The issue AFAIK is the UEFI partition thing. I am not a WIndows guy, so have not got detailed knowledge on the specifics.
However, another option is to leave GRUB alone and set it to auto-boot Windows instead of Linux.
Also, Windows cannot see the Master Boot Record, which is certainly not the 4GB partition. That is either /boot or / (root) and the 115GB partition is either /home or / (root). The MBR is a tiny partition where the boot loader lives. Unfortunately the MBR scheme only support disks up to 2TB, so the GUID Partition Table (GPT) scheme is used instead. Switching between these two is the really hard thing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_recordhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_TableIf all you want to do is install Windows 9 instead of Ubuntu, then
possibly you could remove the Linux partition and install Win9 there. Then you could retain GRUB and add Win9 as a boot option in GRUB.
But the WIndows installer has a habit of killing MBR, so you might end up without a bootloader at all, and then you wouldn't be able to choose where you booted.
Personally, here is what I would do:
Option A: Two disks. Install a new 500GB disk and remove your old one. Do a clean install of your main WIndows environment on the new disk. Then physically re-install the old disk,and copy all of your files and data. Finally unplug the new disk, and try and install WIn9 on the old disk. Then you should be able to hit F12 at boot time and choose your boot drive.
Option B: One bigger disk and a VM running Win9. This is what I do, although my base OS is Linux.
Install a 1TB drive and install your primary operating system on it, using the entire drive. Copy your old data and programs over from the old drive and make sure everything is happy. Then install VirtualBox or the free version of VMware, and set up a virtual machine for Win9. There will be some overhead while inside the Win9 environment, so don't game there, but it makes a really good sandbox.
I like and use Option B even on dual-boot machines. For most things I run Linux and do Windows-specific things in a VirtualBox Windows VM. The only reason I ever boot the entire machine into Windows is to use all of the possible power of the hardware. Gaming and rendering are the only thing that require me to boot into Windows.
Ah, I thought of a third option.
Option C: Two small boot SSDs plus your existing disk for data. Get a couple of small, inexpensive SSDs. Install your primary Windows OS on one, and leave your data files on the existing hard drive. Then, install Win9 on the other SSD, also using the existing hard drive as a shared data device. There are good guides and How-Tos on this process.
Again, make a good backup or two before you do anything with your existing drive. You may need to boot from an Ubuntu Live CD to use a Linux disk utility to fully free up the MBR/GPT in order to use that 500GB drive as a Windows boot drive.
Sorry for the pain, but Windows and Linux make completely different assumptions about who should be in charge of the bootloader. Dual-boot systems are not for the faint of heart, and removing them can be as hard or harder than the original creation.
I hope the above helps! Also, Google and the Ubuntu forumns are your friends in this situation.
- Ron | samwisekoi