Remove Windows from Dual Boot Setup?

Bazzite
1

I’m pretty close to being sure enough of Bazzite to remove Windows entirely. How would I go about removing Windows from my dual boot setup?

2

Are you using separate drives for Bazzite and Wndows or are they on the same drive?

3

Same drive.

20260111 -- DrivePartitions
20260111 -- DrivePartitions991×393 52.8 KB

4

Ooosh, not the best idea. I think I know what to do, but I’m not sure and don’t want to tell you something wrong.

5

I’ll throw in some more information about my system just in case:

sudo parted -l
[sudo] password for dave: 
Model: KINGSTON SKC3000D2048G (nvme)
Disk /dev/nvme0n1: 2048GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    File system  Name                          Flags
 1      1049kB  106MB   105MB   fat32        EFI System Partition          boot, esp, no_automount
 2      106MB   123MB   16.8MB               Microsoft reserved partition  msftres, no_automount
 3      123MB   1023GB  1023GB  ntfs         Basic data partition          msftdata
 4      1023GB  1024GB  819MB   ntfs                                       hidden, diag, no_automount
 5      1024GB  1619GB  595GB   ntfs         Basic data partition          msftdata
 6      1619GB  1620GB  1074MB  ext4                                       bls_boot
 7      1620GB  2048GB  428GB   btrfs


Model: Unknown (unknown)
Disk /dev/zram0: 4295MB
Sector size (logical/physical): 4096B/4096B
Partition Table: loop
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start  End     Size    File system     Flags
 1      0.00B  4295MB  4295MB  linux-swap(v1)


sudo blkid
/dev/nvme0n1p7: LABEL="bazzite_fedora" UUID="1c87951c-b501-463a-bc39-aec844c21718" UUID_SUB="912ab975-c551-4b99-b3b7-819c9a782d81" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="btrfs" PARTUUID="07402981-1811-4d26-9932-917e5de50d82"
/dev/nvme0n1p5: LABEL="Data" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="7A76B90476B8C1E5" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="8d30a8cf-6feb-4307-aeea-2b43ed3dd05b"
/dev/nvme0n1p3: LABEL="Windows" BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="5ED014D9D014B8EB" TYPE="ntfs" PARTLABEL="Basic data partition" PARTUUID="02e2157a-6a27-4400-8714-b8594489ce09"
/dev/nvme0n1p1: UUID="C60E-F487" BLOCK_SIZE="512" TYPE="vfat" PARTLABEL="EFI System Partition" PARTUUID="a2c756c9-f016-4859-a39c-78a599d0ee8f"
/dev/nvme0n1p6: UUID="ce13adbb-56ce-4dce-9583-3188852404d8" BLOCK_SIZE="4096" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="58ebbf57-dc03-4219-a35e-4656cf0241dc"
/dev/nvme0n1p4: BLOCK_SIZE="512" UUID="3C9E6CDF9E6C9366" TYPE="ntfs" PARTUUID="fc5216bd-b3df-4d95-8dae-f7397706c9f3"
/dev/nvme0n1p2: PARTLABEL="Microsoft reserved partition" PARTUUID="fb4f98c1-c79e-447a-bc64-15e5ee9aab94"
/dev/zram0: LABEL="zram0" UUID="5e642d63-efcd-49b9-8522-85f5162f1a96" TYPE="swap"


sudo efibootmgr
BootCurrent: 0002
Timeout: 1 seconds
BootOrder: 0002,0000,0003
Boot0000* Windows Boot Manager	HD(1,GPT,a2c756c9-f016-4859-a39c-78a599d0ee8f,0x800,0x32000)/\EFI\MICROSOFT\BOOT\BOOTMGFW.EFI57494e444f5753000100000088000000780000004200430044004f0042004a004500430054003d007b00390064006500610038003600320063002d0035006300640064002d0034006500370030002d0061006300630031002d006600330032006200330034003400640034003700390035007d00000033000100000010000000040000007fff0400
Boot0002* Fedora	HD(1,GPT,a2c756c9-f016-4859-a39c-78a599d0ee8f,0x800,0x32000)/\EFI\FEDORA\SHIMX64.EFI
Boot0003* Fedora	HD(1,GPT,a2c756c9-f016-4859-a39c-78a599d0ee8f,0x800,0x32000)/\EFI\FEDORA\SHIM.EFI0000424f

My rough guess of what I’ll have to do to remove Windows from this dual boot setup is:

  1. Remove Windows EFI Boot Files
    1. In file manager, go to /boot/efi/EFI/ and remove Microsoft folder.
    2. Go up one level to /boot/efi and remove System Volume Information folder.
  2. Remove Windows
    1. Boot into Bazzite Live ISO and run gparted
    2. Remove all pure Windows partitions
    3. Move Bazzite partitions to the front of the drive
    4. Expand Bazzite partition to use empty space
  3. Modify GRUB
    1. Edit /etc/default/grub and delete Windows line
    2. In Terminal, run:
      ujust regenerate-grub
      and reboot.

But, I’m not sure if that’s doable with Bazzite (an Atomic distribution) or if I have to do things to make everything consistent in the Bazzite file system.

20260112 -- boot_efi_EFI Folder Showing Microsoft Folder
20260112 -- boot_efi_EFI Folder Showing Microsoft Folder1332×525 46.4 KB

20260112 -- boot_efi Folder Showing System Volume Information Folder
20260112 -- boot_efi Folder Showing System Volume Information Folder1332×440 38.4 KB

1 Like
6

I ran into an issue on Bazzite that’s temporarily put my Windows-removal plans on hold. Twice now, when trying to log on to USAA on Bazzite in Brave, all I’d get is a popup saying:

We are unable to complete your request.
Our system is currently unavailable.
Please try again later.

It then happens with my other browsers and in a Windows container under WinBoat. If I boot into real windows, I can log in without problem. At that point, when I go back to Bazzite and try it there, it works just fine. So, until I can find a way to clear that problem from within Bazzite, I’ve decided to keep my Windows dual-boot setup.

BUT, I did recover most of my Windows disk space and give it to Bazzite by:

  1. Booting into Windows,
  2. Moving all my Windows special folders from where I put them on the D: drive back to their default position on the C: drive,
  3. Shrinking the C: drive down to a smaller size,
  4. Booting into the Bazzite Live ISO,
  5. Running GParted,
  6. Deleting the old Windows data (D:) drive,
  7. Moving all the remaining partitions to the left and resizing the Bazzite partion to use all the free space.

Everything seems to be working fine.