Remove Win XP from dual boot with Win7. Win7 not at front of HDD.

Kaktussoft - Yes, I plan to delete the WinXP partition and move the Win7 partition to the first of the drive. I read in another thread here that I can copy the Win7 partition with PW and once WinXP partition is deleted paste it into the unallocated space. Is it that simple? I understand I may have to run Startup Repair again to correct any possible problem that might come up in the MBR, so that is no problem.

If I understand correctly, the Win7 would need to be made inactive before I can copy and move it, then repeat the process of making it active again? Doing it that way seems entirely to easy...hahaha.

Post a current shot of disk mgt.

Never heard of anyone pasting it

Hello guys, I will be attempting sort of the same process myself very soon. Only difference is that my system has Dos/WinXp on one HD and Win7 on a seperate HD. Which by the way I transfered Win7 to an SSD a few weeks ago. I wanted to be sure that Win7 would run ok for a little while before I attempted removing the dual boot and DOS/XP setup. Any pre-op suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Then all you should have to do is, unplug the xp drive, run startup repair until 7 boots on it`s own. Easy

Oh would that be beautiful!!

AddRAM- I may have misunderstood the post about copying the partition. I didn't think a partition could be copy/pasted like a normal file. I have a new backup of the Win7 partition and I think I'll just restore it to the unallocated space formerly used by WinXP.

Do you still want or need me to post a shot of the current Disk Management screen?

Glad you finally saw the step to run Startup Repair - Run up to 3 Separate Times since it writes the System Boot files to the Active partition. It was in my original steps.

Is Win7 now labeled System Active Boot? Best to post back another screenshot.

We've had reports that after deleting the XP some users were able to Copy the Win7 partition into the space, then delete the old 7 partition and it would boot, sometimes after running Startup Repairs. However I would definitely save a Win7 backup image first as imaging is always the safest way to transfer an OS.

Okay guys, here is an updated shot of my Disk Management screen.


Drive C: (Win7) is now Primary and Active, drive D: (WinXP) is only Primary. I've restarted from a cold boot as well as several restarts and the pc is booting directly into Win7 without a hitch. I need to go through my XP partition one last time and make sure I have everything out of there that I want to keep. Then I'm ready to delete the XP partition, which I've also made an image of, just in case.

I've used Macrium Reflect to image the Win7 drive and did another a few minutes ago to make sure it was up to date. Now I need to delete the XP partition with PW and I'll have unallocated space at the front of the drive, correct? Here is where I get a bit foggy about things. Once the XP partition is deleted, I can restore my backup into the unallocated space or try the copy if it's an available option. I'm not sure about the drive letters. If Win7 is currently C:, what happens when I restore the image where XP used to be? Will the imaged drive then become C: automatically and the current Win7 partition be assigned a different drive letter? Do I need to make my current Win7 install inactive before I start moving it around/restoring it?

And lastly, after restoring the image into the unallocated space, I can then extend the drive to include all of the unallocated space, correct?

You all have been extremely helpful and I appreciate your patience with me on this matter.

Kaktussoft - I have my backups stored on my F: drive since I don't have another external source at the moment. I'm assuming that will be okay and I won't have to worry about the USB things.

I think I'll only delete the XP partition initially and then try to restore the Win7 backup. After I've determined the restored partition is working, go back and delete the Win7 partition. Is it okay to do it that way? I'd hate like the devil to have the restore go foobar on me and be stuck. My only other question is this....If I keep the original Win7 install intact and restore my backup, will I need to change that partition from active to inactive first? Or, will, as you you've said, the restored partition take over and render the original Win7 inactive?