Dual Boot Question (Server 2008 and Win7 Pro)

[jamesmcseattle]

I have a desktop that I installed Windows Server 2008 Web Edition on, and then later added Windows 7 Pro on a separate physical drive.

Server 2008 is C:
Win7 is Z:

I used bcdedit to delete the boot entry for Server 2008, and now I'd like to remove the install of Server 2008 and reformat the drive.

However, I am not able to delete the volume or format the c drive.

Can someone please point me in the right direction?

Thank you.

 

[SIW2]

The simple way is to mark windows 7 partition active, then run starup repair from the 7 dvd/recovery disc a couple of times.

 

[jamesmcseattle]

Will that then allow me to reformat the drive with the Server install on it?

 

[SIW2]

Yes, reboot after doing that and set your win 7 HD first in bios boot order - at next boot up your win7 partition will be both "system" and "boot".

You can then do what you like with the other drive.

 

[jamesmcseattle]

That didn't work unfortunately.

Here's what I did:

I marked the z: drive (Win7) as Active
drive c: says active as well

I rebooted with the Win7 disk, and it automatically detected a problem with the Server 2008 installation on drive c, and wanted to repair it (because I used the bcdedit.exe program I think) to put it back on the list. I selected no, and then had it try to repair the Win7 installation. I did this twice.

I went into the Bios, but didn't see any way to change the actual hard drive selection on startup. It had the normal boot sequence options. NOTE: The "c" drive with Server 2008 is a SATA drive, not ide. Don't know if that matters.

I went back into Win7, and again, could not delete or format the Server installation.

Not sure how to proceed now.

 

[theog]

If this is your setup

Disk 0 = First Sata Port = Server 2008.
Disk 1 = second Sata Post = Windows 7

Remove Disk 0 & replace with Disk 1

Than your setup would be

Disk 0 = First Sata Port = Windows 7
Disk 1 = second Sata Post = NO Hard Drive

Than follow SIW2 good advice.

 

[SIW2]

Sorry if that wasn't clear.

Your win7 partition must be the first active partition in bios boot order for startup repair to do this job.

Another way is to mark your server partition inactive , before running startup repair.

To do that, at cmd prompt, type:

diskpart

sel vol ?

inact

exi

Replace ? above with letter of your server partition as seen from win7.