux с помощью Microsoft Store. There are several scenarios in which you may not be able (or want) to, install WSL Linux distros via the Microsoft Store. В частности, вы можете использовать номер SKU классической ОС Windows Server или Long-Term Servicing (LTSC), который не поддерживает Microsoft Store, или политики корпоративной сети и административные параметры, запрещающие использовать Microsoft Store в вашей среде. Specifically, you may be running a Windows Server or Long-Term Servicing (LTSC) desktop OS SKU that doesn’t support Microsoft Store, or your corporate network policies and/or admins to not permit Microsoft Store usage in your environment.

В таких случаях, когда подсистема WSL доступна, как скачать и установить дистрибутивы Linux в WSL, если нет доступа к магазину? In these cases, while WSL itself is available, how do you download and install Linux distros in WSL if you can’t access the store?

Примечание. Среды оболочки командной строки, в том числе дистрибутивы Linux/WSL, Cmd и PowerShell не могут выполняться в S-режиме Windows 10. Note: Command-line shell environments including Cmd, PowerShell, and Linux/WSL distros are not permitted to run on Windows 10 S Mode. Это ограничение существует, чтобы обеспечить целостность и безопасность, которые предоставляет S-режим. Дополнительные сведения см. в этой записи блога. This restriction exists in order to ensure the integrity and safety goals that S Mode delivers: Read this post for more information.

Скачивание дистрибутивов Downloading distributions

Если приложение Microsoft Store недоступно, вы можете скачать и вручную установить дистрибутивы Linux, щелкнув следующие ссылки: If the Microsoft Store app is not available, you can download and manually install Linux distros by clicking these links:

Это приведет к скачиванию пакетов .appx в выбранную папку. This will cause the .appx packages to download to a folder of your choosing. Следуйте инструкциям по установке скачанных дистрибутивов. Follow the installation instructions to install your downloaded distro(s).

Скачивание дистрибутивов с помощью командной строки Downloading distros via the command line

При желании вы также можете скачать предпочтительные дистрибутивы с помощью командной строки. If you prefer, you can also download your preferred distro(s) via the command line:

Скачивание с помощью PowerShell Download using PowerShell

Чтобы скачать дистрибутивы с помощью PowerShell, используйте командлет Invoke-WebRequest. To download distros using PowerShell, use the Invoke-WebRequest cmdlet. Ниже приведены инструкции по скачиванию Ubuntu 16.04. Here’s a sample instruction to download Ubuntu 16.04.

Если загрузка занимает много времени, выключите индикатор выполнения, задав $ProgressPreference = ‘SilentlyContinue’ . If the download is taking a long time, turn off the progress bar by setting $ProgressPreference = ‘SilentlyContinue’

Скачивание с помощью cURL Download using curl

Обновление Windows 10 Spring 2018 (или более поздней версии) содержит популярную служебную программу командной строки cURL, с помощью которой можно вызывать веб-запросы (например, команды HTTP GET, POST, PUT и т. д.) из командной строки. Windows 10 Spring 2018 Update (or later) includes the popular curl command-line utility with which you can invoke web requests (i.e. HTTP GET, POST, PUT, etc. commands) from the command line. Вы можете использовать curl.exe , чтобы скачать приведенные выше дистрибутивы: You can use curl.exe to download the above distros:

В приведенном выше примере выполняется curl.exe (а не только curl ), чтобы убедиться, что в PowerShell вызывается реальный исполняемый файл cURL, а не его псевдоним для Invoke-WebRequest. In the above example, curl.exe is executed (not just curl ) to ensure that, in PowerShell, the real curl executable is invoked, not the PowerShell curl alias for Invoke-WebRequest

Примечание. Использование curl может быть предпочтительным, если необходимо вызвать или создать сценарий для скачивания с помощью командлетов командной строки и сценариев .bat / .cmd . Note: Using curl might be preferable if you have to invoke/script download steps using Cmd shell and/or .bat / .cmd scripts.

Установка дистрибутива Installing your distro

Если вы используете Windows 10, вы можете установить дистрибутив с помощью PowerShell. If you’re using Windows 10 you can install your distro with PowerShell. Просто перейдите в папку, содержащую скачанный выше дистрибутив, и в этом каталоге выполните следующую команду, в которой app_name — это имя APPX-файла дистрибутива. Simply navigate to folder containing the distro downloaded from above, and in that directory run the following command where app_name is the name of your distro .appx file.

