Changing the System Partition?

[rogerfour]

xp and win7 partitions on same drive

Hi all, I should have found this forum before I did what I did??? but here I am because of what I did.....
I have been running xp pro on drv c: and win7 pro on drv x: (same hard drive) quite happily for a while now. It was all going great with a dual boot option but I decided now to go fully with Win7 - I love it! - and dump XP. Stupidly? I booted into win7 and deleted the c: partition with the intention of using easus to clone the win7 partition into the unallocated vacated space on c: what followed was and still is a nightmare for me which I still have not solved. So I borrowed a laptop and searched arouond and found this forum.
Well instead of cloning the partition - I went and re-booted the system thinking that Win7 would be the default - of course you all know that this could not happen - we are always wiser after the event !!
So now I am stuck with Win7 still on a 26 gig partition on my system Hard drive with an unallocated 57 gig partition that used to be c: and a third partition which was untouched by all this with some data files. How do I know? I used the Ultimate boot cd so that I could peek into the hard drive. But I cant seem to find an answer with this cd.
How now do I get to boot from Win7 - I dont want to format and re install again as I have an awful lot of stuff on Win7 already.
Is there some brilliant answer to all of this please?? Help I need my computer back.........

 

[SquonkSC]

Hi all, I should have found this forum before I did what I did??? but here I am because of what I did.....
I have been running xp pro on drv c: and win7 pro on drv x: (same hard drive) quite happily for a while now. It was all going great with a dual boot option but I decided now to go fully with Win7 - I love it! - and dump XP. Stupidly? I booted into win7 and deleted the c: partition with the intention of using easus to clone the win7 partition into the unallocated vacated space on c: what followed was and still is a nightmare for me which I still have not solved. So I borrowed a laptop and searched arouond and found this forum.
Well instead of cloning the partition - I went and re-booted the system thinking that Win7 would be the default - of course you all know that this could not happen - we are always wiser after the event !!
So now I am stuck with Win7 still on a 26 gig partition on my system Hard drive with an unallocated 57 gig partition that used to be c: and a third partition which was untouched by all this with some data files. How do I know? I used the Ultimate boot cd so that I could peek into the hard drive. But I cant seem to find an answer with this cd.
How now do I get to boot from Win7 - I dont want to format and re install again as I have an awful lot of stuff on Win7 already.
Is there some brilliant answer to all of this please?? Help I need my computer back.........

It can be solved with some work.

But I have to go to bed, it's 4:48am here.

Tomorrow I'll check and see if anyone has replied.
If not, I'll post how to do it.

Greetings

 

[gregrocker]

Hi. Welcome to Dual Boots Anonymous. I'm Greg.

Seems the only thing more popular than Win7 now is getting out of dual boots, each one it's own near-death experience.

Use your second machine to download and burn free Partition Wizard bootable disk.

Boot into PW, right click on Win7 partition and Mark Active.

You can also right click and Move/Resize Win7 to take up the old deleted XP space if you want. Be aware that Moving operations can fail, so you should wait if you aren't fully backed up yet.

When these operations complete, boot into the Win7 installer>Repair my Computer and run Startup Repair 3 times, as it will have multiple issues to fix.

This should solve it as it does for most, however if not we will need a screenshot of the PW disk map: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-how-post-screenshot-seven-forums.html

 

[rogerfour]

Thanks Gregrocker I downloaded the program but the laptop does not have a burner unfortunately, but If I am able to get into the pc using the ultimate boot cd I think it has a burner software on it. If not can I mount it from poweriso or something and retrieve it from the laptop on the network?
I forgot to mention that on top of everything both my power supply and ups gave out whilst I was trying to recover the partitions (everyone kicks you when you\re down) - I just came back from the shop with a new PS so I will be putting that in right now. I will take the ups in to get fixed over the weekend. I will come back later when everything is hooked up. Thanks again.

 

[rogerfour]

Hello Gregrokker, okay so I made win7 partition active using easeus partition software and it shows c: as active primary but when I try to boot from c: it tells me ntldr missing press ctrl alt del
so I still cant get into win7

 

[gregrocker]

I thought you said the deleted XP was C: so you want Win7 partition to be marked active.

