Delete XP dual boot

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  1. Posts : 607
    7 x64 Ultimate
       #1

    Delete XP dual boot


    I see no reason to keep my XP dual boot. The XP installation is on a discrete physical drive. Win7 is on an active drive set as the first boot drive in BIOS and is the default OS at system startup.

    Can I just remove the drive and do a 7 startup repair to fix the boot, or are there more necessary steps?
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  2. Posts : 2,036
    Windows 7 Professional x64
       #2

    I have done 3 like this but they were all on the same drive but different partitions. This should be even easier. I had to use easyBCD on one. You should be able to simply format the drive with XP after getting the data off.

    I would disconnect the XP drive first, just to make sure 7 boots. That way you can be sure and if there's a need for easyBCD you could connect the XP drive and do some work.

    Good luck!
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  3. Posts : 901
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
       #3

    nate42nd said:

    I would disconnect the XP drive first, just to make sure 7 boots. That way you can be sure and if there's a need for easyBCD you could connect the XP drive and do some work.

    Good luck!
    Agreed,the XP drive could have the BOOTMNGR on it.:)
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  4. Posts : 2,036
    Windows 7 Professional x64
       #4

    Minotar said:
    nate42nd said:

    I would disconnect the XP drive first, just to make sure 7 boots. That way you can be sure and if there's a need for easyBCD you could connect the XP drive and do some work.

    Good luck!
    Agreed,the XP drive could have the BOOTMNGR on it.:)
    Yes, do this first. It's not to hard for the info you would gain. Yo could run BCDedit and find out the same thing but it woudl be easier to just unhook the drive and find out.
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  5.    #5

    Hi again Roger!

    Please post back a screenshot of your full Disk Management map, using Snipping Tool in Start Menu and attaching file with paper clip in reply box.
    Last edited by gregrocker; 25 Dec 2009 at 20:26.
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  6. Posts : 8,375
    W7 Ultimate x64/W10 Pro x64/W11 Pro Triple Boot - Main PC W7 Remote PC Micro ATX W7 Pro x64/W11 Pro
       #6

    When going to remove XP from the dual boot first make sure 7 is set as the default OS. If you are using EasyBCD that's easy enough to remove the XP entry from the 7 BCD store. If both of the hard drives are sata models you can swap data cables between drives if the 7 is not already plugged into the first sata port and simply reformat the XP drive once you have all files you want backed up from it.

    If one is an ide drive with XP on that you can still reformat it while booted in 7 but will need to unplug it to perform any startup repair if needed. The Windows installer will look for an ide drive first or the first sata with any install or repair to place boot files and mbr entries there.

    If 7 was installed last without the EasyBCD tool used you can download another free BCD editing tool that requires no installation in order to remove the XP entry. The BellaVista tool is a zip file containing two folders for the 32bit and 64bit bellavista.exe file you simply run from the folder you extract both to. System Tools - BellaVista

    The first thing to find out however is which drive has the bootmgr file and Boot folder on that should be the 7 drive already since you have that set as the default boot drive.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Delete XP dual boot-bellavista-folder-1.jpg   Delete XP dual boot-bellavista-folder-2.jpg  
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  7. Posts : 607
    7 x64 Ultimate
    Thread Starter
       #7

    I have already checked that the system boots through to Win7 with the XP drive disconnected. However, I still get the dual boot screen (however briefly - since I have delay set to zero).
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Delete XP dual boot-clipboard01.png  
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  8. Posts : 16,131
    7 X64
       #8

    In 7, open an elevated command and type:

    bcdedit /delete {ntldr} /f

    then press enter.

    In the screenshot , you are booting through the XP partition.

    Since you are able to boot into 7 without the XP drive attached, I assume you have the boot critical files on Win 7 partition as well.

    If so, set Disk 1 as the first HD in Bios boot order.

    Or mark XP partition inactive - in an elevated cmd :

    diskpart

    sel disk 0

    sel vol d

    inact

    exi
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  9. Posts : 607
    7 x64 Ultimate
    Thread Starter
       #9

    Simply setting the C:/ drive to boot first seemed to resolve the issue.
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  10.    #10

    Can you delete your XP partition now when you plug that drive back in?

    If not, as suggested you may need to use Diskpart commands to mark XP drive inactive.

    Open an elevated command prompt, type:

    DISKPART
    List disk
    Select disk # (for XP HD)
    List partition
    Select partition # (for XP part)
    Inactive
    exit

    Now you can format as desired in Win7 Disk Management.
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