Windows 8 How to Uninstall Windows 8 from Dual Boot without Affecting Windows 7

[mardique]

Yes, Uninstallation. So I've been running Win7 and Win8 in dual boot on the computer. The problem is that I'm never using 8 because everything is on 7. And I have no reason to move to 8 because it offers nothing that I don't already have besides a really fvcking ugly and impractical interface. So I want to get rid of it. But how do I do that WITHOUT a complete wipe. I want to keep Win7 completely intact. I tried to but it breaks the boot of 7, because 8 completely took over the boot sequence. So, help?

 

[mardique]

Someone sent me EasyBCD which solved everthing. Done.

 

[badrobot]

Good to know it helped and thanks for reporting back! Cheers!

 

[Digerati]

Glad you got it resolved. But to your comment about W8's "Metro" interface, I agree 100%. Perhaps it is the luddite in me after years of being used to the standard Windows desktop, but I cannot stand the W8 start page with those "tile" things, and really have absolutely no desire to learn and get used to it.

Fortunately, there are 3rd party programs to make W8 look (pretty much) like W7. I use and recommend Start8. It brings back the W7 Start Orb and you can set it to boot directly to the traditional W7 style Desktop instead of the new W8 Start page. And once you are on the standard desktop, W8 behaves almost exactly like W7 and, more importantly, how you expect it to work.

The only downside, though a small one, is it costs $5 but if you are as frustrated with W8's Start page as I was/am, $5 is well worth it. While W7 is a fantastic OS, W8 has more to offer - especially when it comes to security, speed (especially during boots) and support for modern UEFI based motherboards.

In other words, I would not avoid W8 - even if you truly despise the new interface. You can get around that.

 

[badrobot]

Glad you got it resolved. But to your comment about W8's "Metro" interface, I agree 100%. Perhaps it is the luddite in me after years of being used to the standard Windows desktop, but I cannot stand the W8 start page with those "tile" things, and really have absolutely no desire to learn and get used to it.

Fortunately, there are 3rd party programs to make W8 look (pretty much) like W7. I use and recommend Start8. It brings back the W7 Start Orb and you can set it to boot directly to the traditional W7 style Desktop instead of the new W8 Start page. And once you are on the standard desktop, W8 behaves almost exactly like W7 and, more importantly, how you expect it to work.

The only downside, though a small one, is it costs $5 but if you are as frustrated with W8's Start page as I was/am, $5 is well worth it. While W7 is a fantastic OS, W8 has more to offer - especially when it comes to security, speed (especially during boots) and support for modern UEFI based motherboards.

In other words, I would not avoid W8 - even if you truly despise the new interface. You can get around that.

I didn't realize until now that we are on the same boat with regards to Win 8. But I use Classic Shell instead. It's free but you will not have second thoughts about sending your donations to the developers for a well job done on it. It is constantly being updated. And now it is RTM ready. Cheers!

 

[Digerati]

Now all we need to do is make sure W8.1 "final" has not changed and does not break Start8 or Classic Shell. Hurry and wait for that.

 

[BigFeet]

Now all we need to do is make sure W8.1 "final" has not changed and does not break Start8 or Classic Shell. Hurry and wait for that.

And that's why I will not upgrade to it until I know for sure. I'm not overly impressed with the 8.1 preview.

 

[Jimbo22]

And that's why I will not upgrade to it until I know for sure. I'm not overly impressed with the 8.1 preview.

I can tell you that there are some major differences between 8.1 Preview and 8.1 RTM (I'm using the RTM version) with respect to the start screen...aka Metro screen. Especially with the tiles themselves. There are 3 tile sizes now, you can move whole groups - not just one tile or 1 tile if you prefer, all the apps work, the store app is completely different, PC settings has been rearranged - that was fun figuring out where MS moved it all. MS is slowly moving the desktop environment as we know it to the touch environment, in all aspects of the Desktop. This is just what I've found out so far on my own...

 

[davehc]

Nor forgetting the 8.1 RTM ability to boot straight to the legacy desktop, as a choice..
Classic and start8, are both compatible. Personally I would not see the point of paying for something which has free alternatives doing the same job.
Start8 and classic are in the store, so I don't really see them vanishing in a hurry? Like many other earlier programs, there are better alternatives than the built in ones (Paint, for example). Microsoft have never, historically, obstructed their use.

 

[BigFeet]

To fix the boot loader after deleting a partition...
Boot to Windows disk
Select Repair
Select Windows 7
Click next
Select Command Prompt
Type bootrec /fixmbr
Enter
Restart

I've had to do this many times.

 

[BigFeet]

Now all we need to do is make sure W8.1 "final" has not changed and does not break Start8 or Classic Shell. Hurry and wait for that.

It still works.

 

[Digerati]

I had to reinstall Start8, but it works.