A safe way to remove Windows from dualboot(partition and grub)?  [Solved]

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ryks
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Joined: Wed Nov 20, 2019 7:16 am

A safe way to remove Windows from dualboot(partition and grub)?

#1 Post by ryks »

Well ,finally i will get rid of stupid ,big ,ugly windows but i need to ask if is safe to run gparted with sudo and delete the partitions
Image

quote from google

Once you have deleted the partitions you need to go into the EFI partition (mounting at /boot/efi) and delete the windows folder. Then do a sudo update-grub. Next time you boot it should boot directly into linux with no grub menu. You can then resize your / partition to use all the drive, you need to boot from your install stick and run gparted from that. You can't change a mounted partition and you can't unmount / booting normally. Make sure you have a backup first.
Last edited by ryks on Mon Mar 24, 2025 3:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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ryks
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Re: A safe way to remove Windows from dualboot(partition and grub)?

#2 Post by ryks »

Code: Select all

System:
  Kernel: 6.7.12-1-liquorix-amd64 [6.7-18~mx23ahs] arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0 parameters: audit=0
    intel_pstate=disable rcupdate.rcu_expedited=1 BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.7.12-1-liquorix-amd64
    root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet splash
  Desktop: Xfce v: 4.20.0 tk: Gtk v: 3.24.38 info: xfce4-panel wm: Compiz v: 0.8.18 vt: 7
    dm: LightDM v: 1.32.0 Distro: MX-23.5_ahs_x64 Libretto July 31  2023 base: Debian GNU/Linux 12
    (bookworm)
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 20BS003JSP v: ThinkPad X1 Carbon 3rd
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 10 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: LENOVO model: 20BS003JSP v: SDK0E50510 WIN serial: <superuser required>
    UEFI-[Legacy]: LENOVO v: N14ET54W (1.32 ) date: 03/19/2020
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 18.7 Wh (100.0%) condition: 18.7/49.0 Wh (38.1%) volts: 16.7 min: 15.4
    model: LGC 00HW002 type: Li-poly serial: <filter> status: full
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i5-5200U bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Broadwell gen: core 5 level: v3
    note: check built: 2015-18 process: Intel 14nm family: 6 model-id: 0x3D (61) stepping: 4
    microcode: 0x2F
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 2 tpc: 2 threads: 4 smt: enabled cache: L1: 128 KiB
    desc: d-2x32 KiB; i-2x32 KiB L2: 512 KiB desc: 2x256 KiB L3: 3 MiB desc: 1x3 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 2494 min/max: 500/2201 boost: enabled scaling: driver: acpi-cpufreq
    governor: ondemand cores: 1: 2494 2: 2494 3: 2494 4: 2494 bogomips: 17560
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled
  Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT vulnerable
  Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Unknown: No mitigations
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines, IBPB: conditional, IBRS_FW, STIBP: conditional, RSB
    filling, PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected
  Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 5500 vendor: Lenovo driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-8
    process: Intel 14nm built: 2014-15 ports: active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1, DP-2, HDMI-A-1, HDMI-A-2
    bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:1616 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: Lite-On Integrated Camera type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 2-8:6 chip-ID: 04ca:7049
    class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 compositor: Compiz v: 0.8.18 driver: X:
    loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: iris gpu: i915 display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 509x286mm (20.04x11.26") s-diag: 584mm (22.99")
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: ChiMei InnoLux 0x14a8 built: 2013 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 158
    gamma: 1.2 size: 308x173mm (12.13x6.81") diag: 353mm (13.9") ratio: 16:9 modes: 1920x1080
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 Mesa 24.2.8-1mx23ahs renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 5500 (BDW GT2)
    direct-render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Broadwell-U Audio vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:03.0
    chip-ID: 8086:160c class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: Intel Wildcat Point-LP High Definition Audio vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:9ca0 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.7.12-1-liquorix-amd64 status: kernel-api tools: alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.0.0 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
    2: wireplumber status: active tools: pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
  Server-2: PulseAudio v: 16.1 status: off (using pipewire-pulse) tools: pacat,pactl,pavucontrol
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Ethernet I218-V vendor: Lenovo driver: e1000e v: kernel port: 3080
    bus-ID: 00:19.0 chip-ID: 8086:15a3 class-ID: 0200
  IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel Wireless 7265 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel modules: wl pcie: gen: 1
    speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 04:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:095b class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: vmnet1 state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-2: vmnet8 state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-3: wwan0 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel Bluetooth wireless interface type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 2-7:5
    chip-ID: 8087:0a2a class-ID: e001
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 3 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 2.1 lmp-v: 4.2
    sub-v: 1000 hci-v: 4.2 rev: 1000
  Info: acl-mtu: 1021:5 sco-mtu: 96:6 link-policy: rswitch hold sniff
    link-mode: peripheral accept service-classes: rendering, capturing, object transfer, audio,
    telephony
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 238.47 GiB used: 125.78 GiB (52.7%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Samsung model: MZNLN256HCHP-000L7 size: 238.47 GiB
    block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 2L6Q
    scheme: MBR
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 157.39 GiB size: 153.86 GiB (97.76%) used: 125.78 GiB (81.8%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 3 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 file: /swap/swap
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 76.0 C pch: 67.5 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (RPM): fan-1: 4335
Repos:
  Packages: 3813 pm: dpkg pkgs: 3786 libs: 2164 tools: apt,apt-get,aptitude,nala,synaptic pm: rpm
    pkgs: 0 pm: flatpak pkgs: 27
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
    2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64] https://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/megasync.list
    1: deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/meganz-archive-keyring.gpg] https://mega.nz/linux/repo/Debian_12/ ./
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list
    1: deb http://mxlinux.mirrors.uk2.net/packages/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
    2: deb http://mxlinux.mirrors.uk2.net/packages/mx/repo/ bookworm ahs
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/teamviewer.list
    1: deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/teamviewer-keyring.gpg] https://linux.teamviewer.com/deb stable main
Info:
  Processes: 329 Uptime: 21m wakeups: 1 Memory: 7.45 GiB used: 3.78 GiB (50.7%) Init: systemd
  v: 252 target: graphical (5) default: graphical tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 alt: 11/12
  Client: shell wrapper v: 5.2.15-release inxi: 3.3.26
Boot Mode: BIOS (legacy, CSM, MBR)

