Solved Change system partition?

[mjf]

So Disk 0 is a dead duck at the moment after attempting removal of XP?
Do you have any system images?

Do you have any tools for examining disk 0 apart from system repair?
For some information on the status of the disk, again from the repair disk:
>diskpart
>list disk
>list volume
>exit
describe the output.

When you select recover from an image you can select install drivers not to install drivers but get a windows explorer like feature. You can look and see what you find on C:. Then just backtrack out of the install drivers.

 

[danime91]

list disk returns no fixed disks to show. list volume returns there are no volumes. And as far as I can tell, drive C: is non-existent. It only shows a drive called Boot (X: ).

 

[mjf]

Doesn't Partition Wizard show the disk like it apparently used to?

(also correction bootrec /scanos will not report an OS already in the BCD.)

 

[danime91]

Yes Partition Wizard is still able to display all the partitions correctly.

 

[mjf]

I've no idea why list disk & volume don't come up with anything.

From Partition Wizard
What's on the D: partition right now?
Is it still marked system
and C: is marked active?

 

[gregrocker]

Follow SIW2's advice several posts below to use PW boot CD Partition Recovery Wizard to attempt to recover the C partition to the beginning of HD.

If this doesn't work I'd boot PW CD, rightclick first 2 partitions + Unalloc space to Wipe (to get as much code off the HD as poss), create a Primary partition there, mark Active, Boot 7 DVD to install there.

Now install the latest EasyBCD version, click Add OS tab, choose Win7 on C partition, Save. Reboot to see if it adds to Boot menu.

Later we can help strip all of the files out of rescue partition except boot files, shrink it to a boot partition.

We can help try to rescue C as long as you want, but what are the barriers to wiping the HD now to http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/125874-re-install-windows-7-a.html#post1086729?

Do you have your files from Win7? http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/93347-copy-paste-windows-recovery-console.html

 

[danime91]

That's the strange thing about Partition Wizard. It shows all the partitions, but not their labels. I know which ones are supposed to be C: and D:, but they are not labeled C: and D:, it's just blank.

 

[mjf]

Following gregrocker's post. Can you do a clean install of Windows 7 on the disk?

Regarding the letter assignments. I suggest you assign your win 7 old C: the letter C using PW. Then follow the gregrocker steps. This may give you large system reserved partition which can be trimmed in size later.

So with this new active primary at the front and the OS marked C: (not active) try running the automated (System Repair) x3.

 

[SIW2]

Are you able to run partition recovery from PW?

If not, I would d/l gparted, boot it up.

Download gparted-live-0.8.0-3.iso (123.5 MB)

Assuming it sees the partitions - take a screenie ( you will need somewhere to save it , so you can post it up ).

If you can't save the screenie anywhere :

use gparted to create a partition - inside the part of the HD that you don't need data back from - that would be the partition that held XP.

Make sure you only do that with the XP partition - don't stray over the boundary to the 7 partition.

When you have done that, boot PW again and run the partition recovery to recover the windows 7 partition.

 

[danime91]

Well I'd really like to try to keep my C: drive as intact as possible. For now I just used Partition Wizard to mark Windows XP as active again, and now I can boot into XP. Still can't boot into 7, but for a new reason. Now it says that Windows failed to start, gives some advice on how to fix it (it doesn't work of course), and this error information.

Status: 0xc0000225
Info: The boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible.

For now could someone help me just get it so that I can boot Windows 7 again, and possibly find another way to get rid of the XP partition afterward?

 

[gregrocker]

I thought you were following BareFootKid's tutorial to Recover Space Used by an Older OS , but you left XP on the HD? The steps were not followed correctly.

From XP access EasyBCD, click "Useful Utilities" then Power Console for a Command Box, or from the Win7 DVD Repair Command Line type:

bootsect /nt60 <whatever the 7 drive letter is>:

then press enter, Mark Win7 partition Active, Restart.

If Win7 will not start, try Repair from DVD again.

