Windows 10: How do I A) Get rid of Grub and B) go back to Windows 8.1

Hi, I'm in a bit of a unique situation at the moment. I have grub because I required linux for about a month and decided to use it to dual boot it with Windows 10. I deleted linux, but I still have grub. I also (unknowingly) deleted my backup of Windows 8 from my laptop, so right now I'm just on Windows 10. I do not have the sticker under my laptop that has my product key (I'm not even sure I had one of those stickers), so what am I to do if I wanted to 1) remove grub, and 2) go back to Windows 8.

Also, if I can't go back to windows 8, will I at least be able to upgrade to Windows 10 for free through their upgrade program? Thanks for any answers you can provide, I really messed up here.

Edit: The reason I want to get rid of GRUB is that it makes upgrading the builds a huge hassle (having to be around when the system restarts)

:)

 

How do I get rid of "Life At A Glace" and go back to displaying my desktop.

Hi Gary,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

I understand the inconvenience you are facing currently. Let me help you in resolving the issue.

I would like to inform you that "Life at a glance˝ is the header name of the first group of Windows 10 tiles.

If you click the words life at a glance with your mouse in the Windows 10 start menu, you’ll notice how they change to an input box where you can change the name of this app group in your start menu. You can also use the backspace key or click the “x” that
appears on the right of the input field to remove life at a glance in Windows 10.

Hope the information helps. Keep us posted on Windows related queries and we will be happy to assist you further.

 

How do I get rid of "Life At A Glace" and go back to displaying my desktop.

I was out of town for a week and when I logged into my instead of getting my desktop, I got something called "Life At A Glance". How do I get rid of "Life At A Glace" and go back to displaying my desktop.

Original title: Live At A Glace

 

The only way back to Windows 8.1 is a clean reinstall. Your computer has a SLC table (the Key is imbedded in the motherboard), meaning that you will have to go through several steps to get reinstallation media. I think asking on the eightforums would be your best bet as the only solutions I can find require a retail key or a working Windows 8.1 partition.

 

Thank you, I will find these forums! *Smile

 

You can try:

• Download Visual BCD Editor - Windows 8|7|Vista
• Install then run. You'll get an error message, just ignore it.
• Follow the screen shot
  
  
  
• Win+R->msconfig and look under boot tab. It should be only Windows 10 listed. If not delete the other entry.

It is impossible to go back to Windows 8 since you don't have a backup image but you might have the factory recovery image. However, I am not sure if you can recover from it because when you install Linux, Windows 10, the boot manager is probably got messed up.

In order to re-install Windows 8, you will have to download the correct edition of Windows 8 that you previously had so the key from BIOS can be used to activate Windows 8.
Create installation media for Windows 8.1 - Windows Help

 

Thank you for the help! GRUB is now gone. I will try the Windows 8 solution tomorrow, thank you!

 

You're welcome and thanks for reporting back.

 

To be honest, I'm pretty sure that doing a clean reinstall (deleting all partitions) will also clear GRUB

 

I once duel booted with win10 a Linux and used grub ,I simply formatter the Linux partition and then ran the win10 bootup repair and it fixed it for me without and issues with win10 after the repair

 

There's no doubt that if you delete the partition and re-installl Windows then you would not have to do anything. The procedure I gave above just to answer his first question.

 

not sure if you are commenting on my previous post but if you are I did not reinstall windows ,I just ran the boot /startup repair to fix the mbr

 

I tried that several times with no results before I came to this site :/ Topgun's solution worked, so I'm happy.

I forgot to pose a third question. Since I do not (I don't think I do) have a backup copy of my Windows 8.1, does this mean I am screwed when Win10 is rolled out?

 

Look at the link in my previous post #4 where you can download Windows 8.1 ISO. Put in a USB/CD then you can re-install Windows 8.1. Make sure you select correct Edition that you previously had with your Laptop so that Windows can be activated by reading the Product Key embedded in the BIOS.
Actually it is best to do this way. A fresh clean Windows 8.1 installed without any third party Software then upgrade to Windows 10 might go smoothly without any conflict.

@caperjack
No, I was not commenting yours but the previous one. However, doing a boot repairr is a hit and miss and sometimes it does not work, especially when you have multiple recovery partitions.