Changing the System Partition?

[PickleDelight]

When i installed Windows 7, I created a new partition so I could make sure that I could transfer all of the files from Vista over to Windows 7. I couldn't upgrade because I was going from Vista Home Premium 32-bit to 7 Professional 64-bit.

Now I want to get rid of the partition with Vista on it, and still be able to boot up my computer. Does anybody know how to change the System Partition from the Vista partition to the Windows 7 one?

Currently, the Vista Partition says Healthy (System, Active, Primary Partition) and the Windows 7 Partition says Healthy (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition). I want to change that so Windows 7 is the System Partition.

 

[PickleDelight]

Okay, I fixed that part on my own. Now I have a different problem. I deleted the old partition, but now I can't merge the unallocated space into my Windows 7 Partition because it isn't contiguous space. Basically, I have Unallocated Space -> Windows 7. Is there any way to move Windows 7 to the front of the drive so I can merge it with the empty space?

 

[SquonkSC]

Okay, I fixed that part on my own. Now I have a different problem. I deleted the old partition, but now I can't merge the unallocated space into my Windows 7 Partition because it isn't contiguous space. Basically, I have Unallocated Space -> Windows 7. Is there any way to move Windows 7 to the front of the drive so I can merge it with the empty space?

Download Acronis Disk Director Trial. It's perfect and simple.

I recommend installing it, but not running it from within windows.
It has an option to create a boot CD.
Create it and boot from the CD.

the Boot CD can be used even after the 30 days expire.

greetz

 

[Mark]

You are doing things in a way that creating allot of problems, what you should have done was not create any new partitions, insert the install disc reboot the computer and start the installation.

When you were asked where to install you should have chosen the Vista Partition and then install it without formatting, you would have then completed the install and the Data from the Vista install would have been placed in a folder on the c drive called Windows.old.

You could then retrieve any data and then after making sure you had nothing left in there of value you could then delete it.

Unfortunately none of that will help you now, you will probably need to get a 3rd party partitioning software to be able to merge the unallocated space, you could try using the free version of Partition Magic but I'm not sure what restrictions are on the trial version.

Download Partition Magic 8.0 Free Trial - Partition Magic allows you to create, resize and merge partitions.

 

[iseeuu]

When i installed Windows 7, I created a new partition so I could make sure that I could transfer all of the files from Vista over to Windows 7. I couldn't upgrade because I was going from Vista Home Premium 32-bit to 7 Professional 64-bit.

Now I want to get rid of the partition with Vista on it, and still be able to boot up my computer. Does anybody know how to change the System Partition from the Vista partition to the Windows 7 one?

Currently, the Vista Partition says Healthy (System, Active, Primary Partition) and the Windows 7 Partition says Healthy (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition). I want to change that so Windows 7 is the System Partition.

Hello PickleDelight, and welcome to Windows Seven Forums.

The "System" label you refer to is the partition currently running the "Operating System". So in a dual boot configuration, when you boot to Vista, that partition becomes the "System" partition and when you boot to 7, that partition becomes the "System" partition.

Based on your description of the 7 partition, that partition contains the "Boot" code. You should be able to delete the Vista partition and still boot to 7. However, other questions should be raised here. During fresh installs of 7, a 100MB boot partition is automatically created the the start of the hard drive. You do not indicate your system has a boot partition, rather that 7 skipped the boot partition and put the boot code in the 7 partition. That will work OK, but if you want, now would be a good time to delete the Vista partition and install a fresh copy of 7 in the empty space. Then reinstall your apps and use the easy transfer wizard to complete the new 7 install. Then you can delete the initial 7 partition and extend your new 7 partition into the empty space.

If the 7 partition is the second partition on your hard drive, as I suspect, after you delete the Vista partition you will not be able to extend the 7 partition into the empty space moving to the LEFT using the Windows Drive Management utility. You can do this with other software like GParted. Check out the links under my sig at the bottom of this window.

Another possible solution is to delete the Vista partition and use Clonezilla to move the 7 partition into the empty space at the front of the drive. Then you can delete the initial 7 partition and extend into that empty space. There is also a link to using Clonezilla under my sig.

Should the worst happen, here are some links to fixing the startup, a "repair install", and updating the "boot code".

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/20864-mbr-restore-windows-7-master-boot-record.html

I know it doesn't help with your current situation, but for future reference, knowing what I know now, I would shrink the "old" operating system to the right and install any "new" operating system I eventually was going to keep at the "front" of the hard drive and include room for the 100MB boot partition if needed. It is so much easier then to delete the "old" os and use Windows to extent the partition to the right.

Cheers!

Robert

 

[PickleDelight]

Thanks. But I already figured out what I needed to do and solved everything already based on other forums I found with people who had similar problems. The boot files are now where they should be, I deleted the Partition with Vista on it, I moved the partition with 7 on it to the front of the drive and merged it with the empty space I got from deleting Vista. It all boots up perfectly fine now, and I'm enjoying my new Operating system.

