Drive is not showing the delete option in disk management, how to dele

[subhranshu50]

i am having a 150 gb hdd with windows 7 64bit on it, i have 3 partitions in it,now i baught a new hard disk so i want to make one single volume from the full 150 gb, i was able to delete one partition but another one is not showing the delete option please help
thank you

 

[TVeblen]

To be clear: you bought a new hard disk. Did you install Windows 7 on that new disk?

Now you are working on the old hard disk (150GB). Is there any data on that disk that you want to save?

The first partition that you deleted (101MB) - was that the System Reserved partition?

 

[subhranshu50]

there is a long story
i installed windows 8.1 on the system, active partition and windows 7 on another one then i did not want to use windows 8.1 so by inserting the windows 7 dvd i formatted the partition in which windows 8.1 was installed after that the installed windows 7 did not show up ( it was showing BOOTMGR is missing) so i installed another windows 7 in another partition and then the old windows 7 also booted then from the old windows i formatted the partition in which the new windows was installed "the system reserved partition was not allocated from first, and was empty", now i want to use only one partition which has the total 150gb rather than using three different partitions with 50-50 gygs

 

[TVeblen]

Mmmm. You've seemed to created a bit of a mess.

Here is what I see: The partition "Local Disk" - the one that is highlighted in your screenshot above - is the ACTIVE partition, and contains SYSTEM files.
You can't delete the only ACTIVE partition from a disk running Windows - particularly while Windows is running.
This is also the partition the BIOS looks for when looking for a hard drive to boot.

Further complicating things is the partition "Win7x64(recovered)" contains the BOOT files and the PAGE file for the system. The BOOT files are the files that actually start Windows when the BIOS hands off. If there are no BOOT files then the operating system will not start.

So the question is: do you want to try and keep the current W7 installation, or would it be just as easy (for you) to do a fresh clean install to clean up the mess?

 

[subhranshu50]

this is kinda silly but i want to keep the current installation bcoz i have installed so many os,s on my pc and i end up removing them again and again i thought this would be one permanent one so i have updated it completely and installed hell lot of stuffs, and the one which shows local disk with no letters, i removed its letter just to see whether it would get removed in that way , i know i can fix this by installing a new windows in the system,active partition but still i thought if there was any way to do it the way i want
and thank you for your reply
(so is there any other way to delete the system active partition without removing the current windows?)

 

[TVeblen]

Yes.

You can do this using Diskpart (a Windows Utility) that you run from a bootable repair disk or Windows 7 installation disk.

Or, if you are familiar with, or want to use a third party program like Partition Wizard from a bootable disk.
Point is you can't do this procedure while Windows is running.

Using Diskpart or PW the procedure would be to select the W8 partition and remove the ACTIVE flag. Then select the W7 partition and make it ACTIVE.
That's it.
Then you should be able to delete the W8 partition, either while you are in the bootable disk program or after.

To run Diskpart from a bootable CD/DVD: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/668-system-recovery-options.html

To Remove the ACTIVE flag: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/197157-partition-mark-inactive.html

To mark a partition as ACTIVE: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/71432-partition-mark-active.html

Some info on Partition Wizard: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/93322-partition-wizard-use-bootable-cd.html

 

[subhranshu50]

will it format the drives?

 

[TVeblen]

No. It only changes the flag. The data and partition table remains intact.
Just be very careful selecting the correct partitions in Diskpart.
That is why a lot of folks like Partition Wizard instead: the graphical interface is easier and friendlier.

 

[subhranshu50]

after making the drive active i restarted my pc now it shows "An operating system wasn't found. Try disconnecting any drives that don't contain an operating system".

 

[TVeblen]

So right now the Partition "Win7x64(recovered)"is marked Active, and the partition "Local Disk" is no longer marked Active?
Did you delete the "Local Disk" partition yet?

 

[subhranshu50]

it was not showing the delete option after that also, so i restarted my pc and the it did not detect any os i am using my phone to reply.

 

[TVeblen]

What it looks like is that the SYSTEM files needed to start Windows are on the "Local Disk" partition and the BOOT files are on the Win7 partition and you need both in the same place - the active partition - to get this to work (keep the old W7 installation without reinstalling).

You could give this a try:
Leave the Active flag where it is now: Win7
Using the third party program or Diskpart, delete the "Local Disk" partition. (This may or may not be necessary)
Then, using a Windows 7 Repair Disk or installation disk, boot into System Repair Options and run "Startup Repair". You may need to run it 3 times in order to rebuild all the needed system files.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html?ltr=S
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105541-startup-repair-run-3-separate-times.html

If you need to get back into your old Windows to make a repair disk you can always switch the Active flags back to where they were. You have this option until you delete the Local Disk partition.

 

[subhranshu50]

when i try to open the system recovery options it shows “This version of System Recovery Options is not compatible with the version of windows you are trying to repair. Try using a recovery disc that is compatible with this version of windows.”

 

[subhranshu50]

and i deleted the second partition from diskpart now i only have the partition in which windows is installed

 

[TVeblen]

Hi subhranshu50. Sorry, it is a holiday here in the states, and I am on Turkey duty.

I re-read the thread and it occurs to me that with all of the uninstalling and reinstalling - You installed W8 and W7, then uninstalled W8, installed another W7 for a total of 2 W7 installations, that you may have a knot that can't be untangled (read: time for a clean install).

Now we have succeeded in deleting one of the W7 partitions, leaving 1 installation, but the system can not boot to that installation.
And System Repair does not recognize the remaining installation as compatible with the disk.

I assume you are using the same disk to run System Repair that you used to install W7?

 

[subhranshu50]

i guess this is happening because the windows that i have is updated to sp1 but the cd is a old one so i guess now i have to install a new windows thank you

 

[TVeblen]

Do you have someone who's computer has SP1 on it that you can use to create a Repair CD?

 

[TVeblen]

You can also download an ISO to make an Installation Disk with W7-SP1

 

[subhranshu50]

i know that, thats what i am gonna do thank you bro for helping so much. if that dosnt works i will reply again.

 

[TVeblen]

Once you have a working disk, try the Startup Repair first. If that does not work you can try this option too:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html