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j2mcgreg
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Re: A safe way to remove Windows from dualboot(partition and grub)?  [Solved]

#3 Post by j2mcgreg »

Your best bet would be:
1) create a snapshot of your current MX install and write it to your USB drive
2) Use User Installed Programs (UIP) on MX Tools to generate a text file of all the packages you have installed yourself then save it to an external location
3) back up your data to an external location + bookmarks + address books etc and the hidden .thunderbird folder
4) do a fresh install with the snapshot made in step #1 and then restore your data et al from the backup created in step #3
5) run UIP and feed it the text file created in step #2
HP 15; ryzen 3 5300U APU; 500 Gb SSD; 8GB ram
HP 17; ryzen 3 3200; 500 GB SSD; 12 GB ram
Idea Center 3; 12 gen i5; 256 GB ssd;

In Linux, newer isn't always better. The best solution is the one that works.

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ryks
Posts: 130
Joined: Wed Nov 20, 2019 7:16 am

Re: A safe way to remove Windows from dualboot(partition and grub)?

#4 Post by ryks »

j2mcgreg wrote: Mon Mar 24, 2025 3:30 pm Your best bet would be:
1) create a snapshot of your current MX install and write it to your USB drive
2) Use User Installed Programs (UIP) on MX Tools to generate a text file of all the packages you have installed yourself then save it to an external location
3) back up your data to an external location + bookmarks + address books etc and the hidden .thunderbird folder
4) do a fresh install with the snapshot made in step #1 and then restore your data et al from the backup created in step #3
5) run UIP and feed it the text file created in step #2
My only concern is to make a mistake and xxxxxxx up quickly ....I will digg for more options and of course ,backup data first ...

Ths j2mcgreg

MXRobo
Posts: 1834
Joined: Thu Nov 14, 2019 12:09 pm

Re: A safe way to remove Windows from dualboot(partition and grub)?

#5 Post by MXRobo »

Maybe try:
Still do j2mcgreg's steps 1,2, & 3, then wipe the window's partitions with Gparted, then maybe MX-Boot-Options > Manage UEFI Boot Options.
Use Gparted to not only wipe windows, but enlarge MX partitions.
Leave the ESP partition as is.
Don't know:
Boot Mode: BIOS (legacy, CSM, MBR)
and reason for strikeouts.

Maybe something similar with Legacy MBR in Gparted.

Gparted is fairly robust, and on the surface, it seems as though enlarging would be safer than shrinking - but maybe not.

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fehlix
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Re: A safe way to remove Windows from dualboot(partition and grub)?

#6 Post by fehlix »

Maybe you have asked the question wrongly, I.E. without providing context.
Now you got some answers. And have confused yourself and also partly the helpful helper.
Simply this: The QSI provided by you and also the Gparted far to big screen dump, shows clearly Windows is installed on a msdos-partition table
where only one bootloader exists within the MBR section of the drive.
And Windows can only be installed and run with non-UEFI boot mode on a msdos-drive.
After you have installed MX Linux, the mbr-bootcode was replaced already by MX Linux GRUB installer.
So, simply reformat all Windows NTFS drives and no trace would be left from Windows on that drive.
Thats it.

User avatar
ryks
Posts: 130
Joined: Wed Nov 20, 2019 7:16 am

Re: A safe way to remove Windows from dualboot(partition and grub)?

#7 Post by ryks »

j2mcgreg wrote: Mon Mar 24, 2025 3:30 pm Your best bet would be:
1) create a snapshot of your current MX install and write it to your USB drive
2) Use User Installed Programs (UIP) on MX Tools to generate a text file of all the packages you have installed yourself then save it to an external location
3) back up your data to an external location + bookmarks + address books etc and the hidden .thunderbird folder
4) do a fresh install with the snapshot made in step #1 and then restore your data et al from the backup created in step #3
5) run UIP and feed it the text file created in step #2
Fresh install again .I did make a backup with macrium reflect (entire hdd_),made a list with UIP.It took some time .Now i have only ext 4 .Uip list faild with half of my stuff so i will install them one by one .

Image

Image

So far so good .j2mcgreg was the right solution for me .Microsoft ,xxxxxxx off!

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fehlix
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Re: A safe way to remove Windows from dualboot(partition and grub)?

#8 Post by fehlix »

Did you update the package list, e.g with sudo apt update, before running uip?

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ryks
Posts: 130
Joined: Wed Nov 20, 2019 7:16 am

Re: A safe way to remove Windows from dualboot(partition and grub)?

#9 Post by ryks »

fehlix wrote: Sun Mar 30, 2025 3:09 pm Did you update the package list, e.g with sudo apt update, before running uip?
In this scenario-no .Some of them are compiled by me with missing dependencies .Don t worries ,nothing is lost ,is more (the time lost -installing ) .Everithing is back again and running like it should .About update and upgrade ?Often .Thank you !

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