By the way, when I posted that last night, I was drinking. It's amazing how when you wake up sober, you can actually think and find the information to solve a problem on your own.

 

[FyrmnJ]

To Mr. ISEEUU:

Thanks for that Tutorial on restoring the MBR, ISEEUU. I'm going to be getting rid of my vista and win732 bit on a different hard drive and preserve my win7 64 bit on s serperate new SSD. I took screen shots (using Firefox's addon sure shot) of your tutorial now i'm going to print them and do each step one by one. I'm not good at DOS commands so the screen shots are a heaven sent. I'm never gonna be as good as some of you guys here, but I'm getting there.

FyrmnJ in Philly

 

[iseeuu]

To Mr. ISEEUU:

Thanks for that Tutorial on restoring the MBR, ISEEUU. I'm going to be getting rid of my vista and win732 bit on a different hard drive and preserve my win7 64 bit on s serperate new SSD. I took screen shots (using Firefox's addon sure shot) of your tutorial now i'm going to print them and do each step one by one. I'm not good at DOS commands so the screen shots are a heaven sent. I'm never gonna be as good as some of you guys here, but I'm getting there.

FyrmnJ in Philly

FyrmnJ;

You are most welcome. Glad it proved useful to you! And thanks for letting me know.

BTW, I have never been very good with DOS either.

Cheers!

Robert

 

[phsieh007]

Thanks. But I already figured out what I needed to do and solved everything already based on other forums I found with people who had similar problems. The boot files are now where they should be, I deleted the Partition with Vista on it, I moved the partition with 7 on it to the front of the drive and merged it with the empty space I got from deleting Vista. It all boots up perfectly fine now, and I'm enjoying my new Operating system.

By the way, when I posted that last night, I was drinking. It's amazing how when you wake up sober, you can actually think and find the information to solve a problem on your own.

Could you tell me the thread of the forums that solved your problem? Thanks.

 

[chuckr]

Thanks. But I already figured out what I needed to do and solved everything already based on other forums I found with people who had similar problems. The boot files are now where they should be, I deleted the Partition with Vista on it, I moved the partition with 7 on it to the front of the drive and merged it with the empty space I got from deleting Vista. It all boots up perfectly fine now, and I'm enjoying my new Operating system.

By the way, when I posted that last night, I was drinking. It's amazing how when you wake up sober, you can actually think and find the information to solve a problem on your own.

Could you tell me the thread of the forums that solved your problem? Thanks.

'iseeuu's MBR tutorial is located at:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/20864-mbr-restore-windows-7-master-boot-record.html?ltr=M

For "Tutorials" in general, 2 ways:
At the opening 'home page', it's near the bottom.
For other pages, it's a blue something at the 'Top Right'.

It's good to know where to find them all -- Really good stuff in there!

 

[phsieh007]

To chuckr,

The 'iseeuu's MBR tutorial does not work here.

Just like PickleDelight, I need a guide to move Win7 from the boot partition (currently the 2nd partition) to the front system partition(currently the first partition, deleted Vista) on the same disk.

Thanks,
Patrick

 

[sup3rsprt]

phsieh007 I think you're going to need provide a lot more info. I know how to do it but cannot explain it to you without knowing details about your system or hard disk structure.

A good start would be to attach a screenshot of your Disk Management. And tell us what kind of data is on each partition.

 

[phsieh007]

To sup3rsprt,

Thanks. My problem is exactly the same as PickleDelight's (except the drinking part ). He solved it finally without giving the thread details (of other forums).

When i installed Windows 7, I created a new partition so I could make sure that I could transfer all of the files from Vista over to Windows 7. I couldn't upgrade because I was going from Vista Home Premium 32-bit to 7 Professional 64-bit.

Now I want to get rid of the partition with Vista on it, and still be able to boot up my computer. Does anybody know how to change the System Partition from the Vista partition to the Windows 7 one?

Currently, the Vista Partition says Healthy (System, Active, Primary Partition) and the Windows 7 Partition says Healthy (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition). I want to change that so Windows 7 is the System Partition.

Okay, I fixed that part on my own. Now I have a different problem. I deleted the old partition, but now I can't merge the unallocated space into my Windows 7 Partition because it isn't contiguous space. Basically, I have Unallocated Space -> Windows 7. Is there any way to move Windows 7 to the front of the drive so I can merge it with the empty space?

Thanks. But I already figured out what I needed to do and solved everything already based on other forums I found with people who had similar problems. The boot files are now where they should be, I deleted the Partition with Vista on it, I moved the partition with 7 on it to the front of the drive and merged it with the empty space I got from deleting Vista. It all boots up perfectly fine now, and I'm enjoying my new Operating system.

