Removing Windows XP SP3 on Dual Boot with Windows 7

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  1. Posts : 12
    Windows 7 (64bit)
       #1

    Removing Windows XP SP3 on Dual Boot with Windows 7


    I Cleaned installed Windows 7 (64bit) to dual boot with my already existing Windows XP SP3 (32bit). Everything is great and life is fantastic!
    I'm ready to remove XP now.
    Any suggestions on the steps to follow, and remove XP, without screwing up my fast, great and fully working Windows 7.
    Thanx.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Removing Windows XP SP3 on Dual Boot with Windows 7-disk-management.jpg  
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  2. Posts : 1,557
    XP, Seven, 2008R2
       #2

    Well, holy cow your XP partition is huge! Mine is 16GB and only using half of it. It seems like you've got some backing up to do before doing anything to that partition.
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  3. Posts : 12
    Windows 7 (64bit)
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Everything is fully backed up!
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  4. Posts : 1,557
    XP, Seven, 2008R2
       #4

    Then all you have to do is delete everything on the E: drive except for the boot folder and the file bootmgr (without it your system won't boot anymore).

    If you want to delete the entire partition (there isn't much reason to) you will have to move the boot manager or do startup repair.
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  5.    #5

    Use a partition manager like free Partition Wizard disk. Back up all files. Boot into PW, rightclick on XP partition then delete, then rightclick on Win7 mark active and Resize partition, dragging left border all the way over the deleted XP space.

    After operations run, change disk to WIn7 installer, boot into Repair my Computer and run startup repair 3 times to recover Win7 boot.
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  6. Posts : 12
    Windows 7 (64bit)
    Thread Starter
       #6

    Solved


    gregrocker,

    Thanx! It worked like a charm. It only took minutes. Thanks again.
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  7.    #7

    Sari said:
    gregrocker,

    Thanx! It worked like a charm. It only took minutes. Thanks again.

    Your welcome, Sari. This is becoming the most popular issue here: bailing out of XP or Vista dual boots within just a few days (or hours!)
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  8. Posts : 34
    windows7 Professional
       #8

    I downloaded the student special on 7 - no iso - no bootable disc. How can I accomplish this XPtermination without them?
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  9.    #9

    wahoobob, type Backup in the start box and make a backup image of your HDD stored externally or on a partition (formatted primary) you create on a secondary (or if necessary your current) hard drive. This will allow you to reimage the HDD in 15 minutes in case operations fail.

    But the even more important reason for doing this step is it will offer you to make a Win7 repair disk which you burn to CD. This will give you the repair console needed to recover your Win7 installation since you don't have the installer. You will need to be able to boot into this disk to run Startup Repair to recover after deleting your XP partiition. Or boot into repair to "Recover using an image" to reimage HDD if you need to start over.

    It would be helpful if you can post a screenshot of your Disk Management map, using the snipping tool on the start>programs menu then attaching the file using the paper clip in reply box.

    Normally, you would use a 3rd party partition manager like free Partition Wizard burned to disk, boot into it to delete the Xp partition, mark Windows 7 active, resize/move the 7 partition to include the deleted XP space, then boot into the Win7 installer/repair disk and run Startup Repair 3 times as there are multiple issues.

    Also take a look at this tutorial from our top dualboot expert here to see if it might apply to the download you have, as converting it into a bootable ISO to burn to DVD would be much preferable to just having the files for Win7 plus you would have the needed repair console: https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/30470-make-bootable-iso-student-d-l.html
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  10. Posts : 34
    windows7 Professional
       #10

    Great!! the step in there that creates the repair disk seems to be missing in all the other explanations. I'll try this tonight... and the verdict is - oops, now my 7 install is called illegal. I don't know that I made the 7 partition active as that command was not shown in gparted that I saw. I made the partition bootable. Anyway, your advice to make an image of the drive will come in handy!! Now I will wait to see if the bootable disc that Digital River is supposed to send me ever arrives. They are the hardest people to deal with I have encountered... I don't know why MS does business with them.

    OK Disk arrived and it is not a bootable disk, just the copy of the download... I tried the whole thing again, I found that I could make E actve with 7's disc manager then use gparted to change the partitions. Delete C with XP on it, Grow E with 7 on it... then use the recovery disc I made to run the boot repair three times. It seemed to be working, then it took a long time to create my desktop and at the end I was given a blank screen with a small note at the bottom that said my seven, build 7600 was not a legal copy (or some words to that effect). So, back to the image and back to XP/7 dual boot. My XP is on the partition marked C and 7 is on E. C is Bootable and E is active.
    what now?
    Last edited by wahoobob; 30 Nov 2009 at 08:18. Reason: updated info
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