Windows 10 Remove From Bootloader

1. Install Windows Bootloader
2. Windows 10 Remove Bootloader
3. Windows 10 Reinstall Bootloader

I installed Ubuntu on a system that has Windows 10 installed. I can boot to Windows or Ubuntu normally using GRUB. I want to delete Ubuntu partition, but first I must restore the Windows 10 MBR.

In Use Bootrec.exe in the Windows RE to troubleshoot startup issues (applies to Windows 7 and Windows Vista) they say to use Bootrec.exe with options /FixMbr/FixBoot, but when I type 'bootrec.exe /FixMbr' in a command prompt, Windows says:

'bootrec.exe' is not recognized as an internal or external command.

I say I can boot to Windows 10 and run a command prompt from there (I don't need to use an installation medium), but I don't know what to enter.

The Windows drive contains its own boot loader on the boot partition of the drive from the install of Windows. This is probably why it still adds entries after reconnecting the drives. From my understanding, the solution is to remove the boot loader from the Windows drive, and just let Clover handle everything. In my case, I want to delete “Windows 10 (on /dev/sda1)”. Bongcheese on How to edit Grub Bootloader and remove unwanted entries in Ubuntu. Spenky on How to install updates on Ubuntu, Linux Mint by Command-line. Carolina on How to install Adobe Acrobat Reader in Ubuntu and Linux Mint.

Peter Mortensen

3 Answers

The command in Windows 8/8.1/10 for fixing MBR is 'bootsect.exe'.

this fixes boot record of partition mapped to 'drive_letter:' and the MBR of the disk where the partition is placed.

Alternatively you can use 'Dual-boot Repair Tool' which has a graphical interface to bcdboot.exe, bootsect.exe and other useful functions like boot sector view and ... one click dual-boot repair function for Windows 10/8/7/Vista (also can fix Windows XP boot files).

snayobsnayob

I was having the following issue:

I had Ubuntu and Windows 10 and deleted Ubuntu partitions using Windows 10. After a restart I got the Partition not found error and automatically entered GRUB.

Here's how I solved it:

1. I burned a Windows 10 CD, entered troubleshooting, and from there I entered Windows Console.
2. Then I typed in: bootsect /nt60 drive_letter: /mbr (replace drive_letter with your letter. for example, for me it was C: /mbr).
3. And it finally worked.

I hope this also clarifies the solution for people with the same problem as me.

Peter Mortensen

The other answers given here work great on MBR/BIOS systems, however if you're on a UEFI system like I am, bootsect will just write a semi-functional boot MBR over the GPT protective MBR and bootrec just gives an 'Access denied' error message, and neither one has a functional option to fix a broken EFI system partition, which on a UEFI/GPT drive is what contains the bootloader that used to be stored in the MBR. There's unfortunately almost no up-to-date guides on fixing the UEFI Windows Boot Manager (almost all of them just say to run the graphical Startup Repair utility, but that doesn't fix the problem in all cases), but I finally found the correct solution buried in this article, which requires the use of the bcdboot command instead:

1. Grab the Media Creation Tool, make yourself a Windows 10 installation DVD or USB drive, and then boot into it.

2. When prompted, choose 'Repair your computer', followed by 'Troubleshoot', 'Advanced Options', and finally 'Command Prompt'.

3. Run diskpart and then list volume. Note the volume number for your EFI system partition (ESP).

4. Now do select volume x (where x is the volume number for the ESP) and then assign letter=N: to mount the partition. Run list volume again and note that the ESP is now assigned a driver letter. Run exit to leave diskpart.

5. (Optional) If you are not currently dual booting and want to fully clean the ESP before writing a new bootloader, run format N: /FS:FAT32 to reformat it as FAT32. This is probably not necessary under normal circumstances, however, as bcdboot seems to do a good job of cleaning things up itself. Especially do not do this if you have a Linux distro on another partition or else you'll have to reinstall GRUB as well once you're done with this. Also note that the following steps should not affect an EFI GRUB install as long as you do not otherwise delete GRUB's existing directory on the ESP.

6. Finally, write the new bootloader to the partition with bcdboot C:windows /s N: /f UEFI. This command rebuilds a new UEFI-compatible bootloader on the ESP mounted at N: using the Windows installation mounted at C:windows. Once it's done, you can verify the new bootloader was written by running dir N:EFI, where you should see a Microsoft directory containing the new Windows Boot Manager as well as a boot directory containing the fallback bootloader (along with other directories for any other bootloaders you have installed, such as GRUB for Linux).

7. (Optional) If you are dual booting, you will probably need to boot into your Linux distro and run sudo update-grub to allow the GRUB scripts to detect and add the new Windows bootloader. You should also skip the next step and leave GRUB as your first boot choice so you can access both operating systems.

8. Now boot into your BIOS setup and make sure 'Windows Boot Manager' is set as the top boot choice. Save and reboot and you'll finally be back in Windows.

