Windows 7 How to remove XP after a 7 install? Help Please!

[Megatron]

Hi,

I have installed 7 RC fine and now I want to remove an old bloated install of XP from my hard drive. Simply trying to format the XP partition from inside 7 or using the Windows hard disk management tool to delete the partition doesn't work so how can I do this.

I have 2 physical hard drives: 1 for the OS partitioned in 2 - 1 for XP and 1 for 7, and a separate physical drive for data.

So basically how do I make my OS drive 1 partition with just 7 on it.

Thanks

 

[textureDnB]

easiest to do it at boot time personally i would boot into ubuntu or any linux based rescue CD and delete the partition in question and leave it as unpartitioned space.Then boot into windows seven and use disk management to resize your W7 partition into the unallocated space.Ithink the problem your having is that windows tries to make it difficult to format or delete ANY system partition which is only a pain sometimes and i'm sure has prevented disaster on more than a few occasions. This procedure may also be possible with the disc you used to install Seven just bail on the install so you dont install windows twice.

 

[SIW2]

If you use a 3rd party app. to delete XP - you won't be able to boot into 7.

The XP partition contains the 7 boot files - that's why Disk management won't let it be deleted.

You could repair that by running startup repair (twice) from the 7 dvd. There needs to an active primary partition for 7 to create the boot files on.

 

[textureDnB]

If you use a 3rd party app. to delete XP - you won't be able to boot into 7.

The XP partition contains the 7 boot files - that's why Disk management won't let it be deleted.

You could repair that by running startup repair (twice) from the 7 dvd. There needs to an active primary partition for 7 to create the boot files on.

good lookin out as they say.So i cant delete my xp partition because i'm going to be in the same boat when i work up the bravery to throw it away.I take it the bootloader used to dual boot with seven is placed on the first bootable partition in our case that being xp. Wre not talking about the actual boot files Boot'ini and ntldr or the 7 equivalent were talking about whatever the windows bootloader is that alows you to chose which OS to load? Wonder if there is a non repair install way to get around this because if i have to go that route it will be easier to re-install on my xp partion which should be marginally faster anyway.

Nice save i hope the OP didn't cause himself a headache before you posted.See what i meant about preventing more than a few disasters

 

[textureDnB]

quick question to anyone who might be monitoring this thread why couldn't i (i'll be in this situation soon just copy and paste the bootloader to my W7 boot partition is that possible to avoid the double repair installation

 

[stueycaster]

Don't touch any of the boot files or you won't be able to boot up. The system is going to look in the System (C) drive and nowhere else.

 

[SIW2]

Hi texture,

Sorry, only just picked up your post.

You don't need to do a double repair install.

I was talking about Startup Repair - only takes 2 mins.

Easiest is to Mark your 7 partition Active in Disk Management.

Restart - select F11 or whatever your bios screen says for boot menu.

Arrow down to cdrom drive, put 7 dvd in, press Enter. It will ask if you want to boot from cdrom drive - press Enter again.

Windows will load files - select language and keyboard - clik Next - you will get a screen saying "Install Now" ( DON'T CLICK THAT ) - underneath that , click where it says "Repair My Computer".

Startup Repair will start automatically.

It will find an error and say click to repair and restart - the second time it will list installed o/s - select 7, click Next and it will do the second repair.

Should be able to boot into 7 and delete XP partition from Disk Management.

To remove XP entry from boot menu, go to msconfig>Boot Tab > Highlight XP entry >click delete.

Hope it helps

 

[Ed Dixon]

A good general purpose partition tool is BING from:

Boot Manager, Partition Manager, and Drive Image Utility - BootIt Next Generation

Very useful in many ways.

Ed

 

[textureDnB]

Just to ensure i understand this thoroughly, what were doing is simply using the repair facility on the wndows seven DVD to fix boot for the seven installation by moving\recreating BCD and bootmgr to the new proper partition? Seems simple enough after that should be able to delete XP by whatever means necessary? Or are you assuming Xp was already deleted and were in a failure to boot scenario already? I'm thinking the latter but i do want to be clear knowledge is power and all that

 

[Bman]

Good morning -

First, let me appologize for digging up this old thread. There are a lof of threads on this subject and I have been reading them all. Before I completely wreck my current dual boot Win7 + XP setup, I need a little direction.

I have read the instructions laid out above by SIW2 but the machine is still giving me the boot option screen as well as sharing the XP partition as "active".

I currently have:

Windows 7 - on drive A
XP + SP3 - on drive B

The boot folder is still shown on the XP drive. XP has been removed from the Win7 msconfig/boot.ini tab.


What steps should I take next to completely remove XP from my system? I am getting conflicting information from "It can be done" to "just do this!".

This is from another thread on this forum:

Didnt find such a tutorial if I installed windows 7 on a partition of my vista or xp and then removing vista or xp if I decided to keep windows 7 permanently.

by trial an error I managed to get it done with the following steps. if you are unsure, do a full PC backup first before you attempt.

