How To Safely Remove Windows From Windows-Linux Dual Boot

Running Linux alongside Windows is great when you’re transitioning or need both systems. But once you’re ready to go full Linux, you might want to remove Windows entirely — and free up that disk space. The key is doing it safely, without breaking your Linux installation.

Here’s how to remove Windows from a dual-boot setup step by step.

⚠️ Warning First

Before you start:

• Back up your important data (from both Windows and Linux)
• Make sure Linux is installed properly and working independently
• These steps assume Linux is installed on a separate partition or drive

🧰 Tools You’ll Need

• A Linux system with GParted installed (or use a live USB)
• Internet access for bootloader repairs (if needed)

✅ Step 1: Identify the Windows Partition

1. Open your Linux terminal or GParted
2. Run:

lsblk

or open GParted to view all partitions

3. Look for the NTFS partitions — they belong to Windows (usually /dev/sda1, /dev/sda2, etc.)

Don’t touch your Linux partitions (usually ext4 or btrfs)

🗑 Step 2: Delete the Windows Partitions

Using GParted:

1. Right-click each Windows-related partition
2. Click Delete
3. Apply the changes

This will free up unallocated space.

🛠 Step 3: Resize Your Linux Partition (Optional)

If you want Linux to use the newly freed space:

1. In GParted, right-click your Linux partition
2. Choose Resize/Move
3. Extend it into the unallocated space
4. Apply changes and reboot

🔄 Step 4: Fix the Bootloader (GRUB)

After deleting Windows, the GRUB boot menu might still show a Windows entry. To clean it up:

1. Boot into Linux
2. Open terminal
3. Run:

sudo update-grub

GRUB will detect installed systems. Since Windows is gone, it’ll remove it from the menu.

💡 Optional: Remove EFI Boot Entry (for UEFI systems)

If you’re using UEFI and want to clean up the Windows boot entry:

sudo efibootmgr

Look for entries labeled “Windows Boot Manager” and note the boot number (e.g., Boot0001)

Then run:

sudo efibootmgr -b 0001 -B

Replace 0001 with the actual number for Windows.

✅ You’re Done!

At this point:

• Windows is removed
• GRUB only shows Linux
• Your disk is cleaned up
• Linux has full control

Final Thoughts

Removing Windows from a dual-boot setup is easy if you do it carefully. Just delete the right partitions, update GRUB, and optionally reclaim the space.

If you’re going all-in on Linux — welcome to the club.