Hey guys, I’ve been using Linux Mint and Windows 11 via a dual boot setup on two laptops for a while.

I hardly ever use Windows 11, except on my work laptop, so I want to delete it from my personal laptop.

How can I do this? What is the safest and easiest way, and what should I bear in mind?

Thank you in advance for your answers, and have a sunny day!

  • BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.worldEnglish
    13·
    5 months ago

    Many are suggesting deleting the Windows partition and resizing the Linux one, but another option is to back up your data and do a fresh Linux install.

    During setup, you can delete all partitions and create new ones—ideal if you want to separate the root system and /home folder. Keeping system and user data on separate partitions makes future reinstalls easier, as your personal files can be preserved.

    • darius@lemmy.ml
      41·
      5 months ago

      I second this point, a fresh install is definitely the way to go.

  • thatradomguy@lemmy.world
    4·
    5 months ago

    Boot into the Linux system, launch the given partition manager or install gparted, locate the Windows partition (will probably show NTFS file system), and just delete the partition. If you can, it may let you then reclaim the free disk space. Depends on your layout. Of course, as many would tell you, only do this unless you’re sure you’ve backed up any important data from the Windows partition…

  • theneverfox@pawb.socialEnglish
    52·
    5 months ago

    Do not ask people how to do this. If you don’t know from a web search, you shouldn’t try this without backing up a full disk image and understanding how to roll it back. Or at least backing up everything you care about

    It’s not a particularly hard thing, but it’s a very irreversible one

    • pastermil@sh.itjust.works
      33·
      5 months ago

      I second this. If you have to ask an internet rando, then that means you’re not ready.

      I’m gatekeeping not for the sake of being an elitist, but because if you mess this up, you may not see the end of this.

      There are already resources online. Some are even official by the distro you want to install. Maybe you should refer to that instead of this post.

      • xavier666@lemm.eeEnglish
        3·
        5 months ago

        Agreed. OP should just backup their Linux home directory (Everything inside ~/) and do a fresh install. Your Linux install will thank you for that.

  • IsoKiero@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    1·
    5 months ago

    Delete windows partition with your preferred tool and update-grub should remove the item from boot menu. Then, depending on your partitioning schema, you can either create a new partition in the empty space and mount it however you like or expand your existing linux partition, but options there depend on how your partitioning has been originally built and if you can leverage things like LVM or ZFS when expanding the usable storage.

    And, while pretty obvious, make sure to only delete the correct partition and all data stored on that will be lost, so make sure you don’t have anything important on windows side of things.

  • darius@lemmy.ml
    0·
    5 months ago

    Step 1: make a backup / clone the disk

    Step 2: double check the backup

    Step 3: Assuming you’ve got a grub bootloader, boot into Linux Mint, use GParted or Gnome-Disk-Utility

    Step 4: Identify your NTFS Windows 11 partition, the utility should show if it is mounted or not (it should not be mounted unless you added it to /etc/fstab

    Step 5: resize your Linux mint partition (ext4fs), & make sure you don’t accidentally move the partition

    Step 6: sudo update-grub to remove the entries for Windows 11 since it doesn’t exist anymore

    More info on if you’ve got an HDD vs SSD, MBR vs GPT partitioning, or a screenshot of your partition table from either of the disk utilities in step 3 would help us help you

    • BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      5 months ago

      This misses the step where you delete the windows partition - between steps 4 and 5. You have to delete the NTFS partition and resize your linux partition to fill the empty space.

      You can also create a new linux partition if you wanted as a separate space to store stuff.

  • ohshit604@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    5 months ago

    Put a GParted ISO on a thumb drive using Rufus or BalenaEtcher, in your BIOs change the boot order so that GParted boots first, boot into GParted an then readjust/delete your partition as you need be.

    Pretty straightforward for the most part.

      • ohshit604@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        01·
        5 months ago

        I honestly never tried Ventoy myself so I can’t really give you a proper answer to this however, after reading into it I see no reason why it wouldn’t work? So long as GParted can access the systems disks there shouldn’t be an issue.