1) boot into windows 7
2) create boot record on windows 7. in command prompt type bcdboot c:\windows /s c:
3) remove all page files running on vista (d if you have them
4) right click on my computer select manage. select disk management. right click on the partition containing your windows 7 OS and choose "make partition active"
5) reboot (should boot from windows 7 boot manager) without showing the OS selection screen
6) only if you are sure that the previous steps are done correctly and your computer is booting from windows 7 partition. delete vista/xp partition from disk management. might need to use "remove" first from change drive letter option

7) to recover unallocated free space before your windows 7 partition
a) use partition wizard to expand your current windows 7 partition (free and compatible partition software Partition Wizard is a Windows based FREE Partition Manager. It works as partition magic and supports Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008 server and Windows 7. FREE for Home and Business user.)

b) norton ghost to clone windows 7 to unallocated partition, make new partition active
delete and recover old windows 7 partition (I did the previous step a. this step b is just how I would do it if step a failed. not tested. only would work if your windows 7 partition is smaller than your xp/vista)


​

Before I dive in to do this.... is there anything wrong with the procedure above?

Thanks in advance for your direction. I am not wholly confident in messing with boot tables etc.



Benjamin

 

[TorrentG]

Hi.

1) Make sure you can see hidden folders and files in 7.

2) Copy the boot folder from the root of D: to C:

(Ignore the warning that it can not copy bcd or bcd.log. Tell it to skip them.)

3) Do the same thing for the boot file.

4) Run this command from an elevated command prompt:

bcdedit /export C:\boot\bcd

5) Check in C:\boot that bcd is now in there.

6) Reboot to bios and set the C: drive as the first boot device.

7) Reboot to Windows and format D: if you wish.

 

[Bman]

Thanks for the information TorrentG..

Now on to the bigger problems. Before I saw your post I copied the boot record over following a thread I found online from the command prompt. On my C:\ (win7 drive) I say there was a boot and a boot folder. So far so good - following the remaining steps of the thread I found (I can look it up if needed) I went and a Startup Repair from Win7 disc.

Booted to windows just fine (still had the dual boot option during boot...that should have been my first warning). Went back into windows and deleted the partition with the old XP install.

Reboot - no OS found. So, I went back to StartUp Repair from the Win7 disc and saw there was NO OS listed to repair (fannnnntastic!). I went to the next screen / to command prompt and did a

bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /fixmbr

Rebooted - nothing.

Went back into Win7 StartupUp repair (still no OS selected to repair) and ran the Repair Startup anyway. It's been running for 2 hours.

I am kind of stuck now. No original XP partition. Win7 repair doesn't see any OS.

ANy suggestions on what to try next or how long I should let Startup Repair run? Note to self...that's what you get for jacking with boot records from the original OS and not knowing really what you are doing.

I see a new install coming on but thought I would keep poking around for a while. That's how I learn. Any way, looking forward to any suggestions you might have at this point knowing where I am in the process.

Thanks again for your help.

Benjamin

 

[TorrentG]

Physically remove all USB sticks, external HDDs and also the internal HDD with XP on it.

Run the startup repair, up to 3 consecutive times may be necessary. Boot to Windows if and when possible.

Reboot to bios and make sure that the 7 HDD is set as the first boot device. Save.

Power off the machine, re-attach the XP HDD. Boot to Windows.

You're welcome.

 

[Bman]

Will do - should I cancel the Startup Repair or let it keep on trucking for a while prior to doing the above list?
I hear the HDD working so it's doing something

I suck! Thanks again

 

[TorrentG]

Ehhh, that's up to you... heh heh.

 

[Bman]

Ha - yeah, gee thanks. I will let it run for a while since the HDD is going something.
I am leery given the fact that it didn't have an OS selected to repair but we will see what happens.

You know I will be back, right?

Thanks

 

[Joe S]

Are you absolutely sure you won't need to run any old software, games or devices not supported in Windows 7? If you remove it then need XP for anything later you'll have to look into other options. You can always cleanup the XP partition and shrink it.
Joe

 

[Bman]

Oh yes, absolutely. That's why I finally have jumped on this. I have been running win7 for almost a year now and haven't booted into XP in about 11 months. If I have a device that isn't supported in win7 at this day and age, I don't need that device. I say that now don't I? Ha.

I finally did get everything resolved with removing the XP partition. Here are some of the steps I took:

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Run the Startup repair from the Windows 7 DVD [/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]From the command prompt you can run:

[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman, serif]x:\windows\boot\bootsect /nt60 x: ← go to the windows install drive or the DVD???[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]x:\windows\system32>bootrec /FixMbr[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]x:\windows\system32>bootrec /Fixboot[/FONT]

TorrentG (or anyone else) - question about running the bootrec and bootsect. when I punch that into the command line, do I actually direct it to the OS driver letter? I ended up doing it to both just because I wasn't sure.

Should it be bootsect /nt60 c:

Does it matter if I run these from the X: (Win7 DVD) or can I go to c:\windows\system32 and run them?

What does nt60 x:/ do exactly?

When I was all said and done, I did get stuck on one little thing you told me - I never changed my boot sequence in the BIOS. In fact the OS driver was so far down on the list that it didn't list as one of the 3 primary boot options. Nice. As soon as I made that drive #1, it booted right up.

It should be noted that StartUp repair did a number on the file structure or the MFT. The fragmentation wasn't too bad but the machine was sloooow. I defragged and consolidated and everything picked up nicely.


Benjamin