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I've searched through some answers here, and while one was marked as a duplicate, it specifically dealt with an apt upgrade, so I don't think it applies to my question.

Currently I have 12.10 on my machine sitting next to Windows 7. Upgrading to 13.04 via the software updater doesn't seem to work--it gets hung up on some packages and then reverts and quits out of the upgrader. I burned an .iso image and thought to upgrade with that. When I use it, though, my only options are to wipe the drive entirely or place the upgrade next to the "other OS's" the upgrader detects. I chose the latter, hoping it would replace 12.10 and upgrade to 13.04. Not so. Now I have 12.10 and 13.04 on the same machine.

How can I delete these partitions and run a clean install while keeping windows 7 on the drive? I know I can use Gparted, but don't know if I should use the format option on the ext and linux-swap and format to NTFS or to somehow just delete these entirely (is there a Gparted option for that?) Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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  • Was Windows installed before Ubuntu?
    – Mitch
    May 10, 2013 at 5:41
  • Update: I deleted the Ubuntu partitions (ext and linux-swap) and installed from .iso. The Ubuntu installer recognized the empty partition (without expressly saying so), and installed just fine. Ubuntu 13.04 shows up in the load screen. Windows (7) boots just fine. Thanks for the help! May 12, 2013 at 2:20

1 Answer 1

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This is only if you installed Ubuntu after Windows.

When you delete a partition, it becomes an unpartitioned (unformatted) space. If you would want to create a partition from it, you'd right click that unpartitioned space and hit "Format". So, in your case, in GParted, you don't have to format them into NTFS, just delete all the ext and swap partitions and, if all of them were arranged one after the other, you'd have one huge "unpartitioned space" in the end. When you're installing Ubuntu, you'd tell it to use all empty space (I can't remember the name of the actual option), it'll detect the empty space, format it into ext and swap partitions, and install itself there.

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  • Deleting the Ubuntu partiyions this way may render Windows un bootable.
    – Mitch
    May 10, 2013 at 5:48
  • How come? That's if he's using grub you mean? Well, the fresh install of Ubuntu would detect the Windows partition and add it to grub, right?
    – Alaa Ali
    May 10, 2013 at 5:53
  • It depends if windows was installed first or not.
    – Mitch
    May 10, 2013 at 5:58
  • So if Windows was installed after Ubuntu, and then I remove Ubuntu and reinstall it, it would not detect the Windows partition?
    – Alaa Ali
    May 10, 2013 at 6:19
  • Correct, and you you'll need to restore Windows boot loader.
    – Mitch
    May 10, 2013 at 6:22

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