Did you then run Startup Repair from the booted Win7 installer Repair console repeatedly? It needs to be run at least 3 times if there are multiple issues to fix.

I question if Easeus worked if you say C: is still marked active. Download free ImgBurn and burn a Partition Wizard disk, confirm Win7 marked active, Move Win7 onto XP's deleted space if you want to do that now, then run Startup repair 3 times to rewrite the boot loader.

 

[rogerfour]

Tell you the truth Gregrocker I don't have a clue as to what happened. I put in the new PSupply today and rebooted witjh the UBCD4win which is the only bootable disc that I have right now. I then ran easeus which is on the UBCD disc and it showed me that Windows 7 is noted as drive c: ?? I then clicked on it and made it active and it showed me that it was a primary active partition. So I tried to boot from c: but then the ntldr thingy came up. I have been sitting here infront of the screen for a total of about 5 days now with nothing to show.
I am punch drunk right now from re-booting - I am about to give up and re-install windows 7 but I will have to burn a few cd's tomorrow at work - partition wizard, win 7 repair disc, etc....
Can't believe this........

 

[gregrocker]

Well if you didn't have the Win7 installer or repair disk then it wouldn't have recovered by just marking Win7 partition active because it needs to have Startup repair run repeatedly to repair the bootloader.

Do you have a Win7 installer? If so, how many times have you run Startup Repair which is the most important step given that will correct most dual boot issues by reasserting the Win7 boot?

You are probably right at this point to reinstall Win7 because the steps aren't being followed which have repaired dozens of dual boots here. Boot from the installer, use Custom advanced tools to wipe the drive, create and format partitions as you wish.

 

[rogerfour]

re-installed

Hello Gregroker Well here I am again.... all sorted out with a new Windows 7 installation. I tried the startup repair several times but it just would not boot although it said that it had been fixed. Eventually I reinstalled a skeleton XP on a different partition and partition wizarded "c" free again and re-installed the new Win 7 into that C partition.
All is well thanks for all the information and instructions although I could not follow them accurately for a lack of cd burning facilities at home. Luckily I found this old bootable xp cd which saved the day. I am now equipped and armed to the teeth with several bootable cd's pertaining to windows 7 installation and repair.
Well - I learned a lot !!! I can tell you. Especially that you can't boot from a compressed hard drive !!! ... or that you can't boot from the bedroom when all the stuff is in the living room.
Maybe I can help someone else who might get into the same problem some time in the future.
Thanks again - one happy windows seven'er.
(By the way why can't my win7 system see the laptop XP - the laptop can see win7 no problem, everything seems to be shared properly. Maybe that's the subject of another post).

 

[wallyinnc]

Roger, thanks for the feedback and pls do stick around to try to help others if you wish. Any help is appreciated!
Regarding Win7 seeing XP, make sure the Workgroup name is the same and that you shared the drive you want to be seen in XP. From Win7 type \\computername, with your XP's computer. It should show you the XP drive you shared. If not let us know (and it would then be a good idea to either check the networking forum or posting anew)

 

[gregrocker]

+1
Don't forget to use Win7 backup imaging to save externally a backup image of your HDD, which makes reinstalls unnecessary since you can boot into the WIn7 installer Repair console and reimage your HDD (or a replacement) in 15 minutes.

Enjoy WIn7!

 

[rogerfour]

Hello again Gregroker,
Well thanks again for the input on the network - I did not get a chance to try it out because tonight I broke it again !!! We left off where I had a good working dual installation.
I did not burn a partition wizard disc unfortunately I installed it on the XP partition I think? Anyway tonight I got everything where I wanted it in Win7 and decided now to copy the win7 partition onto another drive for the ultimate OS bootable backup. So I installed Acronis with Acronis OS selector and created a partition on this other drive and called it "Z". But during the installation of the OS selector the system rebooted and it seems to have left me again in "no mans land"!
When it rebooted a message came up "Starting Acronis Loader...." and it just sits there. I then ran the win7 repair and did it a few times but it did not find a solution apparently, because when I rebooted the Acronis gives me that message again and just sits there. So I successfully restored Win7 back to yesterday and thought that would be the answer - but no - the same thing happened.
So now I booted with my UBCD4win and am able to send this message. I had to resort to Easeus again and it shows me that my Win7 which was on C is now on K!! and Xp has now gone to C instead and the Z partition is now D. what a mix up - I notice Win7 is not active at this time but the Z partition is active although Nothing was copied to it.
I did not try anthing heroic and do any experimenting as yet - so what do you think the next move is? Can I delete the Z partiton ? (it is empty) but obviously the Acronis loader has changed something and is sending me to Z which is why everything is stuck. sigh !!
I will get a good night's sleep though because I can't do this thing right now and I am feeling verrry low right now. (for info: I have 3 sata drives up with 2 and 3 partitions on each)
Thanks for listening to me.

