Windows 7: Merge copies of windows?

Hi, i was wondering if i could have some help please.

I was repairing a laptop for a friend as he had a dodgy copy of windows so i had to re install windows. It reinstalled fine but it had 4 partitions for some reason and i think i installed it over the wrong one not the older (broken) copy of windows.

Now when i turn it on it has the windows operating system choice page and when i choose a version of win 7 one activates the old OS which doesnt work and therefore goes into startup repair and says its unfixable. The other activates the new (working) OS i instaled but it is completely new as it looks when its cleanly installed on a new pc. However under the D: drive i can see the broken copy of windows along with all of the files and programs.



Is there anyway i can remove the broken OS and move all the files of the new one into the new one?

Thanks in advance for the help

It isn't really a competent Clean Reinstall if you leave random partitions in place without regard to what they contain or if they're needed or desirable.

This topic is covered in the blue link tutorial to help you decide which partitions to keep during a reinstall. If you have made your Recovery Partition disks and/or don't plan to ever restore the factory image then it can be deleted. If any OEM partition does not contain bootable Diagnostics and they do not run from boot as intended, you can delete all other OEM partitions.

If you'll post back a screenshot of Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image - Windows 7 Forums then we can help you delete the unwanted Windows 7 and other partitions and recover the space - something which is much easier done during install using the Custom install Drive Options shown in Steps 6/7 here.

The thing is, i dont really want to do a clean install, i just want the files and programs but on a new OS.

That is the problem, one is new and working but has no files/programs and one is not working and has all the files and programs

Where is the requested screenshot?

Transfer the files to the good install. They should also always be backed up externally in case of HD failure or other catastrophe.

Follow the steps in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 to set it up perfectly. If you reinstalled then you should take the time to do it right.

Sorry, I cannot get it at the moment because the laptop is out of charge and my friend forgot to give me the charger.
I will have it by tommorow but until then i was just wondering if there was a generic thing you could do

I just told you what you can do. But you can't copy over and back up the files or set it up further without power.

You have done a Clean Reinstall so might as well set it up correctly using the steps in the tutorial, which assure you'll keep a perfect install as long as you stick with them.

You should have copied the files to another partition or an external hard drive before you started the install. What`s the point of doing a new install and just leaving the old one on the pc ?

As suggested, do it again, and format the old, original install of windows.

Why didn`t you just try to fix the original if you don`t want to reinstall programs ? You have to reinstall the programs on a new install.

Go to msconfig > Boot tab and delete the one you do not want. However, before you reformat the partition with the 'old' OS, you better check where the bootmgr is sitting (active partition). For that, a screeshot would be helpful.