Changing Win7 System/Boot Partition without Reinstall

SIW2 said:

Hi Shaun,

Good post , nice and clear with all the needed info.

You're on the right track.

D/l this .zip, rt click it Properties>Unblock> Apply>OK .

Attachment 48712

Extract the .zip and copy bootsect.exe into your C:\windows\System32 folder.

Open an elevated command ( type cmd in start search box - when the black box pops up - rt click it and run as admin.)

Type the following , and press enter after each line:

bcdboot c:\windows /s c:

bootsect /nt60 c: /mbr

diskpart

sel vol c

act

sel vol f

inact

exi

close cmd prompt. Restart. You're good.

You might want to go into Bios and set Disk 0 as first HD in Bios boot order - not essential.

You need to keep the C letter for the 7 partition ( which you want to do anyway).

The others you can change as you like. In Disk Management, Rt click the one you want to change and select "Change drive letters and paths".

Hello Folks.
Old thread but it helped me today to upgrade to Windows 10. My system partition was not on the same as the OS (W7) was... always the same error message "we can't tell if your pc has enough space to continue installing windows 10"

After some manipulation, I'm now on windows 10. Thx SIW2 ;-)

SIW2 , I followed your instructions , every line command is working till I wrote sel vol c , it says volume 3 is selected then after I write " act " it tells me that no partition has been selected ! what's the problem now ?
thanks in advance

Hi SIW2,
I have had the similar problem and tried the method you just explained here. Don't know what happened, when I tried to restart my system after completing all steps, it is not getting started and displaying the message "Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device and press a key". Please help me solve the issue.
Thanks

Hi guys,

Slightly different issue but could really use some help!

I'm a noob to the forum but have read a tonne of threads on here and always find it a great source of info.

I'm trying to encrypt my Windows 7 laptop using full drive encryption through VeraCrypt. I know VeraCrypt well and have used it a lot, and I'm a CEH so I know a fair bit about computers. I'm not totally computer illiterate!

First issue I had with VeraCrypt was an error saying "The operating system does not boot from the selected drive" or something like that. So I followed this guide: TeraByte Unlimited Knowledge Base

That all worked on and I now have the attached picture as a setup. I'm trying to now switch the System folder over to the C drive rather than the System Reserved (F) so that VeraCrypt will only recognise that as my primary and will stop trying to run full encryption on the System partition. I've deleted the letter, tried changing ownership (although not sure if successfully). If anyone can offer some sort of guide then I'd really appreciate it.

I've tried almost everything but if anyone has ideas then PLEASE help - I'm desperate to get this sorted and you'd be an absolute hero!

Thanks in advance and look forward to spending more time in the forum.

James

SIW2 said:

Hi Shaun,

Good post , nice and clear with all the needed info.

You're on the right track.

D/l this .zip, rt click it Properties>Unblock> Apply>OK .

Attachment 48712

Extract the .zip and copy bootsect.exe into your C:\windows\System32 folder.

Open an elevated command ( type cmd in start search box - when the black box pops up - rt click it and run as admin.)

Type the following , and press enter after each line:

bcdboot c:\windows /s c:

bootsect /nt60 c: /mbr

diskpart

sel vol c

act

sel vol f

inact

exi

close cmd prompt. Restart. You're good.

You might want to go into Bios and set Disk 0 as first HD in Bios boot order - not essential.

You need to keep the C letter for the 7 partition ( which you want to do anyway).

The others you can change as you like. In Disk Management, Rt click the one you want to change and select "Change drive letters and paths".

I just wanted to say "thank you". I upgraded my laptop with a new SSD and I made the mistake of having the two disks connected when I installed Windows (in fact, I didn't even know that it was recommended to only have one disk while performing the installation) - It wasn't until I started having some issues when I tried to install a second OS that I realized this. But thanks to your post, I was able to get everything right this time!