Advice please on swapping Win7 and XP drive letters (separate disks)

[gromwood]

Hello all,

First post here and seeking some advice please.

The intention is that eventually I (and other family users) will "migrate" to being Win7 users.
The crux of what I want to end up with is Win7 being C:\windows(7)..... etc and XP being D:\Windows(XP).....etc. I want to keep the idea that the OS will be on drive letter C (because other users cannot get their heads around drives other than C


Current arrangement is Disk0 has C: with XP and all my current programs, user documents etc. Disk1 has D: with new install of Win 7 Pro. So far have not copied any existing user files into Win7, but I'm happy with doing that together with re-installing software as I come to needing it.

Disk 0 - C:\ is marked as system disk and has bootmgr which is currently dual boot Win7/XP (actually it is triple boot) because Disk1 also has a 3GB partition of H:\ which has a "skeleton" XP install with just an admin account - put there in case I ever had trouble with C:\ or wanted to backup C:\ with all files closed.

I know (from helpful advice on here) that I cannot change drive letter of the system disk (currently C
but is there a way to get to where I want to be.

In summary,

The Win7 install is new, so could be sacrificed and re-installed if need be - presumably there would be no issue putting the activation code in again ?

I have external storage onto which I can image any of the partitions. Disk0 has already been done.
I use Macrium Reflect (free) for my imaging. I've d/loaded Paragon Backup and Recovery Free 2014 after reading other threads on here.

Any help or pointers very gratefully appreciated.

Regards
Gromwood

 

[Kari]

Hello Gromwood, welcome to the Seven Forums.

Your screenshots seem to be taken from XP, showing a (quite) normal Windows XP 7 Seven dual boot system.

Windows always uses the letter C: for system partition, where the operating system is installed. When you boot to Seven you will notice it has become partition C:, and again booting back to XP it will use the letter C:.

As far as I can see your Disk Management shows no issues, nothing to worry.

Kari

 

[gromwood]

Hello Kari

Thanks for replying. When I read (in XP) your reply , straightaway I did a restart and used the boot menu to boot into Win7. Then I took the screenshots attached. As you can clearly see, the Windows7 environment is drive letter D, not C

So at what point will your statement ... "When you boot to Seven you will notice it has become partition C:" become true ? From the screenshots it is not true at present.

I'm sorry if I did not make myself clear, the screenshots show what I currently have. What I want to end up with is a dual boot system with Win7 having drive letter C, and XP on separate disk with drive letter D. Can I achieve this and how ?

Thanks

Peter
(gromwood)

 

[Kari]

I will check something, will post later.

In the mean time a suggestion: Why dont you backup your user data from XP to another partition or external device, then simply boot the computer from Windows 7 install media and install it on top of XP, completely wiping the XP partition, then restore the user data to newly installed Seven? This way you get your Seven on first HDD and no more XP, which I understand is your plan anyway.

 

[gromwood]

I guess I could do as you are suggesting and wipe out XP by installing W7 straight over the top. However I'd rather proceed a bit more slowly than that and keep an XP install around for a while. I wondered about creating another partition on Disk 0 to put W7 onto but a) C:\ is pretty full no room and b) the partition would use another drive letter anyway so defeats the object.

I wondered whether moving the bootmgr to Disk 1, the disk that has the current drive D - Win7 install on it would work, then physically removing Disk0 before booting. I suspect it wouldn't be that simple.

 

[Computer0304]

Hello Kari

Thanks for replying. When I read (in XP) your reply , straightaway I did a restart and used the boot menu to boot into Win7. Then I took the screenshots attached. As you can clearly see, the Windows7 environment is drive letter D, not C

So at what point will your statement ... "When you boot to Seven you will notice it has become partition C:" become true ? From the screenshots it is not true at present.

I'm sorry if I did not make myself clear, the screenshots show what I currently have. What I want to end up with is a dual boot system with Win7 having drive letter C, and XP on separate disk with drive letter D. Can I achieve this and how ?

Thanks

Peter
(gromwood)

How come you do not have SP1? The screenshot says Build 7600 not 7601. You should get it for better security and performance first before doing anything else. (Unless it messes with the dual boot)

 

[Kari]

OK, I did a fast dual boot install to get screenshots.

I installed Windows 7 on secondary HDD on a PC which already contained Windows XP. After the first boot, this is how Windows 7 looks:

​

Disk Management clearly shows the older operating system Windows XP has gotten letter D: because Windows 7 installation took the C: for itself.

1. Disk Management shows Windows 7 partition as C:, Windows XP partition as D:
2. File Explorer > Computer shows Windows 7 partition as C:, Windows XP partition as D:
3. File Explorer > Computer > C: shows Windows 7 system folders installed on C:

Now booting to Windows XP, same computer:

​

Disk Management clearly shows the newer operating system Windows 7 has now gotten letter E: because Windows XP uses C: for its system drive and D: for CD/DVD drive.

