Vista Home Premium Updated to Windows 7 Professional

I downloaded the software, however I'm not sure what to do with it. I'm not sure which partitions I am supposed to keep and which to get rid of and I'm not sure if I get rid of the recovery partion or just wipe it clean, and I also have no idea how to wipe it clean...I apologize for the continuous quesitons, I am just really confused. I see on the partition program you posted that there is a wipe partition and format partition section. Should I just wipe the recovery partition? Is that what I should be doing?

gregrocker said:

Use the official MS tool to either burn ISO to DVD or write to flashstick: Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool[2]=General%20Tips

Back up your files, boot the Win7 DVD and wipe the HD: https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/91339-ssd-hdd-optimize-windows-reinstallation.html

Then clean install using one of the workarounds to install Upgrade to clean HD: Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

You should be able to copy your files out of Vista without starting it, but if you want to start it install EasyBCD 2.0 to Win7 and add Vista on the Add tab.

Why did you ignore the step to wipe the HD to optimize and give you a clean slate for the reinstall?

As a result you still have the corrupted Recovery Partition you stuffed with the previous Win7 install and a useless utility partition sitting on the prime lower HD address.

If you don't want to reinstall following the steps given, then you'll need to use free Partition Wizard bootable CD to delete the useless partitions you left to corrupt your new install, then Resize Win7 back into the deleted space. This may require repairing the MBR using the DVD for Startup Repair run three times.

I can give you the steps if you'll follow them.

I'm sorry I wasn't ignoring the steps you gave me, but they are confusing and I wasn't sure what to do. I'm also terrified of wiping the hard drive in case i do something wrong. The bootable cd I made doesn't work unless I'm logged on. When I put the cd in and start the computer, nothing happens until I log on to windows and then open up the file. So I'm a little nervouse if I wipe the harddrive that I am going to put the cd in and nothing will happen and then my computer will be worthless to me. I know you understand what you are doing but it is very confusing to me.

If you start the computer with the DVD in the drive and are not prompted to "Press any key to boot from DVD" then you need to set your DVD drive to boot first in BIOS setup: Boot Order - How to Change the Boot Order in BIOS - BIOS Boot Order

Once you can boot the DVD, follow the instructions for wiping the HD using DISKPART from the DVD Command Line, which you access by pressing Shift F10 from the first screen.

If setting DVD to boot first or wiping HD with DISKPART is intimidating to you, download and burn to CD free Partition Wizard bootable CD which will autostart with computer, then select 1 for screen resolution, on the Disk tab select Wipe Disk and write zeros the the HD which is the deepest clean (takes about an hour per 320GB). Partition Wizard : Use the Bootable CD

Then using the graphical map shown in Partition Wizard, create new partition(s) as you wish, format Primary NTFS, type in a label like "Windows 7" or "Data," etc. Then look over the map carefully to make sure you have the partitions exactly as you want them.

Now restart with Win7 DVD in drive, choose Custom Install, click on first partition you created to install Win7, doublecheck you have selected the first partition on the HD, then install.

Ask back if you have any questions.

I will try what you said, I just hae a few questions first. I currently have four partitions. 1. OEM partition. 2. Healthy(primary parition) 3. NTFS Healthy (system, boot, page file, acgtive, crash dump, primary parition) 3. NTFS Healthy (primary partition). Should I have all of these? If not, which ones do I eliminate and how many should I actually have? I really don't know anything about partitions. I'll follow the instructions from diskpart, what do I do after that? Does the installoation immediately start?

Can you post a screen shot Disk management?
https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...en-forums.html

Screenshot tools.
Screenshot with Paint
Screenshot and Upload using MWSnap
Fscapture free download

Can you list, what you use the partition for?

Here is the screen shot of disk management...

Can you boot the DVD now using the tutorial I posted above to show you how to set DVD drive to boot first?

As you stuffed your Recovery Partition by installing Win7 there, it is best that you wipe that partition as well as the now-useless 78mb OEM first partition.

Personally I would wipe the entire HD using the DISKPART commands which I have linked several times now, then reinstall to the partition which is created in that tutorial.

But if you want to keep your new install you already made on C, you can use free Partition Wizard CD to delete the first two partitions and then Resize C into the preferred lower HD space to the left.

Let us know which you prefer and we will walk you through it. This is not something to be afraid of, as we will be here to help you along. This is how you learn to master your computer.

kinolie said:

The bootable cd I made doesn't work unless I'm logged on.

If you use the tool I linked to, it will make the bootable DVD for you. Then, make sure you are hitting a key when the disc says so, or else it will skip the bootable DVD and continue to boot from your hard drive.

kinolie said:

Should I have all of these? If not, which ones do I eliminate and how many should I actually have? I really don't know

I'm starting to think you should find a friend to look over your shoulder for this. If you boot from the DVD, you can wipe the drive cleaning, meaning it has no partitions. Then, during the Windows install, you'll get to pick. It will create a 100 MB system utilities partition for you. After that, you'll need one for C and that's it, unless you want a separate D drive for data storage.