Removing Windows Vista from Dual Boot with Windows 7

Hello all,

Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction here....

I've got a dual boot system at the moment - screenshot attached of my Disk Management screen if that helps.

I would like to remove the Vista OS and reclaim the space now that I've transferred everything over to 7 and have a backup.

I've deleted the Vista Boot entry in msconfig's Boot section, and have looked at these posts on this forum but don't seem to be getting anywhere -

Dual booting vista and windows 7, want to remove vista all together

MBR - Restore Windows 7 Master Boot Record

As you can see from my screenshot - E: is the old, 32bit Vista partition (system active, primary partition). C: is the new, 64bit Windows 7 partition.

I'd like to remove E, and expand C, but I don't have the option to format E: when I right click.

If anyone has any tips or can point me in the right direction, it would be most appreciated. Have downloaded EasyBCD 1.7.2, although from their website I don't see Windows 7 as being supported

Thanks in advance,
Darren.

Jonathan_King said:

Welcome to SevenForums, Darren!

How hard would it be to start over? You do not want Vista anymore, so if you start the installation process, you can delete the Vista and 7 partitions, and create a new, Primary one.

Let us know if you need help, and we will be happy to assist you.

Thanks Jonathan for the reply -

Yes, it would be a major ball-ache to start fresh now - it's my main work and home machine, and I've spent the last couple of weeks of my spare time migrating, re-installing, setting up local versions of websites I work on and installing all my Adobe, Wamp, Vis Studio....different web browsers....waffle waffle...!

I wish I'd known it would be a problem before installing, but I was a bit cautious with 7 and wanted to play it safe...

Regards,
Darren.

We have helped remove 150+ dual boots here since Win7 release with almost perfect success, as long as the steps are followed exactly.

gregrocker said:

We have helped remove 150+ dual boots here since Win7 release with almost perfect success, as long as the steps are followed exactly.

Hey Greg,

Thanks for the reply

I'll follow through tomorrow - thanks for the info, much appreciated.

Regards,
Darren.

gregrocker said:

Back up your files and a Win7 Backup image externally as resizing operations can fail. Make your Recovery Disks from the Recovery Partition as it will likely be disabled after Vista removal.

Boot Partition Wizard CD, select 1 for screen resolution, right click E>Modify>Set Inactive, OK.

Okay...Backinig up a System Image now from Win 7. It selected C and E by default with greyed-out checkboxes, so I've started that. 189Gb so may take a little while.

Have downloaded the Boot CD image and will burn that ready to run the fun!

Thanks again,
Darren.

You're welcome, Darren.

Will be checking in throughout the day and night.

Just follow the steps carefully and ask any questions if you have them.

Hi there guys,

A BIG Thank you for providing the above information -

Followed the above steps as closely as I could, then rebooted. BOOTMGR missing, so rebooted with Win7 disk inserted as described above. Couple or 3 reboots, and BINGO!

I now have the 500Gb drive with Windows 7 as one partition.

Really pleased, thanks so much chaps.

Regards,
Darren.

Screenshot of end result