Delete Ubuntu From a Dual Boot Vista Setup With Super Grub Disc

Here's a quick little tip for if you're running your computer in a dual boot setup with Ubuntu and Vista.

I was doing just this because I was programming Ruby and Ruby on Rails apps from Ubuntu but the lack of Photoshop was killing me. So I did some research and eventually discovered andLinux (the topic of a future post one day), which lets you run Ubuntu Linux as a Windows service. So that so far has solved all of my problems when it comes to being able to both do design and programming on the same operating system (What I really need to do is buy a Mac, but who has that kind of money?).

So I haven't booted into Linux in about 3 months now. That isn't a big deal because it's nice to know that there is a partition there if I need it. But the problem is that I recently started running somewhat low on hard drive space. I found that kind of weird because I only have about 2,000 songs on my computer right now and very few movies.

But I do have that 40GB Linux partition just sitting there.

So I set out to delete that partition and recover some space. What is important though is that you make sure to replace the Linux bootloader that is installed when you install Ubuntu, or else you'll lose the ability to boot into Vista once you delete Ubuntu. So we'll start off by replacing the bootloader first in order to avoid any problems. The process is pretty simple:

1. You first need to download Super Grub Disc and burn the ISO image to a CD.

2. Next, pop the disc in and reboot your computer.

3. The Super Grub Disc screens are kind of cryptic in the sense that a lot of the choices look just like gibberish, but the important one you want for deleting Linux so you only have Vista is:

WIN => MBR & !WIN! ((((((((((((((((

4. That option restores the original Vista bootloader to the Master Boot Record, forcing your computer to automatically boot into Vista next time it starts up.

5. Now, reboot your computer, click "Start", right-click "Computer", and select "Manage"

6. On the left hand side (in the menu tree), click "Disk Management"

7. Find your old Linux partition, right click it, and select "Delete Volume"

8. Once deleted, right click your existing Windows partition, and click "Expand Volume"Now you should have recovered the space from your old Ubuntu install. If you had a swap partition for Linux, you can delete that as well.

Now just remember to only do this after you have backed up everything in your Linux install!

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