Windows 8 A wierd dual boot

[lostsoul65]

I had a dual boot on my computer which was XP and Windows 8 Beta. I put the Windows 8 upgrade on XP. Now I have two Windows 8 that I can boot into. My computer say that my C drive is my system, and Default drive. However my Windows 8 upgrade in my D drive because it has Windows old on it. Now because of this mess I have to do restore points on both drives because I'm thinking that there are some system files on the other partition, the C drive. What I would like to do in delete my C drive making by Windows 8 upgrade the C drive instead of the D drive. What would you do?

 

[Drew]

'ls62',

I'm struggling a wee bit to follow your scenario but, that said... IF, I am understanding you correctly, you had XP as C:\. You changed that to Windows 8. That should be all that's needed. Anything else can be tossed. This advice is based on understanding your situation correctly... I trust I have.

Cheers,
Drew
Link Removed

 

[Medico]

I agree with Drew. I would think XP was the first OS installed on your PC so would be the C Drive by default. The dual boot would put Win 8 Beta into a new partition/drive, which would most likely be assigned D. If you truly installed Win 8 Pro over the XP partition/Drive then it should now reside in the C Drive.

The first thing I would do is to name each partition to something very distinctive so no mistakes can be made. Something like Win8Pro and OldWin8Beta. If you boot to the Win 8 Pro OS (and you are definite this is your Win 8 Pro OS - Control Panel, System will definitely tell you which OS you are booted into) open File Explorer, Right Click on the C Drive and choose Properties. This is where you can rename the drive. Do it now, then the other OS is the beta OS, rename it as well.

Link Removed

The MBR is likely on the Win 8 Pro drive. You might need to use msconfig or an app such as Easy BCD to remove the OS you are deleting from the MBR. Then any partitioning app, including Win 8 Disk Manager should be able to remove the Win 8 Beta OS (assuming it's on the D Drive) You can then resize the C Drive into the now unallocated space left when you deleted the Win 8 Beta partition/drive.

This is a problem when dual booting a Win 8 Pro OS along side of a Win 8 Beta installation. If you do not rename them so it's extremely easy to tell them apart, your job of getting rid of one becomes harder.

 

[Drew]

The MBR is w/ Win8 Pro. GO TO Disc Manager; Just find the other (unneeded) drive, Rt Clk, delete it & format it; even w/out Easy BCD. That'll do it. Don't need msconfig, after that; it'll be gone from there.

Cheers,
Drew
Link Removed

 

[lostsoul65]

My D drive has Windows old with 13 Gigs of data and Windows also has 13 gigs of data and my C drive does not have windows old becasue bata wasn't an upgrade. You can't upgrade without having Windows old in the final OS. My concern is there system files I need on my C drive which is my Bata. Also if my MBR is on my C drive (bata) then I might have a problem. I could just leave it alone but again I'm making 2 restore points.

Disk Manager said: D drive --Healthy (System, Active, Primary Partition) C drive Health (Boot, page file, crash dump, primary partition) -- The D drive says the word Active.

 

[Saltgrass]

Referring to partitions with drive letters can be confusing, since they will change, depending on which OS you are booted into.

The best thing to do is take a picture of your Disk Management window (including Graphical Drive representation) with the snipping tool and attach using the paperclip on advanced replies. This will allow us to see your situation.

 

[lostsoul65]

Link Removed

This is a picture of Disk Manager

 

[Medico]

Like I said, rename the 2 partitions so you can tell then apart. Boot to Win 8 Pro (check in CP, System to be sure), then rename it. Also rename the D partition.

This is what mine looked like when I had a dual boot:

Link Removed

Notice how very easy it is to tell which OS is which when they are named appropriately.

In your case, as I said earlier, name the real partition as Win8Pro, and the beta partition as OldWin8Beta. In this way it will be easy to know which partition to delete.

 

[Saltgrass]

Whichever version of Windows 8 you were booted into when you made the attachment, is on the second partition.

The first partition is where the boot files are, and probably the other version of Windows 8.

 

[lostsoul65]

I know I booted into Windows 8 upgrade (the one I bought). I also know that you can't have Windows old on a full version. So I'm not sure what your saying. Now I'm saying that my Windows 8 (the one I bought) is on the D partition. Is there a way to see if I'm in the beta or upgrade? Because Windows old is telling me I'm on the upgrade, is there another way?

