XP/Vista dual boot. Install 7, kick out Vista. How to?

Hi, as most who sign up. I've been a long time lurker (using the forum to find solutions to help others as I didn't use 7 myself). So first a big thanks to all contributors :) Now I'm finally at a point where XP just doesn't cut it any longer. I installed Vista 32 bit because I had a licence that I hadn't used in years (old OEM from a laptop, phone activated without problems on the desktop)... anyway I wanted a proper Win 7 64 bit, and now I have it .

Question:
I am now dual booting XP and Vista.
XP is on the first HDD and Vista on the second.
I want to install 7 and wipe out Vista.
Can I just start the Windows 7 installation and let it wipe out Vista by selecting to use the whole disk that Vista is on, or do I need to... fixmbr, format Vista HD and then install Windows 7?

Chakonari said:

Hi, as most who sign up. I've been a long time lurker (using the forum to find solutions to help others as I didn't use 7 myself). So first a big thanks to all contributors :) Now I'm finally at a point where XP just doesn't cut it any longer. I installed Vista 32 bit because I had a licence that I hadn't used in years (old OEM from a laptop, phone activated without problems on the desktop)... anyway I wanted a proper Win 7 64 bit, and now I have it .

Question:
I am now dual booting XP and Vista.
XP is on the first HDD and Vista on the second.
I want to install 7 and wipe out Vista.
Can I just start the Windows 7 installation and let it wipe out Vista by selecting to use the whole disk that Vista is on, or do I need to... fixmbr, format Vista HD and then install Windows 7?

It can be even simpler than that:

1. Shut down the computer
2. Disconnect the Vista drive
3. Turn it back on and boot to the Windows 7 DVD
4. Install using the "Custom (advanced)" type of installation
5. When you get to the part where you can select the XP drive, click "Drive options (advanced)".
6. In this order, click Delete, New, Format and then Next
7. When you finally get to the Desktop after the installation, shut down
8. Reconnect the Vista drive
9. Turn the computer on and go directly into the BIOS
10. Make sure the Windows 7 drive is the first in the boot priority
11. Save and Exit

Now you will be able to just use the Quick Format on the Vista drive. Or, you can just leave everything as it is because it's not going to affect anything anyway.

It was simpler than that.

Just boot from Windows 7 install CD.
Select custom install.
Select Vista disk as target = Windows 7 wipes out Vista and creates a folder called windows.old with a copy of vista so the files are all ther to acces. I did do a backup of important files beforehand though.

I now have XP/7 dual boot.

What I do have are two entries for Windows 7 in the boot menu (probably left over from a 7 install which I never activated but wiped out and I had used EasyBCD but obviously not correctly)... I do miss the boot.ini from XP, which I could edit with notepad.

Allthough my boot menu is not clean (due to the messing around ages ago) I do have a clean install of Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit and maybe will now also be able start contributing here

The thing about what you did is that when you decide to get rid of the XP drive, you're going to find that Windows 7 will no longer boot. For some reason, Windows 7's installer tends to set it up that way. I should have said so, but that's why I recommended disconnecting the XP drive (I thought you were replacing XP with 7).

You see, your motherboard probably has an easy way to temporarily choose a different boot drive during its Power-On Self Test (the POST). I had a motherboard that did that and the key was like F2 or something. I pressed it during the POST and the motherboard presented me with a menu of the different drives I had.

Insert Windows 7 DVD, Select Windows Vista partition, Then Drive options format. then install Windows 7 over that partition.

stepwise:
i)Insert Windows 7 DVD
ii)Select Keyboard Layout
iii)Install Now
iv)Select Partition containing Vista.
v) Select Drive options
vi)Click Format.
vii)Select the same partition and Click next.
viii)Done.
Problem may arise at Boot Menu, where the Vista is still shown in the list.
Run msconfig
Delete Vista entry from the list...

If you've been lurking here as stated then you should know that one of the first rules of install is to unplug all but the target drive.

Since you wanted to keep XP you should have unplugged it and all other but the Vista drives, booted the Win7 installer to do a Custom Clean Install Windows 7 deleting all partitions using the drive options in Step 7, then creating/formatting new partition(s) as you wish or just clicking Next to let the installer do it for you.

The way you did it sounds like the installer wasn't even booted and it certainly wasn't a clean install on top of Vista with the windows.old folder which is not a legit backup method.

