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Can't remove GNU Grub after deleting partition (Not GrubRescue!)

This is really urgent as I need Ubuntu for work.

I installed Ubuntu last year as a partition to dual boot with Windows 10. Then I realized that I didn't designate enough storage space to the Ubuntu partition (only 12gb!); How stupid! Anyway, I then decided to reinstall Ubuntu on my device.

So I deleted my current 12GB Ubuntu partition using Windows diskmgnt.

Then I went through the same process as before, I installed Ubuntu desktop as an ISO file, then used Rufus to flash it onto my USB, then I booted from my USB, when I was greeted with an odd message.

initramfs: Unable to find a medium containing a live file system

I looked into this and quickly realized that I still had a boot option called 'Ubuntu' even though I deleted the partition. This wasn't normal Ubuntu Desktop, it was a minimal GNU Grub. GNU Grub

I'm not entirely sure that the fact I can not install Ubuntu is to do with this, but it would be nice to remove it once and for all.

Can anyone please help me? I need Ubuntu for work and I'm not in a position to go out and buy a new PC.

Thank you so much for understanding, and sorry if I sound a bit uptight as this is my first post.

David DE
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Naman Patel
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2 Answers2

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To fix this, I simply used a different USB, then the installation process was successful and Grub terminal was gone.

Naman Patel
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This bootloader is in the /boot folder of whatever your drive is. You need to remove this somehow. You can do this in some BIOS versions on certain machines, not all allow this (mine doesn't). If you can somehow get the drive into a second working machine, you can sudo rm -r the folder that contains the wrong bootloader (for the Ubuntu entry) and you can use efibootmgr to remove the entry. More on that here: How do I completely destroy grub/ ubuntu bios entry? Conventional methods not working

Another option is to go into your BIOS, change the boot order and move Ubuntu right to the very bottom. This works better in case you accidentally delete the wrong boot entry or remove the wrong bootloader.

Vasilisa
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