 

[rogerfour]

wow I just saw your last post re the imaging disc !!! that would have saved the day right?

 

[rogerfour]

Greg, sorry Easeus shows the win7 OS drive as F and not K as I said before. Dont know if that makes any difference though.
Thanks see you tommorrow hopefully.
The 3 drives are showing C, E, F for the 1st, I J and K for the 2nd and G H and D for the 3rd.

 

[gregrocker]

It sounds like it was booting into the Acronis drive you set up to save your bootable image. It marked itself active and probably set itself to boot first after restarting, then found no image so it hung.

I suggest you mark your Win7 drive active, set it in BIOS to boot first, boot into the Win7 installer (not UBCD) and run Startup Repair 3 times. This will recover the boot to Win7, at least.

Then use the Screen capture utility on Start>programs list to make enough images of your Disk Management map to see the entirety.

edit: I don't know if it will allow you to delete that new active Acronis partition, but if the steps above fail then try to force delete it using Win7 installer Custom>advanced tools or Repair>command line diskpart: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc738489(WS.10).aspx Suggest you use Win7 backup imaging to save your image to another HDD.

I will be back on here at around 5 pm PST Wed, so if you need help before that start a new help topic as this one is marked solved.

 

[zx81]

Hi. Welcome to Dual Boots Anonymous. I'm Greg.

Seems the only thing more popular than Win7 now is getting out of dual boots, each one it's own near-death experience.

Use your second machine to download and burn free Partition Wizard bootable disk.

Boot into PW, right click on Win7 partition and Mark Active.

You can also right click and Move/Resize Win7 to take up the old deleted XP space if you want. Be aware that Moving operations can fail, so you should wait if you aren't fully backed up yet.

When these operations complete, boot into the Win7 installer>Repair my Computer and run Startup Repair 3 times, as it will have multiple issues to fix.

This should solve it as it does for most, however if not we will need a screenshot of the PW disk map: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-how-post-screenshot-seven-forums.html

Just curiosity, (i read this 3x Startup Repair in a lot of posts) do you mean to run Startup Repair 3 times in a row without booting from the DVD? or do you mean run Startup Repair, reboot, and start it again, this three times?

Best regards,

zx81

 

[gregrocker]

Just curiosity, (i read this 3x Startup Repair in a lot of posts) do you mean to run Startup Repair 3 times in a row without booting from the DVD? or do you mean run Startup Repair, reboot, and start it again, this three times?

Best regards,

zx81

Almost all of the previous command-line boot solutions are automated in Win7 Startup Repair, but when there are multiple issues you have to go back for each additional fix.

When it won't boot into OS after a given fix then just boot back into the Installer Repair console and run it repeatedly until it starts.

It runs dozens of tests and commands (can even rewrite the MBR from scratch) until it finds one that works - but doesn't know if there are more fixes needed until an actual boot attempt.

 

[zx81]

Thank you gregrocker!

 

[rogerfour]

Hi Greg, Just checking before i turn in. I can only boot installer from the hard drive unfortunately - Tomorrow I will try to put win7 on a usb stick and see if I can boot from there. Don't know of any other way. I only have cd burner no dvd.

 

[gregrocker]

Will Windows 7 OS boot up now?

How about if you mark 7 active?

How about if you force delete the Acronis active partition that borked it all up?

Format your USB stick primary and copy the 7 install files into the root, then find USB in the BIOS boot order shortcut key (f10) under hard drive, or set it to boot first in BIOS.

You can also try getting to a command line to run "bootrec.exe /fixboot" and "bootrec.exe /fixmbr" or if those don't work "Bootsect.exe /nt60 all /force".