Accidently Installed Win7 to Recovery \:D

SIW2 said:

have a look on D and see what is on there - post a screenshot of the contents.

If there is a Windows.old file - post the contents of that too.

If you didn't format it during installation - you should be able to restore the recovery partition contents.

Here you go. Note the windows old folder is from :C because I deleted it from the drive (seemed like a good idea at the time), but it should be identical.

SIW2 said:

Looks like the contents of the recovery partition are still there.

Do you have the Dell installation dvd?

By Dual boot menu, you mean the B&W screen during boot-up where I have to choose which Win7 to boot up, yes I get that.

And I have Win7 on a dvd.

SIW2 said:

I meant the original o/s that was on the machine (Vista?).

You might want to reinstall that to sell the machine, or if you want to transfer 7 to another machine.

Not sure I understand the point of your comment. I'm not concerned about Vista or selling the machine. Just want to clear up the issue of double install of Win7.

I really need more clarity from the commenters above on what the best approach is and how to do it. I don't know enough to decide on various options. Just tell me what I should do and I will obey. And a key question will any of the above suggestions save my Win7 that is installed on :C or will I need to reinstall? Another is: by getting rid of , will that also wipe out the Win7 installed on that drive, but keep Win7 on :C?

SIW2 said:

You can delete the other boot menu entry in msconfig under the startup tab, and delete/reformat the D partition, if you like.

Now that sounds like something I can do! Is it as simple as that or do I need more detailed instructions? Is it obvious how to delete the other boot menu entry in msconfig (I'm quite familiar with msconfig)? And where do I go to delete/reformat D (just right click on D and choose delete or format? If so, what's the difference between deleting and reformatting (I assume with delete, D disappears, whereas with reformat, D is just cleaned out)?

SIW2 said:

You will still have full use of 7 installed on C.

Great!

SIW2 said:

If you then want to include the space released from D into C - that is another question - not difficult .

As I don't know enough to know, what do you suggest? I don't think I need D space released.

Your solution seems so simple compared to the others that involved downloading 3rd party software and repartitioning.

If you confirm your suggestion and instructions, I'm all over it.

Much appreciated.

SIW2 said:

And where do I go to delete/reformat D (just right click on D and choose delete or format? If so, what's the difference between deleting and reformatting (I assume with delete, D disappears, whereas with reformat, D is just cleaned out)?

Yes.

Is it obvious how to delete the other boot menu entry in msconfig

Yes, type msconfig in start search- click it when it pops up - click the Boot Tab, highlight the old entry , click Delete, Click Apply, OK. Exit without restart.

I'm on it. I'll report back.

I just followed SIW2's instructions and all worked great.

Many thanks to all for their time and expertise.

And Happy New Year!