Nathan2055Nathan2055

protected by Community♦Feb 25 '16 at 18:26

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I have Windows 8 pre-installed and then installed Grub with Ubuntu. Ubuntu is not my thing so now I want to remove it along with grub. From what I have learned, with UEFI, Grub does not overwrite the windows bootloader in the EFI partition and is stored elsewhere. How would I remove grub and make my PC use the Windows bootloader instead? It should be noted that I created a seperate /boot partition when installing Ubuntu.

mrolivemrolive

11 Answers

This answer is for those with UEFI who have deleted the Ubuntu partitions before removing grub

You will be doing this from Windows 10. No bootable media required.

Where bootrec /fixmbr, bootsect /nt60 and the Ubuntu live with the boot-repair suggestions have failed, this has worked for me:

(This answer borrowed verbatim from here)

1. Run a cmd.exe process with administrator privileges
2. Run diskpart
3. Type: list disk then sel disk X where X is the drive your boot files reside on
4. Type list vol to see all partitions (volumes) on the disk (the EFI volume will be formatted in FAT, others will be NTFS)
5. Select the EFI volume by typing: sel vol Y where Y is the SYSTEM volume (this is almost always the EFI partition)
6. For convenience, assign a drive letter by typing: assign letter=Z: where Z is a free (unused) drive letter
7. Type exit to leave disk part
8. While still in the cmd prompt, type: Z: and hit enter, where Z was the drive letter you just created.
9. Type dir to list directories on this mounted EFI partition
10. If you are in the right place, you should see a directory called EFI
11. Type cd EFI and then dir to list the child directories inside EFI
12. Type rmdir /S ubuntu to delete the ubuntu boot directory

Assuming you only ever had two operating systems (Win 10 & Ubuntu) you should now be able to boot directly to Windows without hitting the black grub screen.

armadadrivearmadadrive

To restore Win 10 default bootloader follow these steps:

• Log into Win 10
• Open Command Prompt (Admin)
• c:> bootsect /nt60 <drive name>: /mbr

<drive name> is the drive letter where the Master Boot Record (MBR) will be updated

For example to update C master boot record this is the command:

c:> bootsect /nt60 c: /mbr

For more help about bootsect command see here - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/bootsect-command-line-options

Mauricio Gracia Gutierrez

You can restore the Windows bootloader with a Windows 8/8.1 DVD. These instructions are inspired by Manindra Mehra's answer, but I expanded it with full working details (verified with a Windows 8.1 DVD).

1. Put the DVD in your optical drive and boot from it.

2. Press a key when it displays Press any key to start from CD or DVD.

3. Select your language etc. and click Next.

4. Click Repair your computer.

5. Click Troubleshoot.

6. Click Advanced Options.

7. Click Command Prompt.

8. In the command prompt window, type bootrec /fixmbr

9. Click the red X to close the command prompt.

10. Click Turn off your PC.

11. Turn the PC back on and it should boot directly into Windows.

This leaves the Ubuntu partition on your hard drive or SSD. To remove it:

1. Hit Windows+X and select Disk Management.

2. Find the Ubuntu partition. It will probably be a large partition without a drive letter.

3. Be sure you have the correct partition!

4. Right-click the partition and delete or reformat it with a Windows filesystem.

To do so you will need a windows installation cd/dvd

1. put it in your optical drive and boot from it
2. on the installation screen where it asks you to install windows, click on Repair Your Computer on the lower left corner of your screen
3. Now go to command prompt (It probably will show a window saying 'Trying to repair windows automatically', close it) and type BootRec.exe /fixmbr
4. after it finishes GRUB is gone and you can now boot into windows directly
5. you have an Ubuntu partition left in your computer, that doesn't show in 'My Computer', to access that, right click on 'My Computer' and Select 'Manage' and go to 'Disk Management'
6. Select the Ubuntu partition and format it to a file system that windows can use.

Wayne_Yux

With UEFI you have both a Windows folder & an Ubuntu folder in the efi partition. the UEFI reads the efi entries and adds them to its own NVRAM to remember them. You have to remove ubuntu folder from efi partition first or UEFI will re-add it. Then you have to remove UEFI entry from UEFI.

You should have these folders in the efi partition. Delete only the ubuntu folder. Live installer should show folders. And if only Windows you have to mount from inside Windows the efi partition as it is not normally mounted.

You should not have to install Ubuntu but can use live installer DVD or flash drive. Some UEFI systems may let you do the UEFI edit from UEFI menu.

from liveDVD or flash and use efibootmgr

The '-v' option displays all the entries so you can confirm you're deleting the right one, and then you use the combination of '-b ####' (to specify the entry) and '-B' (to delete it). Examples #5 is delete:

oldfredoldfred

You can also use a USB memory stick for this job. It takes three applications: Unetbootin, FreeDOS and Testdisk for DOS.

