Remove Ubuntu from Boot Menu – Dual Boot Cleanup in Windows 10

biosbootloaderdual-bootgrub2windows 10

I have recently installed dual-boot with Windows 10 and Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. After messing around with Ubuntu, I decided it was time for a clean re-install.

I booted back into Windows 10 and deleted the Ubuntu partition (two of them) and they were converted back to free space.

Upon reboot, I got into a black screen with Grub > command line. (Note: not Grub rescue). Not knowing what to do, I did a force shut down.

Next, I attempted to boot my machine again, this time pressing F2 to get into BIOS. I was lucky that I could change the Boot Order to get Windows Boot Manager back on top of the list, instead of Ubuntu. I successfully booted back to Windows 10.

Now, this is where my issue differs from the rest (I did some research on similar topics before posting). Now, I can boot back into Windows 10.

My goal is to remove Ubuntu and reinstall it for a clean-slate. I have already deleted the Ubuntu partitions. However, now the Ubuntu selection remains lingering in my Boot Menu. Hence, how can I remove it?

Best Answer

I've successfully executed this solution below to my problem:

In BIOS, change Boot Sequence to allow booting from USB (containing Ubuntu)
In GRUB, select Try Ubuntu without installing
Once in Ubuntu, press Ctrl+Alt+T to bring up Terminal
Type sudo efibootmgr to list all the entries in Boot Menu. If the command doesn't exist, then do sudo apt install efibootmgr.
Find Ubuntu in the menu and note down its boot number e.g. 1 in Boot0001
Type sudo efibootmgr -b <boot number> -B to delete the entry from Boot Menu. E.g. sudo efibootmgr -b 1 -B

-b: modify boot number -B: delete boot number

There after, all I did was to switch Windows Boot Manager back up to the top of the Boot Menu > go back to Windows 10 > Create and format hard disk partitions and extended my Windows C:\ Drive partition to merge with the free space where it came from my deleted Ubuntu drive.

Reference (with images): How to remove Ubuntu from Dual Boot

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You can install a Microsoft style MBR from an Ubuntu LiveCD/USB. To do so, run

sudo software-properties-gtk -e universe && sudo apt-get update 
sudo apt-get install mbr
sudo install-mbr /dev/sdX

where "sdX" is the device node for your hard drive, like "sda", not a partition like "sda1".

If you really want to use boot-repair to do this then simply run everything except the last command

sudo install-mbr /dev/sdX

The commands before that one will just install the mbr package. Then try boot-repair again.

Ubuntu – How to totally remove ubuntu from boot menu after Windows dual boot

I've gotten the solution https://askubuntu.com/a/63613/410771

You should be able to do this via a Live Ubuntu CD.

Install efibootmgr:

sudo apt-get install efibootmgr

Then add to the kernel efi support

sudo modprobe efivars

Then run sudo efibootmgr to check your boot entries. It will return something like this:

BootCurrent: 0004
Timeout: 2 seconds
BootOrder: 2001,0003,0005,0006,0000
Boot0000* Lenovo Recovery System
Boot0001* EFI Network 0 for IPv6 (B8-88-E3-84-F3-EF)
Boot0002* EFI Network 0 for IPv4 (B8-88-E3-84-F3-EF)
Boot0003* Windows Boot Manager
Boot0004* EFI USB Device (SanDisk)
Boot0005* ubuntu
Boot2001* EFI USB Device

Then delete the option you dont want. In this example, Ubuntu is entry 5. the following could be called to delete entry 5 and remove it from the BootOrder.

(CAUTION: Before executing the following command make sure you enter the correct Boot entry number)

sudo efibootmgr -b 5 -B

Further details described here: http://linux.die.net/man/8/efibootmgr

Note: as for anything that changes your bootloader, please ensure you have a good disk image that you can boot with.

Now you should also delete the ubuntu subdirectory in the EFI partition to prevent the UEFI firmware from restoring the entry into the BootOrder.

To do that, first find your EFI partition. Run sudo fdisk -l to see the partitions on all attached drives. The EFI partition has EFI Partition under the Type column.

Suppose your EFI partition was /dev/sda2, then mount it on an empty folder anywhere.

    sudo mkdir /mnt/efipart
    sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/efipart

Now we have to find the directory Ubuntu or any other distro's name in this partition. It is mostly under EFI/distro_name.

Remove that directory and its contents by (PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ARE DELETING THE CORRECT DIRECTORY) sudo rm -r ubuntu.

Best Answer

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