Removing A Full Install of Ubuntu 9.10

[andycastille]

I just installed Ubuntu 9.10 Full Install, and I want to remove it. Ubuntu took control of Windows 7, so if I remove it, it will remove both. How do I fix this problem? I want my laptop to be the way it was 3 days ago.

[hwttdz]

If you installed in wubi you would need to remove through windows. If you installed on its own partition you can just wipe the partition.

What do you mean "took control"? If ubuntu is on it's own partition ubuntu can't do anything while windows is running. If it's in wubi, likewise ubuntu can't do anything unless it's running (unless I misunderstand what this wubi is which I don't think I do, or I underestimate just how silly windows is, which is hard not to do).

[andycastille]

When I press the power button, it shows the VAIO logo then it shows Ubuntu's menu. Ubuntu's menu is:

Ubuntu
Ubuntu Recovery
Ubuntu OLD*
Ubuntu OLD Recovery*
Windows Vista (Loader)**
Windows 7 (Loader)

*I mean, it says 14 instead of 16.
**I don't even have Vista installed! When I chose this, it opened Windows 7 recovery.

***These labels are not in exact words.***

Another Thing:
When I had this configeration on my old laptop, I removed Ubuntu by clearing the partition, and when I re-started, Windows was gone and I got an error message:

"No operating system was found."

This is not a installation inside Windows.
I used the Ubuntu boot menu and chose Install Ubuntu.

Any missing information?

I am running 64-bit Windows and 64-bit Ubuntu on a 64-bit laptop.

[oldos2er]

Can you please post the output of sudo fdisk -l ?

[hwttdz]

When I press the power button, it shows the VAIO logo then it shows Ubuntu's menu. Ubuntu's menu is:

Ubuntu
Ubuntu Recovery
Ubuntu OLD*
Ubuntu OLD Recovery*
Windows Vista**
Windows 7

*I mean, it says 14 instead of 16.
**I don't even have Vista installed! When I chose this, it opened Windows 7 recovery.

***These labels are not in exact words.***

Another Thing:
When I had this configeration on my old laptop, I removed Ubuntu by clearing the partition, and when I re-started, Windows was gone and I got an error message:

"No operating system was found."

This is not a installation inside Windows.
I used the Ubuntu boot menu and chose Install Ubuntu.

Any missing information?

I am running 64-bit Windows and 64-bit Ubuntu on a 64-bit laptop.

First that menu is not the ubuntu menu, that menu is the grub menu, grub is the default boot loader used by ubuntu, but ubuntu is not running when you see that menu (grub which is a sort of mini operating system is).

Well grub-update searches for operating systems and apparently windows 7 recovery is similar enough windows vista that it fooled grub2. But the names you can change in your grub configuration, you can also change the default operating system choice, i.e. if you wanted to change the default to windows.

If you clear your ubuntu partition, ubuntu is gone, and if the bootloader (grub or windows boot loader) is on that partition so is the bootloader. This can be bad. It's possible that 1) the windows partition is not marked as bootable or 2) you have no bootloader. So you're going to need to check that you have those things. I believe you can install the windows bootloader from a windows disk, but you'd need to ask a windows person. And to mark the partition as boot you can either (use the windows disk possibly?) or use a gparted live cd.

So by "ubuntu took over" you mean it installed a bootloader which can load multiple operating systems instead of the windows one which seems much less robust?

[andycastille]

I have no idea of understanding for what you said. Can you give it in plain English please?

[andycastille]

Can you please post the output of sudo fdisk -l ?

I'm using Windows, not Ubuntu. I have Ubuntu installed, but I don't want to switch right now. I'll post the answer I get later.

[andycastille]

I'm booting into Ubuntu, so if I need to do anything in Ubuntu, tell me now.

I will give you the output now too.

[andycastille]

Can you please post the output of sudo fdisk -l ?

****@****-laptop:~$ sudo fdisk -I
[sudo] password for ****: 
fdisk: invalid option -- 'I'

Usage: fdisk [-b SSZ] [-u] DISK     Change partition table
       fdisk -l [-b SSZ] [-u] DISK  List partition table(s)
       fdisk -s PARTITION           Give partition size(s) in blocks
       fdisk -v                     Give fdisk version
Here DISK is something like /dev/hdb or /dev/sda
and PARTITION is something like /dev/hda7
-u: give Start and End in sector (instead of cylinder) units
-b 2048: (for certain MO disks) use 2048-byte sectors
****@****-laptop:~$

Does that help? I'm in Ubuntu now.

[hwttdz]

Does that help? I'm in Ubuntu now.

not really, try "fdisk -l" instead of "fdisk -I", or you can just copy and past the original command.