How do you remove Ubuntu and GRUB?

I installed LINUX (Ubuntu 9.10) on my Dell Optiplex R&D PC just for curiosity & feel how good are the looks and in this process also fiddled with the partitions on the hard disk too. It was somewhat usable but soon I got fed up with driver & other issues so decided to get rid of it.

I thought restoring Windows 7 image from my WHS would be just a cakewalk, and relatively the process was very easy using Home Computer restore CD & the system showed everything restored and asked for reboot.   As I rebooted the system to my surprise it gave me this

GRUB Loading.

error: unknown filesystem

grub rescue>

then I rebooted again & nothing else happened but the same error. I tried to figure it out by using all the commands people have suggested everywhere on internet and wasted about 4 hrs in search of a solution. The system remained unbootable with some data in windows partition but I was aware that I haven’t touched that partition but was still anxious to get everything as it was. Until I came across this instruction page on Microsoft's site and I am narrating the tips I followed for the recovery.

Quick and easy fix to remove the dirty GRUB and get Windows again.

1. Put the Windows 7 installation disc in the disc drive, and power cycle your PC after setting it to boot from CD Drive in BIOS.

2. Press a any key when you are prompted & select [language, time, currency, keyboard etc.] & click Next . Select Repair Your Computer option in the dialog window.

3. In the ‘System Recovery Options’ window Click the 1^st Option Startup Repair and let it do what it wants to do, but in my case it didn’t solve the problem so I went to the next step.

4. In the ‘System Recovery Options’ dialog box, go to the last option i.e. Command Prompt .

5. Once in the command prompt (X:\Sources> ), type exactly the following commands in the same sequence

bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup

C:

CD Boot

Attrib bcd –s –h –r

ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old

bootrec /RebuildBcd

then it said

“Scanning all disks for windows installations.

Please wait, since this may take a while…

Successfully scanned windows installations: 1

[1] C:\windows

Add installations to boot list? Yes(y)/No(N)/All(A) : “

 I pressed ‘Y’ as there was only one instance of windows installation.   Then it said The operation completed successfully.

6. Next entred the following command      bootrec /fixmbr    It said The operation completed successfully.

7. Next entred the following command      bootrec /FixBoot  Again It said The operation completed successfully.

8. Set the BIOS again to boot from the HDD and reboot.

GRUB was gone & finally the cool windows 7 was booting again. Hope this will help someone out there with a not so good experience

with LINUX and want to get rid of the dirty GRUB left as sloppy waste by the Free OS.

Hi Arkansas Adam,

 Welcome to Microsoft Answers!

You can format the Ubuntu partition from Windows Recovery Environment and check if it helps.

Use the Windows installation disc to go to windows Recovery Environment or system recovery options page. Follow these steps:

1. Insert the disc.

2. Restart your computer using the computer's power button.

3. If prompted, press any key to start Windows from the installation disc.

•  If your computer isn't configured to start from a CD or DVD, check the information that came with your computer. You may need to change your computer's BIOS settings. For more information, see http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/BIOS-frequently-asked-questions  

4. Choose your language settings, and then click Next.

5. If you are using the Windows installation disc, click Repair your computer.

Now continue with the instructions until you get an option to format the partition. Select the partition where Ubuntu is installed and click on format.

Important: It is important to backup your data before you format your drive as all the data will be erased from the drive.

If this doesn’t solve your problem, then please post this issue in the Ubuntu community forums for further assistance. Here’s the link:

http://ubuntuforums.org/  

Regards,
Afzal-Microsoft Support Engineer.
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