Если вы используете Windows Server или у вас возникли проблемы с выполнением приведенной выше команды, можно найти альтернативные инструкции по установке на странице документации Windows Server, чтобы установить файл .appx , изменив его на ZIP-файл. If you are using Windows server, or run into problems running the command above you can find the alternate install instructions on the Windows Server documentation page to install the .appx file by changing it to a zip file.

После установки дистрибутива следуйте обычным инструкциям по * обновлению WSL 1 до WSL 2 или создайте новую учетную запись пользователя и пароль. Once your distribution is installed, follow the normal instructions to * Update from WSL 1 to WSL 2 or create a new user account and password.

How To Dual Boot Linux Mint And Windows 10 [Beginner’s Guide]

Last updated November 12, 2020 By Abhishek Prakash 526 Comments

Brief: This guide shows you how to dual boot Linux Mint with Windows 10 and enjoy both Linux and Windows together in one system.

So you have decided to switch to Linux. Good decision! And if you chose to use Linux Mint, that’s even a better decision.

Linux Mint is one of the best Linux distributions for beginners. Using Linux Mint is fairly easy and installing Linux Mint is no rocket science either. In this tutorial, we’ll see how to install Linux Mint along side Windows 10.

Before that let me recap you a few things about installing Linux Mint. There are a few ways you can start using any Linux based operating system.

• Use Linux inside Windows in a virtual machine: This runs a Linux OS like any other application within Windows. This is also one of the safest ways to get a feel of Linux. However, this will utilize your system resources and if you have less than 4Gb of RAM, I won’t advise using it extensively.
• Use a live version of Linux: In this method, you put Linux on a USB or DVD and you boot from it. This is usually slow and your changes done to the Linux system are (normally) not saved. This is particularly useful if you just want to see what Linux feels like.
• Remove Windows and Linux: If you have backed up your data and have a recovery or installation disk of Windows ready with you or if you are determined that you are not going back to Windows, you can remove Windows completely and use only Linux.
• Install Linux alongside Windows: This method is called dual booting Linux with Windows. Here, you install Linux on a system that already has Windows. And when your system powers up, you can choose if you want to use Windows or Linux. This involves touching the disk partition and sometimes boot order. Absolute beginners often find it complicated but this is the best way to use Linux and Windows together in one system. And in this article, we’ll see how to dual boot Linux Mint with Windows 10.

Will dual booting Linux with Windows slow down your system?

I was asked this question several times in the Linux Users Group. So, the short answer is no. Dual booting Linux and Windows won’t slow your system in any way.

The only delay is in boot time that too because you get 10 seconds of buffer time to select between Linux and Windows. Once you have booted into either of Linux or Windows, it will work the same as if it is the only OS in the system. No impact on the usability of your system. Dual boot won’t slow down your system.

Install Linux Mint in dual boot with Windows:

Before we proceed to see the procedure to dual boot Linux Mint with Windows, let me give you some optional yet recommended safety instructions:

• Back up your data: You are going to touch disk partitions. Normally, it’s not a big issue but just in case if you touched wrong partition etc, you may lose data. So my advice is to back up your important files, documents, music, movies etc to an external disk or cloud, whichever suits you.
• Have a boot repair disk: If your boot gets messed up, you can try to repair it with boot repair disk. If you have an extra USB or CD, you can use that to create boot repair disk.
• Have a live or recovery disk of Windows ready: If your boot gets messed up and despite all efforts, you ended with an unbootable system, you can use the Windows disk to reinstall Windows.

I am not discouraging you. I am asking you to be prepared for the worst case scenario.

Remember that this article applies to computers that have Windows 10 already installed on the system. You are installing Linux Mint on an already installed Windows system, not the other way round.

I have created a detailed video tutorial on installing Linux Mint alongside Windows 10. You can refer to it if you want to see all the steps in even more details. I also advise you to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more Linux tutorials.

Follow the steps below to install Linux Mint in dual boot with Windows:

Step 1: Create a live USB or disk

Go to Linux Mint website and download ISO file. This ISO file is the disk image that you can burn to a USB or DVD.

There are several versions of Linux Mint available. The default is Cinnamon. If your computer supports 64 bit, go with 64 bit Linux Mint 19.3 Cinnamon. If you know about other desktop environments, you can make your mind and choose whichever Mint version you want.

Once you have downloaded the Linux Mint ISO, you need a tool to write the image to a disk. I recommend using a free tool called Universal USB Installer in Windows:

It’s an executable exe file. Just double click on it to run the software and browse it to the ISO. Make sure that you have your USB key plugged in:

If you need more hints, here is a screenshot tutorial on how to create a live USB for Linux.

