Solved How do I remove a doubly installed Windows7

[ewv]

Hello all,

I need to remove one of the OS on my DELL Inspiron laptop. When I start it up it gives me the black screen (BIOS?) and I have to choose between Windows 7 & Windows 7...

I looked at the tutorial "How to Properly Delete a OS in a Dual Boot" by whs, and I get stuck at the first step:

When I go to Disk Management, there are the 3 partitions:
OEM partition
C: Primary partition
E: the System, Boot, Page File, Active, Crash Dump, Primary Partition

But it doesn't show 2x Windows 7 on there. So how do I get this solved? I just want it to start Windows 7 straight away when I start the computer, not have it ask me which one to start...

Thanks for your help!
(I'm not an expert, so would help if answer doesn't have too many technical terms... Thanks!)

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi and welcome to SevenForums,
Please post this image here,
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/274797-disk-management-post-screen-capture-image.html

 

[ewv]

Here is the screen shot of Disk Management

 

[DavidE]

You just need to delete one of the Win 7 bootloader entries.
I would use free EasyBCD, you don't have to register to download it.
EasyBCD - NeoSmart Technologies

Make sure you don't delete the Win 7 boot menu item for the one that boots the PC.
Or,
On the Edit Boot menu window you could set the default OS to the correct one, and set Count down from to 0.

 

[ewv]

I got it!!! It's starting straight up. I deleted one of them, then set the count to 0 for the other and it's all good!

But somehow I feel something is not quite right in the division of the partitions & what's stored/how it's stored on them. It all just seems to be taking a lot of memory -I haven't put back the pictures, documents or any programs yet. And it's also quite slow -definitely when starting up..

Am I right? And if so what to do about it? Or is it OK the way it is?

 

[DavidE]

Hello ewv,

Post a screen print of Wiztree free.
Download the Portable Zip version, no install needed, just unzip and run it.
Antibody Software - WizTree finds the files and folders using the most disk space on your hard drive

The E drive doesn't have much free space.
Scan the E drive so we can see where space is used on the E drive.
It might be Restore Points that is using a lot of space on the E drive ?

 

[Ztruker]

The E: drive is probably the recovery partition.

 

[ewv]

The E drive does have Recovery Files.
C is also only about 50% free which seems little to me when there is nothing yet on the computer. So I ran that one too.

 

[DavidE]

The C: drive has a 110 GB Windows.old folder.
Someone must have done some type of re-install.
See this tutorial for how to delete Windows.old and recover the space.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/19151-windows-old-folder-delete.html

 

[ewv]

Yeah! That took care of the C drive.

What do I go about removing the Recovery files from the E drive? Just go to computer/E, find the recovery file & delete it? Or am I thinking too simple here...:huh: (clean up of E, system files only get me the Recycle Bin so that's not the way)

 

[DavidE]

I don't know what you can do about cleaning up the E: Recovery partition.
Maybe someone with Dell Recovery partition experience will post with advice ?

I would leave it as is for now, until you can find out for sure.
It is your Active System partition meaning it contains the bootloader.
It that gets messed up the PC won't boot without a Repair.

Also the Recovery might not work if you delete something needed for that.
It might not work now, after the "re-install", but I'm not sure.

Why was a re-install done ?

 

[ewv]

OK. Hope someone can tell me.
But E is not the boot drive, that's on the C.

I re-installed just to clear up everything on the computer & with that make it a little faster again. I've done that many times on different laptops, including this one. But this has never happened before! Instead of overwriting the old one, it kept it & installed a second one. I really don't get it...
And it happened with 2 laptops... The other one is also a DELL but it's 8yrs old & no longer a DELL on the inside (replaced hard drive & upgraded memory). That one, I need to clear as much as possible coz it's going for recycling -in that case, maybe deleting both will just clear the whole thing...?

 

[DavidE]

In Windows Disk Management the Boot partition shows where Windows is installed and running from.
The System/Active partition is where the bootloader is located.
Windows won't start if the bootloader gets messed up.

 

[DavidE]

If you're interested in moving the bootloader to C: see this tutorial:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/209885-bootmgr-move-c-easybcd.html

I'm not suggesting you do it, just pointing out it is possible, if you're interested and adventuresome !

 

[ewv]

OK, the E is active. Confusing though, since in Disk Management it says
C: Book, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition
E: System, Active, Primary Partition

But I'll leave it for now! And wait for someone to inform me on the Recovery files.


For the other laptop, which I'd rather format completely, would I achieve that by using EasyBCD to delete Windows 7? (I already deleted its double). Or would it leave Windows somewhere in the background & just not boot it? I might just try your last suggestion on this old one, don't care if it goes completely wrong!!
Last question for today! Time to get some sleep on this side of the world.

 

[DavidE]

To format and re-install Windows on the other laptop, see this tutorial:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html

 

[Ztruker]

If you no longer want the recovery partition, delete it in Disk Management then expand C: to encompass the now free space.

 

[ewv]

To format and re-install Windows on the other laptop, see this tutorial:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html

Thanks. This is exactly what I did on the re-install, for both laptops. It's always worked & this time for some reason it kept the older version, instead of replacing it with a clean version...
One needs to be reset/reinstalled properly, so it can be used again.
The other I want to clear completely. Even if Windows is gone, it doesn't matter coz it needs to go for recycling so the emptier the beter.

 

[ewv]

If you no longer want the recovery partition, delete it in Disk Management then expand C: to encompass the now free space.

It's not that I don't want the recovery partition, it's probably a useful thing to have (no?). The issue I have is that it's completely full, mainly with Recovery files. Was hoping to just clear that. Or is this the only option?
I posted thumbnails from the system with how full each partition is and from the Wiztree program showing what's on there. C: is taken care of. Nothing been done about E:

 

[Ztruker]

It's supposed to be full, or nearly full. Nothing should be writing to that partition.

Check System Restore settings and make sure it's disabled for that partition. It should be on for C: but disabled for E:.