How do you uninstall Ubuntu completely and re download windows

Question

I received a computer that has ubuntu gnome installed because the previous owner uninstalled windows 8 and downloaded ubuntu instead. So how do I get Windows back on the computer and Ubuntu off?

Answer 1

You'll need to get your Windows 8 product key from your BIOS and write it down for future installation. In the terminal type:

sudo cat /sys/firmware/acpi/tables/MSDM

Which will reveal something like this:

MSDMUoDELL  QA09   LOHR#####-#####-#####-#####-#####%

You can read other techniques of accomplishing key extraction here.

The next step of erasing Ubuntu and installing Windows is documented here: How to remove Ubuntu and put Windows back on?.