Help!

[gregrocker]

Im gonna delete the Vista partition. But all the Drivers for the Audio and Ethernet, AMD etc are on the Vista partition.

Then back up the WIndows/System32/Drivers file before deleting it.

You should go with the drivers Windows 7 gives you (and Updates delivers) unless they show errors in Device Manager. Then you can browse for them to the Vista drivers file you back up, and the mobo or other CD's. If you already jumbled the drivers, then this might be the time to clean install Win7 to that first partition, booting from the installer.

Are you wanting to delete Vista and move Win7 over into its space following the steps given in post #8?

After using Partition Wizard disk to delete Vista, then resizing middle partition to give more unallocated space on the left, you would want to Modify>Set to Active Win7 partition and then copy it into first partition space, delete old Win7 partition and Apply all steps.

Then boot into Win7 DVD and run Startup Repair 3 times.

 

[garethgkr]

No, im just gonna delete Vista partition and expand the large partitiion for the left over space.

Im confused i dont have XP

 

[gregrocker]

No, im just gonna delete Vista partition and expand the large partitiion for the left over space.

Im confused i dont have XP

Vista. Are you sure you want a huge data partition in the first half of the HD and your WIn7 way over in right field?

This is opposite of normal and not really advisable. Lower addresses have faster laser reads.

It's up to you.

 

[garethgkr]

Oooh is that why the order of that thing is important.. Never knew that... Hmm ok ill move Windows 7 to the far left then.
I've downloaded the Partition Wizard program and when i try to wipe the first partition it says "this partition is the system partition, wiping this partition may cause your computer to become unbootable.

 

[gregrocker]

Deleting Vista will wipe out the MBR. It is recovered after all steps are completed by booting into the Win7 DVD and running startup repair 3 times.

These are the steps which must be followed exactly:



Back up your files. If you can't stand to lose your Windows 7 partition, use Backup Center to save an image of it externally which can be used to reimage HD in 15 minutes. Move/Copy operations can fail.

Download and burn to disk free Partition Wizard* bootable.

Boot into PW and right click delete Vista first partition.

Right click G:Main middle partition and Resize/Move. Drag the left border to make room for the copied Windows 7 partition.

Right click on Windows 7 partion, verify again it is marked Active, then Copy into unallocated space you have made where Vista was.

Delete the original Windows 7 partition. Apply all operations.

When complete, boot into Windows 7 installer and run Startup Repair 3 times to rewrite the MBR to the Windows 7 partition.

Later, make a new primary partition to store your Recovery Image so reinstalls will never again be necessary.

 

[garethgkr]

When you say back up your files. Do you mean backing up everything? including G:Main or the Windows 7 Partition only.

 

[gregrocker]

If you want to Copy your Windows 7 over into the first partition where Vista was, then you need to resize the middle data partition to make more room in the first partition space.

A resizing operation is slightly risky as it goes into boot mode to do the actual resizing, and can fail. We have not had one fail of approx. 80 we have done to remove dual boots since Windows 7 release. But it can happen.

So judge accordingly. I suggest you back up all of your files, or make a Win7 Backup image you store on another HD (external or internal) so you can easily reimage and start over if necessary.

If I told you to skip backing up your data, and you lost it, then I would feel responsible.

 

[garethgkr]

Aaah ok thanks mate.
Now I have to find a way to get 500 Gb of data on to a external HDD.. my biggest is only 300 Gb
Haha

 

[gregrocker]

Type backup into start box and create a system image of your HD stored to external. It should be smaller than that. You can then reimage your HD in 15 minutes if needed.

 

[garethgkr]

When I click create a system image, i chose the save to my external HDD, now the Windows 7 and Main drive are chose by default. Both added = 503GB. I cannot un-select thet Main Drive.

What do I do now?

 

[garethgkr]

So do I use Macrium reflect now instead of PW? When I delet Vista which one do I use?

 

[gregrocker]

So do I use Macrium reflect now instead of PW? When I delet Vista which one do I use?

Macrium will make you an image of just your data drive, save to external.

U still need PW to do the copy/moving operations.

 

[garethgkr]

OK I just did it. it is resizing and copying atm. When i copied Windows 7 in to the space the status says None. How do I change that to active?

 

[gregrocker]

I believe the command to mark partition active is automated in Startup Repair, but if not:

Boot DVD>Repair console>Recovery tools, open a Command Line, type:

DISKPART
LIST DISK
SELECT DISK # (for Windows 7 disk)
LIST PARTITION
SELECT PARTITION # (for Windows 7 partition)
ACTIVE
EXIT

Then rerun Startup Repair 3 times to get it started up.

 

[garethgkr]

I've rerun startup repair 3 times. And changed the boot priority to HDD and restarted the computer. Now it just says Preparing your desktop. Then it bring me to a blue screen and at the bottom it just says Windows 7 Build 7600

 

[gregrocker]

Boot into Partition Wizard and check that Win7 is marked active and data partition is not - if so, Modify>Mark Inactive.

Then restart to check changes.

If it remains the same, run Startup Repair again 3 times.

If that fails, run Command Line: "bootrec.exe /fixboot" AND "bootrec.exe /fixmbr", reboot

if that fails, run Commands: "Bootsect.exe /nt60 all /force", reboot

then if necessary run Startup Repair again repeatedly.



Report back. I am staying up to hear.

 

[garethgkr]

Ok. thanks mate.

 

[garethgkr]

data partition? which one is that?

All I see is Windows 7 status active
And Main status none.

 

[gregrocker]

"...booting up a previously working+activated copy of Windows 7 RTM, the message "Preparing Your Desktop..." appears and eventually a blank blue screen with a mouse pointer appears, with a message that "This copy of Windows is not genuine" (It was activated and working normally previously).


This usually occurs if the drive letter assigned to the Operating system partition in Windows gets changed. When you open explorer with the task manager, check the drive letter for the operating system. It probably is other than C:. Remember it.
Boot to safe mode and then run Regedit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/MountedDevices. Here find the mounted drive (\DosDevices\(Drive Letter)) that is currently assigned the drive letter that you found the operating system was using and change it to C: by renaming the entry (just change the letter).
First, change the \DosDevices\ that is labled C:, to some unused letter.
Reboot to normal.
As always changing the registry can case severe problems if done incorrectly

Whatever the cause may be, I don't think a full reinstall is needed, an in-place upgrade (Win7 over Win7) should do the same = restore the starting point for a successfull installation/activation."


source: http://social.technet.microsoft.com...f/thread/7a8b6d93-bacf-4859-94db-a0bffd0388c3

 

[garethgkr]

Which progress bar do you mean? And yes the CPU is working. It is only 11 months old.