Moving Bootmgr

[Kallb123]

Ok I have 2 Hard drives:
320GB with XP installed.
320GB split into 166GB (C:\) and 132GB (E:\)

Installed Windows 7 onto C:\ (after XP) and am using E:\ to store all music, movies and photos. The problem is, I'm running out of space and I need to get rid of XP to use the rest of my 320GB. But all the boot stuff is on the XP drive. I have to point my BIOS to XP which then shows a menu with 'Windows 7' and 'An Earlier Version Of Windows'. If I was to format the XP drive now my W7 drive wouldn't boot. I know this because when I point my BIOS to load from the W7 HDD, it says MISSING NTLDR. I thought this was a file that was used before and up to XP so I don't know why W7 wants it.

BCDEDIT:
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee24/Kallb123/bcdedit.jpg

Diskpart:
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee24/Kallb123/dispart.jpg
F and G are DVD drives, with games in . I'm guessing H I J K are USB sockets and/or memory card reader.

How can I format the XP drive and boot from C:\. Which files will I need on C:\ to boot Windows 7.

EDIT: I can see a pagefile.sys on both the 7 and XP drives/partitions but the XP one has a little lock icon.

EDIT2: I would be willing to re-install W7 but I am not sure how. I thought of:
Format WXP drive and then copy all programs and personals to it.
Re-install W7.
Copy back all stuff.
The problem with this is that I don't know how to get the programs back into the registry. I could back it all up and import it again but I'm sure there'd be something to do with boot, which would cause my new W7 to not boot. I wouldn't like to re-install everything on HDD since I have filled 160GB with programs. If it's neccassary I could do it as I keep every file I download in a single folder that is so big it can take minutes for windows to count (I don't keep replicas of the same stuff so if something is in a rar file then i will keep either the inside of it or keep the rar file, thats a bit off-topic )

 

[spydaz]

you will need to create a mini system partion on the WIN 7 HDD.... 200mb
.... Maybe even format th xp hdd... and when you insert the dvd or the windows 7 USE Shift f10 to get the CMD window open atatch a vhd drive and reinstll win7 onto this.....

Really this is where you PE: disk comes in to play "VITAL TOOLS" as imageX or GIMAGEX a great tool for capturing installations and Re-applying installs....

Its never easy when swaping out Operating systems..... BUT you only need 30GB to Istall a good win7 on VHD SO... space manaement.. burn some stuff off ... back some stuff to disk "temperaryl"

 

[SquonkSC]

Kallb123,

I see it's been 8hrs since you wrote, so hope you see this.

Copy (not move) all the bootfiles from the xp root to the C: drive

Use bcedit to rebuild the boot, pointing to the C: where the files now are.

Give this new bootoption a different name so you will recognize it. Like Win7new or something.

Leave the original boot option intact for now.

Now reboot and chose the new name. If it boots into Win7 you are homefree, and can use bcedit to delete the original boot option, because you know it booted from the files on your C:

If it doesn't boot the new name, at least you will still be able to boot into the original.

Then we would have to find another solution, but I'm pretty sure this works.

Then only one more thing to do, format the xp drive and you're done.

If this doesn't work, post again and I will look further into it.

Good luck,

Greetz

 

[SIW2]

Hi Kallb,

You need an NT6 compatible mbr and bootsector code, as well as bootmgr and a Boot folder ( containing bcd) on the 7 HD.

Try setting the 7 partition Active, set it as the first HD in Bios boot order, then run startup repair from the 7 dvd.

It only fixes one thing at a time, so several runs are needed.

 

[iseeuu]

Another possible solution might be a utility called "VistaBootPro". Just by installing the utility on your 7 system, you may get boot access to it. "VistaBootPro" is a gui utility to the bcdedit for Vista and 7.

I say this because originally, I installed both the 32 bit and 64 bit betas in dual boot. But the installer only added one 200 MB partition for both OSs which I deleted when I went to only 64 bit. I presently do not have the small (100 MB for the RC) partition at the front of my 7 hard drive and have no difficulty booting. (I am not dual booting now). So I think there is a good chance "VistaBootPro" would remedy your situation, allow you to delete XP and use the space. Then later you may find the utility useful should you want to dual boot something else.

