1

I have a Dell notebook that came with Windows. At some point I turned it into a dual boot note with Debian and GRUB to handle the boot.

Now I want to wipe everything and return it to Windows only, no debian, no grub. My idea was restore Windows (assuming that would erase the grub) and after that I would erase the partitions through Windows Disk Management. I'm not sure it would work, but I can't even do it right now.

I'm trying to get into Window's Advanced System Options. For that I need press restart while holding the shift key, however when it restarts I end up at GRUB, and have to select Windows boot option. After that it boots normally, no advanced options. I've read some places to press F8, and I've tried, it makes no difference. (Also tried F2 and F12)

I've read some places to execute bootrec.exe /fixmbr in the Win10 recovery console, but I don't know how to access that console in current boot conditions.

How can I restore my factory windows in a dual boot notebook? Or how to access Window's Advanced System Options in a dual boot pc?

Amazon Dies In Darkness
  • 9,990
Justcurious
  • 113

1 Answers1

1

If your disk is formatted as GPT or your computer uses EFI to boot, the command bootrec.exe /fixmbr is useless.

To restore the Windows boot, the simplest solution would be to use the free tool of Dual-boot Repair Windows 10, where "Automatic Repair" will fix the booting to Windows. Afterward, you may use the Disk Manager to remove the Ubuntu partition and resize the Windows partition to use its space.

For only deleting Ubuntu as a boot configuration, see the Ask Ubuntu article
Uninstall Grub and use Windows bootloader.

For manually fixing the problem while booting from Windows, see for example this post:
How to fix the Windows 10 boot loader from Windows.

harrymc
  • 498,455