How to delete one of two win 7 installations

ikkebenwillem · 06 Jan 2014

Because of constant BSODs I wanted to install a second Win 7 64 bit OS on an empty disk, in Windows diskmanagement called Disk 0, with an NTFS file system. Its status is Healthy (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary partition). See the attachment.

Want to delete the old Win 7 installation, but it is still there as the D:\ drive on a partition of a disk, in Windows diskmanagement called Disk 1. Its status is Healthy (System, Active, Primary partition). As I do not find the status of the C:\ drive on Disk 0 as Active, that is the Win7 in use now, I doubt if I can just delete or format the D:\drive, without loosing the MBR.

Please advise me. Thank you in advance

Windows Sniper · 06 Jan 2014

Hey there, Welcome to SF!

The easiest way to solve your issue would to be using Easy BCD as highlighted : Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP on step 9.

However you will want to remove the second boot option from the bcd.

If you do have an issue with the MBR, this guide : MBR - Restore Windows 7 Master Boot Record Will be able to help you recover it.

I hope this helps.

gregrocker · 06 Jan 2014

This happened because the other HD's were not unplugged during install as should always be the case.

To correct it now, Mark C Partition Active,
power down to unplug the other HD's, boot into Win7 installation media or System Repair Disk to run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times until Win7 starts and it's partition holds the System flag meaning its booting itself.

Now you can plug back in the old Win7 HD, making sure the new WIn7 HD remains set to boot first in BIOS setup. If you want to boot the old one, use the one-time BIOS Boot menu key given on first boot screen. Ask back if this is a problem.

If you still get a Dual Boot menu when booting into the old OS, enter msconfig>Boot to delete the old Installation.