 

[spydaz]

After Careful thought...
I would Firstly "Boot up" into the windows 7 installation...

Check out the drive with the XP installation on it... in
FOLDER OPTIONS Expose all hidden files + uncheck the box "hide protected os files".

When you look on the XP drive you should see a folder called \BOOT. Delete all files EXCEPT this folder .... Thats the XP REMOVED.

Now for the PESKY Menu item....

Use BCDEDIT /Delete {ntldr}

This will leave you booting But one drive TOO BIG and EMPTY....
To fix this... We need to boot up into Win7 ... Use Disk Management TO Shrink the XP drive Down to 200MB then Rename Partition to system..... Also Hide the partition....

This will leave you with a section of your drive as UNALLOCATED SPACE... Here you can create a new simple volume.... GIving you back your original disk scenario but with the WIn7 partition as the main Drive.....

PS: If your having problems with the paging file, before you delete the XP.. make sure that that both installations paging file is on its own drive.. all other drive "No paging file" After deleteing the instals etc... Go back into the Paging files options and Make sure that your pageing file is at least 1&1/2 (FIXED) times your RAM and located on a DIFFERENT Spindle/ Physical Harddrive For Paging file utilization.

I hope this helps... my previous post was a bit QUICK....

 

[spydaz]

PS: Bootmanger Cant be moved.... But if you have problems it CAN BE repaired, by using the original WIN7 installation dvd, and choosing REPAIR MY PC.... SO, if ater deleting the old XP Stuff you have problems IT WILL BE ABLE TO detect the win7 installation and REPAIR....

 

[Kallb123]

OK guys. I was out all last night but im back now lol.

I just started PC up and it goes straight into XP. It doesn't give me the choice... The only things I did was:
Looked at EasyBCD and deleted the XP option from the menu (this was the menu that I had copied to the W7 drive though and at startup it doesn't look for this one, it looks at the XP drive)
I also COPIED the boot folder, and anything to do with startup in the root of the XP, e.g. ntldr, bootmgr.

I think my only choice is to partition the XP drive (hopefully possible when I am in it), move all personals there and then format W7 drive. I could then boot with W7 disc and format everything but the backup partition and install only W7, no XP. This would work wouldn't it? I can live with installing programs again, it's just that now I'm stuck in XP and comparing to W7 this is horrible! (How did we cope )

EDIT: WXP disk managment can't shrink partitions. I have idea. I will format W7 drive (It is only windows and programs on there), leave the E:/ partition with backups on, and boot using W7 disc. Format Windows XP and then install onto that drive. I will then merge the E:/ backup with the partition where W7 was to get back to just 2 drives. It will look like this:

Physical 1: Windows 7
Physical 2: -> Part1 Windows 7 old (formatted so its now clean)
-> Part2 Backup
I will merge part1 and part2 on Phys2. That has to work. And I can then go about installing everything on my new windows 7.

One thing I need to be sure about is the Windows CD key, will it still activate after all this time?

 

[Kallb123]

I have now formatted my XP drive and installed Windows 7 on it. I will format my previous W7 installation and merge it with the partition with personals on. Before I do, is there anyway I can move the programs that are installed onto the new installation? If not it is no big problem, I have the files needed to install them all again.

 

[zigzag3143]

I have now formatted my XP drive and installed Windows 7 on it. I will format my previous W7 installation and merge it with the partition with personals on. Before I do, is there anyway I can move the programs that are installed onto the new installation? If not it is no big problem, I have the files needed to install them all again.

For efficiency your best bet is a clean install of xp first, then win 7 if you need to dual boot. Just make sure you backup the data you need. You cant just drag your apps in, you need to re-install.

Ken

 

[Kallb123]

Ok thanks. I don't need dual boot as for me W7 does everything XP does but better and much more. I will format the old W7 drive and I now have only one Windows installation, and thats W7.

 

[zigzag3143]

Its cleaner that way and simpler. good luck

Ken