 

[Medico]

Did you read my post? Go to Control Panel, System. You will see which OS you are booted to. Then name it accordingly.

 

[Drew]

Here's the explanation, I suggest...

We are dealing Windows 8 beta & Windows 8 Pro. XP was originally in the PC. (Next) Win8 RP is added, as a dual-boot. At that point Windows 8 became/took over as Boot. Now, XP goes to Windows 8 Pro. Win8 Pro sees a Windows 8 Boot, already, existing and uses it... ergo, the Boot is, still, on the Beta OS drive.

This can be changed in msconfig. The machine will not boot w/out the beta there until this is done. Deleting/formatting the beta OS drive NOW would render the machine unbootable & force a re-install of Windows 8 Pro. And XP before that.

If you give me a few minutes to remember it, there's a command line that moves the MBR.

There are ways using Repair Console but, you're best to use the EasyBCD which is free. Simplest & quickest is msconfig. Can change it right there. Been there, done that

Cheers,
Drew
Link Removed

 

[Drew]

The GA is Build 9200

If, I recall correctly, the beta is 8600. The beta, for sure, shows this @ the bottom-right corner.

Cheers,
Drew
Link Removed

 

[Drew]

Ted, is right about naming whichever is being used at that moment. But, the one currently holding the Boot is the RP, I believe. Understand, it can go Win8 Pro, even though the MBR is on the RP. The default boot order & where the Boot is are 2 separate things.

Cheers,
Drew
Link Removed

 

[lostsoul65]

Renaming is fine if you know what it is your renaming. The one thing that bothers me is that no one has address how can a full version OS have Windows old on it??? C drive doesn't have it but D drive has Windows old and that is a big red flag. I don't want to do 2 restore points and have twice the problems so what I'm going to do is reload Windows 8. I'm not really sure how I'm going to do this but I want to get rid of one of the partitons so I only I have one Windows 8 period but would like to do it without starting from ground zero. Any suggestions?

 

[Saltgrass]

Lets look at this logically

You installed XP, most likely on the first partition on the drive. You then install Windows 8 Pre-whatever, most likely on the second partition.

You then overwrote XP, hopefully, which would have been on the first partition. For all I know, you may have installed Windows 8 Pro on the last partition.

But in Device Manager, System is where the boot files are, and must be active. The Boot partition is where the OS files are and the partition you have booted into. If you boot in to one version of Windows 8, it will say C: and the other, something else. If you boot into the other one, it will say C: and the original C: will no longer be that.

As has been mentioned, using the Winkey + Pause will bring up the System dialog, which will show what the OS is. Also, the Pre-releases showed the Build number in the bottom right, whereas a activated Windows 8 Pro install does not show a build number. The final release has a nicer cover screen prior to login.

And finally, you cannot just delete the first partition, no matter what OS in there. You could move the boot files, but you will have to know where you want to move them.

 

[Drew]

Ok, having read everything, this is the 'take away' being suggested (you don't have a lot of options):

1. Grab whatever data you have in either OS & move it to the Data drive (partition).
2. Install XP on whichever size of the other 2 partitions you want to ultimately hold your OS (Windows 8) the 100Gb or the 200Gb.
3. After XP is live & Activated...
4. Install Windows 8 on the drive holding XP.
5. Tell the install to keep nothing.
6. After Windows 8 is live & Activated
7. Delete & format the 'other' drive partition.
8. You just acquired a bit more storage space in addition to the Data drive that already existed.

This is a way, w/out being able to put the HDD on another machine. But, would still mean installing XP & then Windows 8.

Cheers,
Drew
Link Removed

 

[Medico]

Any time you install one OS over another OS without first formatting the HD you will end up with a windows.old folder. This folder contains the old OS and can be opened to pull out data before deleting this folder.

The only time you will not see this folder is when you format the HD as a part of the installation.

Do NOT base which OS you are booted into based completely on the fact that you have a windows.old folder. When I installed Win 8 RP over Win 8 CP (Both beta versions of Win 8) I had a windows.old folder because I did not format the HD. Even doing a custom install does not format the partition unless you manually do so as a part of the installation by using Advanced Disk Options.

 

[Drew]

What Ted has said is correct. For example, installing Win8 over Win7 & telling it to keep nothing will, still, produce a win.old folder, although, w/ nothing in it.

Cheers,
Drew
Link Removed