Removing XP from Dual Boot

Hi

I've been looking at this thread as I want to remove XP and work only with Win7. However, it would appear that Partition Wizard (PW) has either changed OR I've a problem with my Win7 installation. The problem is the very first step, i.e. deleting the XP partition and making the Win7 partition active (all part of step one). Yes, I can delete XP but no way can I make Win7 active as PW has it greyed out.

My question therefore is: where do I go from here? Yes, I can make Win7 active using Disk Management but what will happen when I delete XP? Will I still be running in Win7? (I suspect XP is ONLY required during the boot process) I'm just not sure what to do now. I'm not in any panic to remove XP so I'll take my time and make sure I know what is needed before doing anything. There must be a way of achieving my aim but I'm just not sure how. I would therefore appreciate help in making Win7 active as this must be done before I can go to doing three Startup Repairs.

Tracey

PS: I feel I've not really explained myself very well so if any further info required then please get back to me.

If Windows 7 partion is active there should be no problems deleting the XP partition. You have only to delete the XP boot entry in BCD.

If XP is your active partition then just do 3 steps:
1. Download BCD Editor - Windows 7 / Vista and install. It has a "Dual-boot Repair" tool. (You can do the fix in XP or in Windows 7).
2. Run "Dual-boot Repair" - click on Disk Management (shortcut to OS Disk Management) and set Windows 7 partition as active. (or any other partition which is not the partition to be deleted next)
3. Click on "Automatic Repair" (in tool "Dual-boot Repair"). Confirm. That's it.

Reboot.
Windows 7 should boot by default. If everything is OK delete the XP partition (format it).

Note:
It is best if the first primary partition on disk is also the active partition.

Boyans

I've followed your instructions as above albeit with a little confusion. The page you directed me to only seemed to contain a copy of Visual BCD Editor and having installed it it was quite clearly not what I needed. However, further down the page is a link to how to do a "Dual Boot Repair" and I found what I needed on that page.

Anyway, having installed it I followed your instructions but still have a boot menu come up. No longer is XP mentioned but I now have "Windows 7 Home Premium N (Recovered)" listed and in Visual BCD Editor under loaders I have four OSs listed in the following order: "Windows 7 Home Premium N (Recovered)", "Windows Recovery Environment (recovered) - listed twice neither of which appear in the boot menu, and "Windows 7". How do I make the necessary mods so I can boot straight into Win7 without having to select from a menu? I assume it's a case of at least deleting "Windows 7 Home Premium N (recovered)" from within Visual BCD Editor but what about the two entries "Windows Recovery Environment (recovered)" - do these come out as well?

Perhaps you could advise me please. Thanks.

Tracey

You needed to use Partition Wizard bootable CD not the Windows version.

If stray listings remain on Boot menu you can remove them in msconfig>Boot or in the Edit OS tab of EasyBCD.

But let us see the Disk management screenshot so we can confirm the other OS has been deleted and Win7 is correctly configured. Use the Snipping Tool in Start menu, attach using paper clip in Reply box.

Hi Bare Foot Kid and gregrocker

I think I know what I need to do now. Nevertheless, I shall hold off until I hear back from you.

As requested I attach a graphic of my drive layout. As you can see there is a 30Gb section of unallocated disk at the front of the drive which is where XP was located. Once I've got the booting sorted out I intend to share that space with other partitions on the drive. I shan't worry about not having a drive C: as long as Win7 works OK as it seems to be at present.

Tracey

Hi Tracey -

You really need that space in C so I would boot free Partition Wizard bootable CD (not the installed version) rightclick on C to Resize, drag left grey border all the way to the left, OK, Apply.

Back up your files when doing any repartitioning however we have never had PW CD fail in thousands of similar operations we've helped with here.

Everything else looks fine.

Hi Bare Foot Kid and gregrocker

The last thing I expected to be told was that I need the space vacated by XP!!! WHY? I've been operating with a 50Gb partition with XP in a dual-boot config for the last 18 months and as you can see I still have half of the space free - and its been like that for most of the time I've been using Win7!!! On the very few occasions when I have apparently been running low on disk space I've found that it was due to accidentally putting big MPGs on the drive. Putting the files where they should be and then emptying the Recycle Bin has very quickly sorted that out. So why do I NEED the space?

As far as using PW is concerned, I've been using it for several years. In fact I've been using partition software since way before Partition Magic was bought up by Symantec - and they all work in basically the same way. In addition, before using any partitioning software I always backup the files on the drives to be adjusted.

What I was expecting was perhaps a mod to the instructions re getting rid of extra and unwanted listings in the boot menu. I presume nothing has changed in that respect. I shall therefore delete the unwanted entry and check the appropriate box to skip the boot menu. Will come back to you when done.

Tracey