Step 2: Make a new partition for Linux Mint

This is where you have to be cautious. If you have multiple partitions (not the recovery ones), you can either use one of them or create a new partition from an existing partition. Your existing data will be safe if you have enough free space. Typically, you install Linux in under 10 Gb, however, if disk space if not a concern, I advise using 30-40Gb at least. This way you can have more space at your disposal for downloading and keeping various files.

In Windows 10, go to start menu and type ‘partition’. This will bring up Disk Management utility. Now carefully select the disk in which you’ll make some free space by shrinking the volume:

In my case, I only had the C Drive with 223Gb of space on it. So I shrunk it to make 110Gb of free partition on it. I recommend watch the video to see the exact steps you need more hint.

Step 3: Boot in to live USB

Plug the live USB or disk into the computer and restart the computer. While booting the computer press F10 or F12 function key (defers from computer to computer) to go to the boot menu. Now, choose the option to boot from USB or Removable Media.

Important Note: If your computer came with Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 and you upgraded your system to Windows 10, you may have to disable secure boot. Most modern system with Windows 10 should not need this step, especially with Linux Mint or Ubuntu.

Step 4: Start the installation

It takes some time to boot from the live USB or disk. Have some patience. Once it boots in to live disk, you’ll be provided to Try Linux Mint or Install Linux Mint. Even if you choose to try it, you can find the install option on the desktop:

In next few screens, you’ll be asked to choose the language of the operating system. It will then do some checks on available space, battery and Internet connection.

Step 5: Prepare the partition

This is the most important part of the whole installation. Where to install Linux Mint?

If you see the option to Install Linux Mint alongside Windows, you can select that. Linux Mint will handle things on its own. If you do that, skip step 5 and step 6.

But as mentioned before, I prefer separate partitions for Windows and Linux. Windows is already installed here, we’ll prepare a new partition for Linux Mint. In the Installation Type window, choose Something Else:

Step 6: Create root, swap and home

Since you already created a new partition in Windows, it’s time to install Linux Mint on it. Now, there are several ways to do it. But here, I’ll show you my favorite way and that is to have a Root, a Swap and a Home.

Create a root partition first. Choose the free space available and click on +.

Here, choose the size of the root. Root is like your C drive in Windows. Installed software, updates and other system files are under this root partition. Home partition is for your personal documents, music, downloads etc.

If you have total 100 GB at disposal, give 30 GB to root. In any case, don’t give it less than 15 GB because if root runs out of space, your system will slow down and you’ll run into issues.

I opted to have 20 GB, choose ext4 file system, and mount point as / (i.e. root):

Now, next is to create the swap partition. Now the question is what should be the swap size for Linux Mint installation?

The answer depends upon your RAM size, your needs, available disk space and whether you would use hibernation or not. You can use the below suggestion:

• RAM less than 2 GB: Swap should be double the size of RAM
• RAM between 2 to 4 GB: Swap should be RAM size + 2 GB
• RAM between 6 GB to 8 GB: Swap should be size of RAM
• RAM more than 8 GB: Swap should be half the size of RAM or less

Don’t spend too much time thinking about swap. It is helpful for systems with less memory. For system with more than 8 GB of RAM and SSD, the less the swap, the better it is.

Newer version of Linux Mint utilize Swap file. It creates a special file under root and utilizes it as swap area. You can have both swap partition and swap file in a system.

The next step is to create Home. Try to allocate the maximum size to Home because this is where you’ll be downloading and keeping the files.

Once you have created Root, Swap and Home partitions, click on Install Now button.

Step 7: Follow the trivial instructions

Technically, you have crossed the main hurdle if you reached this point successfully. Now you will be taken through a number of screens to select options like keyboard layout, login credentials etc. You don’t need to be a genius to figure out what to do here afterward. I have attached screenshots for reference purpose here.

Once the installation is over, you will be presented with the option to keep trying live version or to restart the system.

And that would be it. On next boot, you will see the option of Linux Mint on the grub screen. And thus you can enjoy the beautiful and beginner-friendly Linux distribution. I hope you found this guide to Linux Mint dual boot with Windows helpful.

Here are a few common troubleshoot you might have to do after dual booting Linux Mint:

I strongly advise you to read things to do after installing Linux Mint so that you can have a good start.

If you want to remove, you can follow this guide to uninstall Linux Mint from Windows 8 dual boot.

If you have questions, suggestions or a word of thanks, feel free to drop a comment. Stay tuned for more Linux Mint tutorials. Ciao 🙂

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