I've been testing out Linux Mint as an alternative to Windows, and it's working great for me except for one app—Line messenger, which is popular in Taiwan. I'm really enjoying Linux Mint and want to completely remove Windows from my setup. What's the best way to go about doing this? Do I need to reinstall the whole OS, or is there a simpler method to just delete Windows and reclaim that space?
5 Answers
Honestly, the safest route is a fresh install where you wipe the whole disk. This way you don’t have to worry about adjusting partitions or FSTab entries. Just remember to update Grub after you delete the Windows partition.
You’ve got a couple of options here! For the brave souls, there's the 'YOLO' approach where you could just delete all the Windows partitions and see what happens. Sometimes it works, but you might end up doing some repairs.
For a more careful approach, you could reformat the Windows NTFS partition to a Linux-friendly format like ext4. That way, you minimize the risk of breaking anything.
Alternatively, you can delete the Windows partition along with any recovery partitions and clean up the EFI boot files, but just be prepared for potential changes in how partitions are numbered. If you don’t have a lot of important files to keep, a full reinstall can also be a sure-fire way to clear everything out.
It's definitely doable to delete the Windows partition, but do watch out for Grub issues. If you don't have too much data to lose, a clean install might be the best option. If you're on a laptop, consider enabling encryption during the install for extra security.
Reinstalling Grub isn’t hard. Look for an option on the USB installer to restore Grub. If you're having trouble, the Arch Linux wiki has great guidelines on this!
Use a USB installer and fire up GParted to resize or delete the Windows partitions. Don’t forget to reinstall Grub afterward!
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