Windows 7: How do I keep Win 7, Dump XP from dual drive, dual boot

As currently configured, XP is on drive C:, Win 7 was added to drive E:, and the system is currently run as a dual boot. Attempting to boot without the XP drive present will yield a "NTLDR is missing" error very early in the boot process.

I have already tried the following:
(1) I moved the hidden Windows Boot Manager files (bootmgr as well as the associated Boot folder) from the XP drive root to the Win 7 drive root.
(2) After physically removing the XP drive, I rebooted to the Win 7 installation DVD, and used the "Repair Your Computer" option to pull up the "Recovery Tools". Then, using the command prompt utility, ...
(3) I attempted to write a new boot sector to the Windows 7 disk using the command: Bootrec /fixboot, - that yields an error though. The Bootrec /fixmbr claimed success, but ultimately did not make Win 7 drive bootable.

I had to reconnect drive C: just to boot into Win 7 again to write this. I do have files backed up, but to format and reinstall files would take many hours beyond just the time to transfer 400 GB of data, since I have dozens of purchased applications that need to be freshly reinstalled and validated as well. Basically I want my E: drive now to be my boot drive while the C: drive is reformatted and used for general storage.

Any idea how to make my Win 7 drive bootable? Do I need a partition program that is more adept at creating a viable boot sector, or is that even the problem?

Hello, maxit, and welcome to Windows Seven Forums!

Here is a link to a similar thread that may give you some ideas:

Changing the System Partition?

Cheers!
Robert

Hi maxit,

A screenshot of 7 Disk Management would be useful.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...en-forums.html

Thanks, but in my case the OS partitions are on separate physical drives.

The Win 7 partition and drive do not appear to be bootable by themselves. I used the built in Windows partition utilities to make sure the Win 7 was listed as active, but I am not sure how to ensure it is also bootable.

I would suggest to you to save your current 7 partition as an image (doing that is in the thread link I posted) then install a fresh 7 on your hard drive (leave the XP drive unplugged). Then restore the saved image to the new 7 partition. You wont need to install any programs or transfer any settings and your 7 hard drive will be bootable.

Robert

Boot 7 dvd to command prompt.

Type :

bootsect /nt60 all /mbr

Then press enter.

Unless you exported the bcd hive to the 7 \boot folder - you will get another error.

Have you done that already? If not, boot into 7 , open an elevated cmd and type:

bcdedit /export 7driveletter:\boot\bcd

Obviously, replace 7driveletter with the letter as seen when booted into 7

Consider: All of these boot commands are automated in Windows 7 installer>Repair console> Startup Repair

You already have your Windows 7 drive set active.

Now you can unplug the XP drive.

Make sure BIOS is set to boot installer first, then Windows 7 drive

Boot into Windows 7 installer Repair console and run Startup Repair 3 times to fix multiple issues, including rewriting the MBR onto the 7 drive.

another try

[img=http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/203/diskmanager01nov121550.th.gif]

Too small to read here as posted. But I see many other drives, which can be a problem if boot is diverted to a data drive.

Make sure no other drives are marked Active (or unplug them during operation) besides 7

Unplug your XP drive

Set Windows 7 installer to boot first in BIOS, then Windows 7 HDD next.

Boot into Windows 7 installer>Repair console and run Startup Repair 3 times to repair multiple issues including rewriting the MBR to Windows 7 drive

What do you mean by boot first in BIOS? ... do you mean boot to the Win 7 installer DVD first, run the repair 3 times, then try rebooting to the HD?

PS. I reposted the link to the disk manager screenshot, so it should be legible.