How to format drive (windows xp) on dual boot system (windows 7 pro)

Ok, the bootloader is now on the C drive, that looks good.
I wanted to make sure your bootloader wasn't somehow still on D.
There is probably some "overheard" such as System Volume Information using a little space on the D drive and that is ok.
If you want to see files/folders that normally can't be seen in Windows (file) Explorer you can try WizTree.
The have a Portable Zip available, no install needed.
Antibody Software - WizTree finds the files and folders using the most disk space on your hard drive

Your D partition is still Active and that can cause problems.
If you want to mark it Inactive here is a tutorial:
Partition - Mark as Inactive

If you want to really clean the D drive including removing the old bootloader code (MBR) you can do a Diskpart Clean.
You would have to create a new partition after doing the Clean.
Here is a tutorial:
Disk - Clean and Clean All with Diskpart Command

If you use these commands, make sure you select the correct drive or you could cause major problems.

Okay, I think that I know why D: is listed as active, but not sure how to solve it. When I boot up, it still shows the dual boot selection; "earlier version of windows" and "windows 7", even though it no longer has XP or anything on it. I have not tried selecting the earlier version as not sure if that would cause a problem.

If you did select the "earlier version of windows" i'm sure it would give you an error and not boot Windows because you formatted the D drive, so Windows is not installed there now.
Then you would have to restart the PC to choose the working bootable OS.

In EasyBCD you can delete the boot entry for "earlier version of windows".
If you want a screen print let me know, i'll have to reboot in Win 8.1 cause that's where i have EasyBCD installed.

You can also delete the boot entry by running msconfig
Select the Boot tab, select the OS from the list you want to delete, and click Delete.

Here's a msconfig snip where i'm showing that i could delete Win 7 from my boot options if i wanted to.
I'm on Win 10 right now, but Win 7 msconfig works the same way.

Note: I have changed drive C: to Disk 0 position from Disk 1, which is where D: is now positioned.

I used EasyBCD to delete the earlier version of windows and checked the status of D: using Computer mgt and D: is still showing that it is active. I rebooted and it still showed it as being active, so I ran msconfig as you suggested and the "earlier version of windows" is not there only windows 7, yet after checking the status of D: again, it still is showing as being active.

Did you use this tutorial to make D Inactive ?
Partition - Mark as Inactive

Just removing it from the boot entries won't change it to Inactive.

Can you disconnect the D drive and make sure Windows 7 boots ok ?

Okay, I performed the partition steps and it changed the status on D: as no longer being active.



I also unplugged D: and it booted up okay.

It is Fixed! Wow, DavidE thank you. I am so glad that there are people like you to help. Great Job!

Best wishes and thanks again.

You're welcome and glad to see you got it fixed and working !