Removing Windows Vista from Dual Boot with Windows 7

[darren13]

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 -

http://www.sevenforums.com/installa...windows-7-want-remove-vista-all-together.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/20864-mbr-restore-windows-7-master-boot-record.html

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]

Welcome to SevenForums, Darren!

It looks as if you have Windows 7 on a logical drive. While it is possible to boot to Windows on a logical drive, it would require the 100MB system partition Windows 7 creates on installation.

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.

 

[gregrocker]

You can accomplish what you want using free Partition Wizard Bootable CD and your Win7 DVD.

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.

Now rightclick E>Delete, OK, and if you want rightclick G:Recovery>Delete, OK.

Now rightclick C>Modify>Convert to Primary, OK, and rightclick C:Modify>Set to Active, OK.

Now rightclick C>Resize, drag left grey border all the way over deleted E and G space, OK. Apply all steps.

When steps are completed, confirm C is now Active Primary.

Boot into Win7 DVD Repair console, click through to Recovery Tools list to run Startup Repair up to 3 separate times with reboots to write System MBR to C.

When Win7 is configured as you wish, be sure to save a Win7 Backup image externally so you never have to reinstall again, just reimage the HD or a replacement from the DVD.

 

[darren13]

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.

 

[gregrocker]

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

 

[darren13]

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.

 

[darren13]

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.

 

[gregrocker]

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.

 

[darren13]

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.

 

[darren13]

Computer Management Screen

Screenshot of end result

 

[gregrocker]

Good job, Darren.

After verifying performance, suggest you replace the Win7/Vista backup image made earlier with a new Win7 backup image so you never have to reinstall again.

 

[darren13]

Hey there Greg/Jonathan,

Just a quickie - further to removing the Vista partition now, I've copied a large-ish folder (17Gb) from the C: to the F: drive, and it took about 20 minutes....I might be wrong, but I'm sure it was a lot faster than this before - is there maybe something that can happen during the procedure I followed that can slow up the disks?

I've defragged both drives and rebooted a couple times to see if that helps?

Thanks again,
Darren.

 

[gregrocker]

Is there anything other than copying this one file that shows diminished performance?

The reason I ask is that we've had no one who used these steps to remove XP or Vista come back with reports of reduced performance so far.

But if there were further evidence of a performance hit, I would personally run chkdsk, sfc /scannow and possibly http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html?ltr=R.

 

[darren13]

Thanks again Greg,

chkdsk ran when I rebooted and I don't think I saw any errors, so maybe all is well. I just thought a 17Gb file would transfer a lot quicker than it did - maybe my expectations are too high here! Other than that, everything seems to be sweet

Regards,
Darren.

 

[gregrocker]

If chkdsk ran initially then it saw an error. I'd be extra sure by scheduling it to run again (rightclick HD>Tools>Check for Errrors) after reboot.

Then run the HD Surface Scan on Partion Wizard booted CD.

A 17gb file is always a wait.

 

[darren13]

Thanks Greg -

I've right-clicked C: again, >Properties>Tools tab>Error-checking - Check Now button>

On the Check Disk New Volume (C window that pops up, 'Automatically fix file errors' is checked, 'Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors' is unchecked.

Then I had a window that I clicked Schedule on next restart.

Will post back with results later, maybe I'll run Partition Wizard first.

Thanks again,
Darren.

 

[darren13]

......I ran the surface test on Partition Wizard boot CD and no bad sectors found at all. So I guess all is good

A very large thank you for helping me out there Greg & Jonathan, very much appreciated!

Best,
Darren.

 

[gregrocker]

I've right-clicked C: again, >Properties>Tools tab>Error-checking - Check Now button>

On the Check Disk New Volume (C window that pops up, 'Automatically fix file errors' is checked, 'Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors' is unchecked.

Then I had a window that I clicked Schedule on next restart.

Tick both boxes then restart to run chkdsk.

 

[darren13]

[/QUOTE]

Tick both boxes then restart to run chkdsk.[/QUOTE]

Okay - I'll give that a run hopefully later today - thanks again,
Darren

 

[ralphf926]

REmove vista tri boot setup

Hi Greg: I've got XP, vista and win7 setup in tri boot mode. All is working well but I now want to get rid of vista. What are the steps so I can be left with XP and Win7? I currently have xp and win7 on a raptor drive and vista on a separate drive. I've looked everywhere but can't seem to get the answer I'm looking for. I'm familiar with bcdedit and vista boot pro if those help. Here's what I've got when in Windows 7:

disk0 VISTA64 (D Healthy(system,active,primary)
disk 1 APPS_DATA (E Healthy(active, primary)
disk 2 XP-PRO (F Healthy(active, primary)
disk 2 WIN7 64 (C Healthy(boot, pagefile,crash dump,primary)

Bios is set to boot from disk 0. I tried booting from disk 2 but got an error saying I was missing a file. Any help appreciated.