After install to the single HD you should have plugged back in XP HD to boot it when needed using the one-time BIOS boot menu key. If you don't like that manual method of Dual Booting via BIOS, then you can install EasyBCD to Win7 to add XP. This keeps both HD's independently bootable if you ever decide to remove one. The way you did it the boot files were placed on XP HD and now it can't be removed without Repairs done to Win7 to return to it it's own boot files.

gregrocker said:

The way you did it sounds like the installer wasn't even booted and it certainly wasn't a clean install on top of Vista with the windows.old folder which is not a legit backup method.

AFAIK, the creation of the windows.old folder is a standard part done by Vista and 7 if custom install is selected and the target drive contains another copy of windows. The installer just moves files into one folder (windows.old), leaving a non-bootable copy of the old OS. Aside from that, the install is clean.

gregrocker said:

After install to the single HD you should have plugged back in XP HD to boot it when needed using the one-time BIOS boot menu key. If you don't like that manual method of Dual Booting via BIOS, then you can install EasyBCD to Win7 to add XP. This keeps both HD's independently bootable if you ever decide to remove one. The way you did it the boot files were placed on XP HD and now it can't be removed without Repairs done to Win7 to return to it it's own boot files.

Don't really like having to go into the BIOS to select boot drive. Also because the missus sometimes uses my PC and I'm not letting her anywhere near the BIOS :) If/when I do decide to remove XP, I don't mind doing some extra work or even reinstalling Windows 7 once.

But I agree that for someone who ist most likely to switch to only one OS soon, disconnectiong other drives during the install and going into the BIOS to select the boot drive later is the better option.

Chakonari said:

Don't really like having to go into the BIOS to select boot drive. Also because the missus sometimes uses my PC and I'm not letting her anywhere near the BIOS :)

You don't go into BIOS with this method.
A BIOS Boot menu is displayed so you can select the OS (or device) to boot from for that bootup.
No changes are made to BIOS using this method to display the boot menu.
If the missus will only use Win 7 and never use XP, she will not need to use the BIOS boot menu, and Win 7 can be the default bootup OS.

You should try using the boot menu key so you see what it is like using this method.
I'm not sure what key is used for your MSI motherboard, but that info should be displayed when the PC is booting, or documented in the MB manual.

Chakonari said:

gregrocker said:

The way you did it sounds like the installer wasn't even booted and it certainly wasn't a clean install on top of Vista with the windows.old folder which is not a legit backup method.

AFAIK, the creation of the windows.old folder is a standard part done by Vista and 7 if custom install is selected and the target drive contains another copy of windows. The installer just moves files into one folder (windows.old), leaving a non-bootable copy of the old OS. Aside from that, the install is clean.

Not if you correctly boot the installer.

Chakonari said:

gregrocker said:

After install to the single HD you should have plugged back in XP HD to boot it when needed using the one-time BIOS boot menu key. If you don't like that manual method of Dual Booting via BIOS, then you can install EasyBCD to Win7 to add XP. This keeps both HD's independently bootable if you ever decide to remove one. The way you did it the boot files were placed on XP HD and now it can't be removed without Repairs done to Win7 to return to it it's own boot files.

Don't really like having to go into the BIOS to select boot drive. Also because the missus sometimes uses my PC and I'm not letting her anywhere near the BIOS :) If/when I do decide to remove XP, I don't mind doing some extra work or even reinstalling Windows 7 once.

But I agree that for someone who ist most likely to switch to only one OS soon, disconnectiong other drives during the install and going into the BIOS to select the boot drive later is the better option.

That's why I specifically said how to add XP to a Dual Boot menu easily from Win7 if the BIOS boot method isn't satisfactory. This also keeps the HD's independent so they can come and go as you please, whereas install while both are plugged in writes the Win7 boot files onto XP partition so it can't even boot on its own.

Have to admit I didn't even think of the Post boot device menu as it's not documented in the motherboard's manual. The standard F11 does it though.... All this time I'd been thinkig I don't have this option and have been going into the BIOS whenever wanting to boot from another drive I put it down to only using my reading glasses when doing detailed graphic related stuff

Perhaps I should reinstall with the disconnect drive method before installing more programmes.

Thanks guys.

gregrocker said:

Chakonari said:

AFAIK, the creation of the windows.old folder is a standard part done by Vista and 7 if custom install is selected and the target drive contains another copy of windows. The installer just moves files into one folder (windows.old), leaving a non-bootable copy of the old OS. Aside from that, the install is clean.

Not if you correctly boot the installer.

This part I still don't understand.