How Do I Stop Dual Boot and Remove Vista?

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  1. Posts : 83
    win 7 pro
    Thread Starter
       #11

    Mark Phelps said:
    You can accomplish the same with EasyBCD. It provides a menu option for "migrating" the boot files from one drive to another. You run that, migrate the files, and when you reboot, the boot files are now in the Win7 drive. Then, you can simply reformat your Vista drive without worries. I had the same situation and it worked fine.
    That would certainly be easier for me, as I wasn't looking forward to getting down on the floor and opening my case to swap drive data files (I'm not as flexible and agile as I use to be).

    But I'm a little confused about where my boot files are currently located. If you look at the screenshot I attached earlier, my Win-7 Install partition on Disk 1 is already my boot partition. Doesn't this mean that my boot files are already in the Win-7 drive? So if I download/use EasyBCD, where am I migrating my boot files from/to?

    And since my Vista-64 Install partition on Disk 0 is my active partition, does this not present a problem when I reformat that drive? How do I make my Win-7 partition the active one, or is that even necessary?

    Thanks for your help.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 1,379
    Win7 Pro 32-bit, Win8 Pro 32-bit
       #12

    I was just providing a suggestion if your boot files were currently on the Vista drive because, when a previous OS is already on the system and you install Win7, it generally adds it boot files to the previous OS's partition, not to its own.

    One way to see for sure (yeah, I know you don't want to open the case) is to "open the case" and disconnect the Vista drive. If your PC still boots into Win7, you know for sure that the boot files are on the Win7 drive.
      My Computer

  3.    #13

    The boot files are on Vista as signified by the System Active flags. This is normal since when installed last the Win7 installer will configure a Dual Boot by updating the boot files on Vista partition.

    The method given has been used hundreds of times here to remove XP or Vista from Dual Boot. By marking Win7 Active it tells Startup Repair where to write the System boot files during 3 separate repairs (or less).

    However, if Vista remains plugged the REpairs will simply rewrite the boot files to Vista which holds the Active flag on its HD, since the repair looks for the first Active partition. The solution to unplug Vista and swap its cable to Win7 HD is best because you also want the OS on the first disk to avoid future problems with Repairs.

    You can try marking Vista Inactive at the same time you mark Win7 partition Active: Partition - Mark as Active (Method Two) and leave Vista HD in place, however the Repair might rewrite boot files to Vista anyway. This is why it's best all around to swap Win7 HD into first disk slot (Disk0) and leave Vista HD unplugged until after repairs.

    Another option is to boot free Partition Wizard bootable CD, rightclick on Vista partition to Modify>Set to Inactive, click OK. Then rightclick on Win7 partition to Modify>Set to Active, OK. Now click on the Win7 HD to highlight it, from Disk tab select Rebuild MBR, OK, Apply all steps. If it reboots into Win7 and Disk Mgmt shows it now holding System Active flags then you can avoid doing the Repairs.
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  4. Posts : 83
    win 7 pro
    Thread Starter
       #14

    Mark & gregrocker, you have both convinced me that I should open the case and swap my Win 7 HD into the first disk slot (Disk0) and leave Vista HD unplugged until after repairs. But I have encountered another minor problem, that being I don't know which drive is which inside my case. The drives are identical Hitachi 500 GB ATA drives with the same numbers showing in both Device Manager and the BIOS HD order. And in my BIOS, the Boot Device Priority is simply shown as CD/DVD ROM, Hard Disk, Floppy Disk and Ethernet.

    Is there any other way to tell which drive is which, or do I need to just unplug one and see what happens? Thanks.
      My Computer

  5.    #15

    Unless your mobo ports are labeled and correspond to the listings in BIOS, it's probably easiest to just unplug the top one and see.

    Be sure to power down first, try to limit touching to only the plugs and drives, but still touch the case first to discharge any static electricity - and don't do this on a carpet or rug of any kind. Use patience and coaxing.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 83
    win 7 pro
    Thread Starter
       #16

    gregrocker said:
    Unless your mobo ports are labeled and correspond to the listings in BIOS, it's probably easiest to just unplug the top one and see.
    OK, thanks.
      My Computer


 
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