Windows 7 Not Booting

regrap · 31 Aug 2011

I recently had two drives in my computer that would both boot into Windows 7. My older mechanical drive was only being used for data even though I could still boot into it, but I added an SSD that I've been booting into for the past six months. Last week I decided that i needed more storage room so I pulled out the original mechanical drive and put in a larger one. Now I can no longer boot into Windows, even though I've been booting off the SSD for months now. Would the older drive have the only boot record, or am I missing something to get this thing working? If I plug in the older drive it will boot up like a champ (booting into the SSD or the older mechanical), but when I unplug it I can no longer boot into Windows. Any ideas on what I'm missing?

Thanks for your help!

Bare Foot Kid · 31 Aug 2011

Hello regrap, welcome to Seven Forums!

Seems the Windows System boot files must be stored on the spinner, have a look at this tutorial linked below to see if you need to mark the Windows 7 Partition Active and run the 3 separate startup repairs to (re)create the boot files to the C: partition.

The only caveat is the Windows 7 partition must be a Primary partition for this to work correctly and be sure to post back with any further questions you may have and to keep us informed.

Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times

theog · 31 Aug 2011

Take a look at this base tutorial:
Help me get windows 7 to boot (again)

regrap · 31 Aug 2011

Worked like a charm. Thanks for your help!

theog · 01 Sep 2011

Well done.

You are welcome.

Bare Foot Kid · 01 Sep 2011

regrap said:

Worked like a charm. Thanks for your help!

Good to see you got it sorted and thanks for the update!