1. Disk Management shows Windows XP partition as C:, Windows 7 partition as E:
2. File Explorer > Computer shows Windows XP partition as C:, Windows 7 partition as E:
3. File Explorer > Computer > C: shows Windows XP system folders installed on C:

This is the result if you do a clean install when installing the second Windows OS (in your case 7) on a dual boot in computer which already contains another Windows OS (in your case XP).

With clean install I mean that you start the Windows 7 installation by booting the computer with Windows 7 install media (DVD or USB), not by booting to Windows XP and launching Windows 7 installation from XP desktop.

Tutorial: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/8057-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-xp.html

Kari

 

[gregrocker]

Where is the DIsk Mgmt screenshot from Win7? We can tell better what's happened once we see it.

If Win7 is booting as anything other than C it normally means it was installed from the XP OS and not from the booted installer, so XP blocked the use of the letter C Win7 would have otherwise taken. If you don't mind having Win7 on D then you can leave it as is.

To reinstall so Win7 boots as C, unplug the XP HD, boot the Win7 installer to reinstall to its target HD making sure to delete its partition to create New and format first. In fact I would delete all partitions on that drive after backing up any needed data. You hardly need a second install of a defunct OS when you now have the best OS ever.

After Win7 install, plug back in XP HD to boot it using the one-time BIOS Boot Menu key. This keeps the HD's independent to come and go as you please. If you don't like that arrangement install EasybCD to Win7 to add XP which will still keep its System flag so that both remain independently bootable and one is not dependent upon the other as when you install with another OS plugged in.

If you are happy with Win7 performance and would like to keep it but would like to make it independently bootable, mark the XP C partition Active in Disk Mgmt, power down to unplug it, boot the Win7 installation media to run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times
until it starts on its own and holds the System boot files.

You can then choose which OS to boot via the BIOS, or install EasyBCD to Win7 to add the other OS while still maintaining each as independently bootable. Later if you need the now-hidden XP partition you can add it to a Dual Boot using Easy from Win7.

 

[Computer0304]

You may have to deactivate your current Windows 7 installation before doing what Greg says. Remember to keep your product key for activation of the clean install.

 

[AddRAM]

Greg is correct and you should unplug all other drives and re install windows 7, there is no reason to have it not showing as C.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/165472-product-key-number-uninstall-deactivate-windows.html

 

[SIW2]

There is no particular reason to have it as C either . Up to you. I give mine different os letters as I like.

 

[AddRAM]

Other then that`s what the OP wants.

 

[Computer0304]

You could negotiate the OP about that.

 

[ComputerGeek]

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[ComputerGeek]

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[gregrocker]

Thanks for the reminder Si that Win7 doesn't absolutely need to be on C. It's just that after offering the choice for so long with very few wanting it on another letter, I finally gave up mentioning it. But I edited my post to be correct.

I'm not sure why XP needs to have its boot restored, ComputerGeek, since it is currently booting all OS's from C as signified by the System flag. C should be Partition Marked Active however. In addition, running Startup Repair while XP HD is still plugged in will only reassert the multi-boot from XP even if Win7 is marked Active. This is why the need to unplug the XP HD to run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times to make Win7 independently bootable. It is already marked Active as also required.

If Gromwood chooses to keep Win7 booting as D, but wants to make the drives separately bootable as I've suggested, then any stray boot listings should be deleted in EasyBCD Edit OS Menu tab. However, again, if having the OS's independently bootable via the BIOS is not to his liking, he can add them back from EasyBCD on Win7. The backup XP partition on Disk1 can even remain hidden until needed.

 

[gromwood]

Guys,

Many thanks to you all for taking the trouble to post really helpful replies and suggestions. Yes, will make sure I get SP1 on. (And I see SP2 is around also ?)

I will carefully study all the good stuff I've been sent and then tread carefully. I'll post back when I've done, although may not be for a few days as herself demands I get on with some decorating and attempts to ban me from the pc for longer that a half-hour session.

You are quite right, there is no reason at all why Win 7 (or XP) has to be on any particular drive letter - it was just something I preferred to have Win 7 on C going forward.


Thanks again all.

Regards

 

[ComputerGeek]

I'm not sure why XP needs to have its boot restored

Yep. You're right. Rebuilding XP boot loader wouldn't help.

Though just editing OS drive letter assignments using EBCD may be the simplest solution? (certainly easy to try) - if that met the user's needs.

In any case, gromwood: hope all goes well!

 

[gregrocker]

I know of no way to change a booting OS drive letter except to reinstall. To try will often ruin the OS, so be sure to back up User data and a System Image if you try.

 

[ComputerGeek]

I know of no way to change a booting OS drive letter except to reinstall. To try will often ruin the OS, so be sure to back up User data and a System Image if you try.

My bad. I'm batting 0 for 2 on this one. Sorry.

I removed my 2 earlier posts