1. First download Unetbootin and use it to make a bootable USB memory stick. Choose Freedos when prompted for a distribution to install on it.
2. Download Testdisk for DOS (don't pick the beta, but pick the stable version).
3. Unzip the files testdisk.exe and CWSDPMI.exe, and put them on the bootable memory stick (not in a folder, just straight on it).
4. Boot your computer from the memory stick. At the Default window, simply press Enter.
5. Now FreeDOS is being launched. Choose: FreeDOS Safe Mode (don't load any drivers) and Press Enter.
6. Then type: C: and Press Enter.
7. Now type: testdisk and Press Enter.
8. Select [No Log] and Press Enter.
9. Select the hard drive concerned: usually the second option (the first option is the memory stick itself) and Press Enter.
10. Select [Intel] and Press Enter
11. Select [MBR Code] and press Enter. When prompted, type y (yes) and press Enter again.

Now you're done! Reboot your computer normally. Your computer should boot up Windows now.

TheSchwa

The guy above me's method does not work on newer EFI computers. I solved the problem. Here is how I did it. WARNING, you have to reinstall Linux / grub first!

Steps: (this is if nothing else works and takes a long time)

1: Reinstall Ubuntu / Linux mint (this is just so you can use GRUB to boot into Windows).

1.5: Restart and boot into windows (if you can't boot to Windows, then live boot from the CD or USB and run the following in a console:

If you have a windows repair disk you can select the UEFI firmware option and load Windows from there (to avoid reinstalling Linux)

Boot repair (if needed right now)

1g: Select recommended repair and follow the on screen instructions.

2g: After your done, reboot. You should see the grub menu, even though you can boot to Windows from here, this is not what we want yet... But find the option that boots into Windows.

2: Once your booted into Windows, run your disk partition editor and delete All partitions related to Linux / grub. Especially make sure the small grub partition is removed. Reboot

2.5: Make sure the windows loader is the first selected boot device. (most likely is). Disable the Ubuntu option. Continue boot.

3: If you've done everything right up to this point you should see (depending on your computer) your splash screen for a second and then it will turn into an error screen saying that there was an error with the boot. ('Winload.exe is missing or corrupted' most likly).

3.5: Don't be alarmed (I was). The next step will restore your original bootloader.

4: Restart and boot to your Linux CD or USB.

5: Once booted, run boot repair commands from above again. This time when running it. It will act differently, there is no grub bootloader detected to reinstall and should run faster than before.

6: Once complete, restart.

7: Enjoy your GRUB free system!

This worked for me when nothing else did, I ran bootrec.exe. Nothing worked. This saved my computers life. Hope it saves yours!

No CD's, USB's, DVD's. No long tutorials.

On UEFI all you have to do is:

Install Windows Bootloader

Place Windows boot entry in NVRAM as first.

How to do this - several solutions.

Easiest solution is to use firmware functionality and reorder NVRAM boot entries.

What worked for me is:

1. Boot to Windows
2. Win + X
3. Command Prompt (as admin)
4. bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path EFIMicrosoftBootbootmgfw.efi
5. Reboot

For system with GPT partition table, the method provided by @Ganesh Kondal won't work. Using bootsect /nt60 C: /mbr will show that it worked while it really doesn't. Using bootrec /fixmbr will lead to error that 'the system cannot find the file specified'. If any of the above situation applies, do the following (Using Windows 10 as an example):

1. at log in prompt, hold shift, click on power button, choose restart, let go of shift
2. choose troubleshoot -> advanced options -> command line
3. at command line, type in bcdboot <drive name>:windows

for more detailed information, also look at this webpage:https://www.tenforums.com/general-support/74226-bootmgr-error-cant-find-fix.html

Quick Guide

Open PowerShell as Administrator

Details

Windows 10 Remove Bootloader

Administrator PowerShell

Enter powershell into the windows search of the start menu. Look for a blue icon with the label 'Windows PowerShell', right click on the that and select 'Run as Administrator' within the context menu.

Mount EFI/System Partition As Volume

To Mount the EFI System Partition on the given drive use the mountvol command by using the /S parameter. You can chose any free drive letter you want. For example 'S'.

Access Mounted Volume

Now the partition is mounted. We can access the mounted volume by changing to the drive by the cd command and the drive letter S: as parameter

To ensure we are at the root of this volume we should execute:

Type via the dir command to list the entries of the current path to ensure you on the right one.

It should look like this:

Delete Boot Loaders

Your boot loaders are location in the EFI directory.Change to it by using the cd command and list the entries via the dir command.

Your output depends on the boot loaders you have installed, here is a example with Windows and Ubuntu.

Now you can delete unwanted loaders via the command rd and the parameter /S.

DO NOT DELETE THE BOOT DIRECTORY OR THE WINDOWS DIRECTORY!

protected by ZannaMar 7 '17 at 19:44

Windows 10 Reinstall Bootloader

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