By the way, when I posted that last night, I was drinking. It's amazing how when you wake up sober, you can actually think and find the information to solve a problem on your own.

 

[sup3rsprt]

I would boot into Windows 7 or the Windows 7 DVD and use bcdboot command to move the boot files to the Windows 7 partition. That's all "System" means in this context - it's the drive that has the boot files.

In order to arrange the disk space/partitions how I want, I would use something like Acronis Disk Director or Paragon Hard Disk/Partition Manager because the utilities included with Windows often times can't take care of it.

 

[chuckr]

Sorry, and my most humble apologies:

I had read this following post, and had mistaken the 'solution'
for your problem...

=FyrmnJ;255382]To Mr. ISEEUU:

Thanks for that Tutorial on restoring the MBR, ISEEUU. I'm going to be getting rid of my vista and win732 bit on a different hard drive and preserve my win7 64 bit on s serperate new SSD. I took screen shots (using Firefox's addon sure shot) of your tutorial now i'm going to print them and do each step one by one. I'm not good at DOS commands so the screen shots are a heaven sent. I'm never gonna be as good as some of you guys here, but I'm getting there.
FyrmnJ in Philly

None the less,
the "Tutorials" referenced are still the most excellent advice available, IMHO.

 

[Razer511]

I just did this using Partition Wizard Home Edition, a great freeware program.

I had Vista in a 900gb partition and 7 Beta on a 100 gb partition for testing. now that I have the final version of 7 Ultimate I installed it. I then wanted to give Vista 100gb and have 900 for 7. I was able to use the Windows disk management to free up the space on drive, but then I was unable to extend the partition as it was to the right of the free space. I tried command line also, but no luck. I then found Partition Wizard and used it and it worked perfect and directly from Windows after a reboot. Pretty cool for a free program. I have used Partition Magic, Acronis and others and this was just as easy or more so and really fast!

I you have need of a product like this I'd give it a shot, worked for me anyway!

 

[Dave76]

Partition Wizard Home Edition is a great program, I've used it several times and it works easily.

Check this Seven Forums Sticky thread for a long list of free software that works with Win7.

FREE Great Programs for Window 7

Among others you will find:

EASEUS Partition Master Home Edition

Partition Wizard

If you want to find all your system information and more, will make it easy to fill out 'My System Specs':

SIW


Another Sevem Forums thread for 64 bit free programs:

Free 64-bit programs

 

[thisco]

Hi Guys,

I'm new here, so go easy. I'm having the same problem as posted above, but I'm not seeing any solutions here? Perhaps I'm blind though.

Although the issue is already mentioned, I'll repeat it. I created a new partition for my Windows 7 installation, and am now looking at removing the existing Vista partition. However, the issue is that under disk management, the Vista partition is showing up as the System partition, even though I'm actually running 7. So, perhaps some boot information is being stored on the partition containing Vista?

I'm ideally looking for a simple solution here, without having to lost all of my settings, etc in 7. Oh, also - how would I go about merging the entire drive? I no longer want a secondary partition, but I'm unsure if Windows will let me delete / expand the partition, being that it's to the right of the existing one.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Agent Zach]

If you, by chance, have a Windows 7 Setup disk lying around, I'd suggest popping that in, and trying to Manage/Extend the partition(s) that way.

Not sure if Win7 is like WinVista & WinXP, but most know that if the Priority Partition is deleted or in-use... you have minimal options for controlling your partition, whilst USING any partition.

Once the DVD boots up it's a simple matter of following along with the fairly simple installation wizard. When you're choosing installation type, be sure to select Custom (advanced) and Manage the partitions there.

 

[wallyinnc]

Hi Guys,

I'm new here, so go easy. I'm having the same problem as posted above, but I'm not seeing any solutions here? Perhaps I'm blind though.

Although the issue is already mentioned, I'll repeat it. I created a new partition for my Windows 7 installation, and am now looking at removing the existing Vista partition. However, the issue is that under disk management, the Vista partition is showing up as the System partition, even though I'm actually running 7. So, perhaps some boot information is being stored on the partition containing Vista?

I'm ideally looking for a simple solution here, without having to lost all of my settings, etc in 7. Oh, also - how would I go about merging the entire drive? I no longer want a secondary partition, but I'm unsure if Windows will let me delete / expand the partition, being that it's to the right of the existing one.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Thisco, if you could post a screen shot of your disk management screen, I would be safer on the advice. We need to know if your Win7 partition also has the boot files (which one did you install last?)
If so, please read iseeuu's post carefully, that should be the answer to your problem. You need to delete the Vista partition and extend the Win7 partion to the left using Gparted. When you do it, you might need to repair your Win7 install (Win7 will not like that you moved it). Do you have the install disk with you, you will need it
And welcome to the forums