Hello. I had some trouble a while back and ended up doing a repair install.
This has resulted in me having 2 options for Windows 7 on my boot menu. Near as I can tell they are the same, but Windows updates don't "take" on the first one. And if I use the second W7 option, those updates will be rolled back as soon as I boot into the first one.
Any ideas?
The two entries are actually usually for two different installs of Windows. It seems likely that you did a side-by-side clean install, rather than a repair install.
I believe that this is not related to updates, per se - so I'm going to ask that the thread be moved to a more appropriate forum section - Performance & Maintenance - Windows 7 Help Forums - so that you can get better assistance. I'll also flag the thread so that others know it's coming.
This is certainly, not my area of expertise, if I have one. I'm sure others will be along shortly much more versed in this than me, including Noel. But, I think posting a screenshot of Disk Management will help a lot. Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image
Also, could you post a screenshot (Screenshots and Files - Upload and Post in Seven Forums) of msconfig, boot tab. Hold down the Windows key (the one with the flag on it) and press R key. Type msconfig in the search box and click on the boot tab. Please post a screenshot of that.
If there are two installs it should be displayed in disk management.
@tsdcs, can you post a screen print of your disk management using this tutorial ?
Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image
essenbe beat me to it - I'm too slow
Last edited by DavidE; 16 Mar 2014 at 06:15. Reason: I'm too slow (:
^ I know the feeling...
Anyway, as suspected, only one listing of W7 in the msconfig boot menu. I should perhaps mention again that both options seem to boot into Windows with the same settings etc- it's just that one doesn't allow Windows Update to work and will roll back updates made in the second, if booted into.
You have a System Reserved partition with the drive letter [E].
Normally this partition is used for booting (with no drive letter) and is the active partition.
I don't have a System Reserved partition on my PCs.
Maybe someone here knows if that might be causing your issue.
Can you post a screen print or paste the results of running the bcdedit command from an Elevated Command prompt?
Elevated Command Prompt
Command Prompt - Copy to Clipboard
Here is an example of what I see - I re-sized the CMD window so I can see everything in one "screen print".
Here you go:
And, for whatever it's worth, attached are the contents of E:\.Code:Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601] Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. C:\Windows\system32>bcdedit Windows Boot Manager -------------------- identifier {bootmgr} device partition=C: description Windows Boot Manager locale en-US inherit {globalsettings} default {current} resumeobject {8e835845-eab8-11e2-9891-d77fab6d3645} displayorder {current} toolsdisplayorder {memdiag} timeout 30 Windows Boot Loader ------------------- identifier {current} device partition=C: path \Windows\system32\winload.exe description Windows 7 locale en-US inherit {bootloadersettings} recoverysequence {8e835847-eab8-11e2-9891-d77fab6d3645} recoveryenabled Yes osdevice partition=C: systemroot \Windows resumeobject {8e835845-eab8-11e2-9891-d77fab6d3645} nx OptIn C:\Windows\system32>
I'm really not sure
I left a message for gregrocker asking him to look at this thread.
He's an installation guru and may know what's causing the issue.
As David said the System Reserved partition is meant to boot Win7 but for some reason your boot files have been moved to C, which we know is now booting Win7 by the presence of the System flag. This is okay but I think I would move the boot partition back to System Reserved to see if it resolves the ghost menu listing.
To do this Create an Image Backup , Mark System Reserved Partition Active, reboot to see if Win7 will start outright. If not then boot into the Win7 installation media or System Repair Disk to run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times no matter what it reports until Win7 starts and System Reserved again and correctly holds the System flag. In the rare case where System Reserved is corrupted and cannot be repaired to start Win7, just move the Active flag back to C using Partition - Mark as Active (Method Two).
You can then remove the System Reserved drive letter, ignoring the warning message: Drive Letter - Add, Change, or Remove in Windows 7 - Windows 7 Forums
You also have two stray small partitions without drive letters which are empty and a larger block of Logical Free Space all of which I would delete to create a new partition in the space, or simply extend C to the right to take up the space. Note that the Free Space must also be deleted using right-click>Delete Partition first to finally be rid of it's Logical container.
Partition or Volume - Delete
Partition or Volume - Create New
Partition or Volume - Extend
Last edited by gregrocker; 17 Mar 2014 at 05:58.
Thanks Greg!
You stated
"This is okay but I think I would move the boot partition back to Windows 7 to see if it resolves the ghost menu listing."
Is Windows 7 a "typo" and should be System Reserved?
@tsdcs
There is no label on the [C] partition in post #5, but I'm guessing [C] is Windows 7.
If it was my PC, I would add a label to that partition for clarity...
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