 

[danime91]

I actually was following BareFootKid's guide. I was stuck at step 1 though. But now that I set the Windows 7 partition to active, it won't even let me get into Windows XP, just gives me a bootmgr is missing message. Startup Repair just gives me the same cannot repair this computer automatically message.

 

[gregrocker]

Run the command I gave above and report back whether Win7 starts.

If you want to start XP we can give you the command for that next.

It would be helpful at this point if you could post back a clear camera snap of PW drive map with listings, or at least type them all out.

 

[danime91]

Running the command from the Windows install DVD returns that it could not map the drive name to a volume or something. The drive map for PW looks like this, since I don't have a digicam on me.
The first NTFS partition is Windows XP, the second is 7.

Partition_____File System_____Capacity_____Used_____Unused_____ Status_____Type
Disk 1
-------------
*: ____________FAT________62.72 MB____9.26 MB___53.46 MB_____Hidden____Primary
*:OS__________NTFS______200.04 GB____49.27 GB__150.77 GB_____None_____Primary
*:_____________NTFS______249.99 GB___232.15 GB__17.84 GB_____Active_____Primary
*:__________Unallocated_____15.67 GB________0 B___15.67 GB_____None_____Logical

 

[gregrocker]

The System boot files have been removed from XP but not yet written to Win7. Have you run the three Startup Repairs with reboots between each from the Win7 DVD Repair console or Repair CD? Try them again. Then boot PW CD, rightclick>Wipe the first two partitions and Unalloc space, then run the Repairs again to eliminate any code that might be blocking Repairs. Make sure Win7 remains Active.

Next follow these steps in order and report back what occurs after each:

Follow SIW2's advice several posts below to use PW boot CD Partition Recovery Wizard to attempt to recover the C partition to the beginning of HD.

If this doesn't work I'd boot PW CD, rightclick first 2 partitions + Unalloc space to Wipe (to get as much code off the HD as poss), create a Primary partition there, mark Active, Boot 7 DVD to install there.

Now install the latest EasyBCD version, click Add OS tab, choose Win7 on C partition, Save. Reboot to see if it adds to Boot menu.

Later we can help strip all of the files out of rescue partition except boot files, shrink it to a boot partition.

We can help try to rescue C as long as you want, but what are the barriers to wiping the HD now to http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/125874-re-install-windows-7-a.html#post1086729?

Do you have your files from Win7? http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/93347-copy-paste-windows-recovery-console.html

 

[mjf]

Here is a possibility.
When you mark the win 7 partition active that's where the BIOS goes to find the boot manager but there isn't one - hence the boot manager missing message.
When you try a repair a BCD probably already exists on the XP partition so you don't get anywhere.
Therefore, if there is a folder on the XP partition called [Boot], delete it. Set Win 7 active and run the repair x3.

You can try this after the last suggestions.

Edit: you should delete the bootmgr as well if it exists on the XP partition.
I thought XP had been wiped until just above.

 

[gregrocker]

Had assumed the XP partition was deleted all along using BareFoot's tutorial since it is the first step.

Wiping everything up to Win7 partition should give a cleaner slate for running Repairs.

 

[danime91]

Tried doing what SIW2 said, with Partition Recovery Wizard, but after selecting which partition I wanted to scan/recover, it asked if I was sure twice, said yes twice, then it just doesn't do anything.

Then I do the next method, installing Windows 7 to the new primary partition, marked as active. But after clicking Install Now, it says something about a necessary device is missing and takes me to a load driver screen where it says "select the driver to be installed" and it's all just blank.

 

[gregrocker]

Is this the Win7 installer you used to originally install on this HD? Did it have any problems then? Do you have another HD to try the install upon?

I am guessing you have corrupt boot sector requiring wiping the HD.

 

[danime91]

Yes this is the same installer I used to install Windows 7 before. I do not have any other HDs to try installing upon. I honestly hope that it does not come to wiping the HD. Also, checking the Windows 7 compatability site, I notice that even though my hard drive is listed on there (WD5000AAKS) it is listed SATA, while mine is SCSI. Does that make any difference at all?