Convert Dual Boot to Single Boot, 2 HD's

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  1. SIW2
    Posts : 16,149
    7 X64
       New #21

    You're welcome.Glad it worked for you.

    You need to keep 7 drive first in HD boot order, of course.
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  3. ArtieB
    Posts : 2
    Windows 7
       New #22

    Similar problem


    Apologies if this isn’t the best way to approach my question, but my circumstances (including trepidation) are so similar to GGibson’s that I thought I’d give it a try. The only real difference is that I have Windows 7 on drive D: and XP on drive C: (XP will no longer start, but that’s another and probably irrelevant story). Disk Management reports the following:

    [Win 7] -- Disk 0 (D: ) (Boot, Page File, Active, Crash Dump, Primary Partition)
    [Win XP] -- Disk 1 (C: ) (System, Active, Primary Partition)

    I can provide the output from BCDEDIT, but it appears that that would be superfluous if I correctly understand that the solution for GGibson was to use the Win 7 DVD to run startup repair 3 or 4 times.

    In the BIOS I have set drive D: as the boot disk and then booted from the Win 7 DVD and started the startup repair. When I click on “View Details” when it first reports problems with startup and offers to repair and restart I get:

    System Recovery Options
    Repair Details:
    The following startup options will be added:
    Name: Windows Home Premium (recovered)
    Path: Windows
    Windows Device: Partition=C: (238472 MB)

    Name: Windows Recovery Environment (recovered)
    Path: Recovery\94006040-cbd5-11de-9243-c8b359b83714\Winre.wim
    Windows Device: Partition=C: (238472 MB)

    I tried disconnecting the C: (disk 1) drive, and got the same report from startup repair. I find the reference to C: a little disconcerting. Can I expect that if I run startup repair 3 or 4 times, I’ll end up with a bootable, system drive D: that will boot to Windows 7? I have a full backup made with Win 7 backup and I’m assuming that if worse comes to worst I can reinstall Win7 and then restore from that backup.

    Thank you very much.
    Last edited by ArtieB; 29 Dec 2009 at 00:45. Reason: Trying to get rid of emoticons.
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  4. gregrocker
    Posts : 50,642
       New #23

    Yes, if you run Startup Repair 3 separate times it will rewrite the MBR to Win7 and startup since Win7 is marked active.

    Win7 Startup Repair is automated with all former bootrec and bootsect recovery commands. But it assumes that a given fix will work until you come back for another, as it attempts to fix and then finally rewrites the MBR to Win7.

    Afterward check in Disk Management that Windows 7 partition is showing as "System ". Then you can delete XP.
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  6. ArtieB
    Posts : 2
    Windows 7
       New #24

    Thanks!


    Thanks for your prompt reply Greg, this worked perfectly.
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  7. cswann1
    Posts : 1
    Windows 7 Ultimate
       New #25

    Hi everyone. First post here and I wanted to share my recent experience with going from dual to single boot with Win 7.

    I had XP pro and Win 7 on the same physical HDD but almost never booted to XP so it was pointless to keep it.

    I did this the wrong way, but I got everything working again so if someone makes the same mistake I did maybe this will help.

    I used my GPartEd CD to delete my XP partition and the re-sized my HDD to recover the space. Little did I know that the MBR was hosed (I think).

    MY PC wouldn't even try to boot Win 7 and worse, the Windows 7 Setup DVD wouldn't even see that I had the OS on my HDD.

    So I went back to my GPartED CD and checked the Boot flag on my (only) Windows 7 partition. Now my PC tried to boot but was unable. So back in the CD/DVD drive went my Windows 7 Setup DVD and after three tries with the startup repair tool all is well.

    Next time I try anything like this I'll be sure to look here for advice FIRST
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  8. gregrocker
    Posts : 50,642
       New #26

    Glad you sorted it out.

    The partioning app I've found that works best with Win7 is free Partition Wizard bootable CD.
    Last edited by gregrocker; 27 Jan 2010 at 21:48.
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  10. SIW2
    Posts : 16,149
    7 X64
       New #27

    That is to be expected if XP was the system partition - it would be the same if you used any bootable partitioning app.

    Gparted is an extremely valuable tool and is constantly being updated - there are occasions when it is the only app. that will do the job.


    Glad you are up and running.


    [
    cswann1 said:
    Hi everyone. First post here and I wanted to share my recent experience with going from dual to single boot with Win 7.

    I had XP pro and Win 7 on the same physical HDD but almost never booted to XP so it was pointless to keep it.

    I did this the wrong way, but I got everything working again so if someone makes the same mistake I did maybe this will help.

    I used my GPartEd CD to delete my XP partition and the re-sized my HDD to recover the space. Little did I know that the MBR was hosed (I think).

    MY PC wouldn't even try to boot Win 7 and worse, the Windows 7 Setup DVD wouldn't even see that I had the OS on my HDD.

    So I went back to my GPartED CD and checked the Boot flag on my (only) Windows 7 partition. Now my PC tried to boot but was unable. So back in the CD/DVD drive went my Windows 7 Setup DVD and after three tries with the startup repair tool all is well.

    Next time I try anything like this I'll be sure to look here for advice FIRST
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  11. joevidetto
    Posts : 3
    NY
       New #28

    Hi - This topic was invaluable to me and so well explained. I am just wondering if there is a way to move the MBR with explicit commands rather than having to reboot several times with the System Repair option.
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  12. AddRAM
    Posts : 13,576
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       New #29

    I will see if Wolfgang can help.

    But you can look this over.

    MBR - Restore Windows 7 Master Boot Record
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  13. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       New #30

    joevidetto said:
    Hi - This topic was invaluable to me and so well explained. I am just wondering if there is a way to move the MBR with explicit commands rather than having to reboot several times with the System Repair option.
    You have to explain a bit more. Why do you want to move the MBR which has a fixed place in the first 512 bytes of a disk.
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