Solved Turn off Win7/XP Dual Boot

[babylon5fan]

Hello,

I have a created a system using Windows 7 64-bit and Windows XP Professional. My C Drive is the Win 7 while the D Drive is the old Windows XP. I am ready to abandon Windows XP and go with Windows 7 only. My C drive is a SATA drive while my D Drive is an old PATA drive. I wish to disable Windows XP and format the D Drive.

In Disk Management, My Windows 7 Disk is Disk 2/Drive C: with Boot, Page File, Crash Dump and Primary Partition.
My Windows XP Disk is listed as DISK 0/Drive D with System, Active and Primary Partition

Since the boot info is on the Windows 7, could I just take the D Drive out of the system without any problems?
Is there a way to tell the boot to ignore the D Drive as a drive with an operating system on it before I remove the D Drive?

Thanks,
Babylon5fan

 

[not so gray matter]

Here's a tutorial about removing xp from an xp/7 dual boot:

Video: Remove Windows XP from a dual-boot configuration with Windows 7 | TR Dojo | TechRepublic.com

 

[SIW2]

That will work - it's how I used to explain it to people on Vista forums in days gone by.

Pretty long winded - there is a much quicker, easier way.

D/l this View attachment sisparV5.zip ( as usual rt click it >properties>unblock>apply>ok , then rt click the .zip file and select Extract).

Rt click and RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR on sispar.cmd.

It only takes a few seconds. Then you can Reboot into 7 - go to Disk Management , delete/ format/whatever you want with the XP partition.

 

[babylon5fan]

sisparV5.zip worked for me!!

It appears that you gave me the answer I needed. I am happily formatting that former system drive right now!!

 

[SIW2]

Hi babylon5fan,

Thanks for letting us know.

Glad you got it sorted out out.

Have fun.

 

[tfu]

Report

Dear SIW2,

Just wanted to say THANK YOU!

A while ago I was also on dual-boot Windows XP & 7, and wanted to remove the XP.

I followed your advice ... and everything went smooth. When I restarted the system, the Windows Boot Manager menu was still there with the Windows 7 option only (selected).
To remove the Windows Boot Manager menu, I just needed to implement the following - open a Command Prompt window with Administrator privileges and type:

BCDEdit /delete {ntldr} /f

Now, my system boots straight into Windows 7.

 

[SIW2]

Thanks for the update tfu.

Glad it's working well for you.

 

[XB77]

I get boot choice, but don't see any other OS partition

I installed Win7-64 over previous XP Pro 32 and specifically tried to delete old Dell recovery partition or any other wasted space in the setup. When I boot up I am presented with three options: to boot to old OS, check memory, or boot to Win 7, the default (in 30 seconds if no other choice). I have looked for any other partitions or logical drives, but only see the C:drive and a bit of unused space (55MB). Do I really have a dual boot option? I am running Ultimate and my BIOS allows VM. Is that how one enters an XP virtual mode, as if it were a dual boot? I still have Windows.old on the disk, but I can't believe that that has anything to do with this. (I intend to delete Windows.old folder--any reason not to? I have copy wanted files on NAS.) I haven't tried this boot to old OS option. Anyone?

 

[Jonathan_King]

Welcome!

Go ahead and delete the Previous Versions entry. Type msconfig into the start menu, and remove the entry in the Boot tab.

To use the virtual XP machine, you need to use virtualization software. If you want to download it, see here: Download Windows XP Mode

As you can see, that entry doesn't have anything to do with XP Mode.

If you already have all your data backed up, there is no reason not to delete Windows.old. See this tutorial: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/19151-windows-old-folder-delete.html

 

[XB77]

Thanks Jonathan. I can see that item, the only one, in the Boot tab in msconfig, but delete is greyed out and right clicking on the item does nothing. I am curious why this boot option was created. I assume that the boot to the other OS leads nowhere, but I am afraid to try it. The one line item in the msconfig boot tab says Windows 7 (C:/Windows) current OS; default OS. No mention of the memory check, which is the thrid option listed at boot and which I also haven't tried. Did I make this happen by selecting a boot option memory check at Win 7 installation--which I have forgotten, and got a false OS option to boot (sorry for the pun)? Weird.

 

[Jonathan_King]

Try booting from the old entry. Nothing bad will happen, but I doubt you will get anywhere.

To remove the other entry, try using EasyBCD. If that doesn't work, we can remove it manually.

 

[XB77]

Booting to the previous version of Windows lead nowhere. It said: "Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem..." I hit Esc and it restarted. I then tried the Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool, which I presume checks the RAM. No RAM errors. Can't that tool be set to start upon next boot? I don't really need that on a boot menu. No idea how the false dual boot thing happened. So now I need to edit the boot record.

 

[XB77]

I presume that EasyBCD also works for Win 7, else you wouldn't have recommended it. I'm reading the documentation now.

 

[Jonathan_King]

I don't know of a way to set the Memory Diagnostic to run on boot. You can always run it manually: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/715-memory-diagnostics-tool.html

In System Properties, you may be able to disable that screen. It's not a dual boot per se, but just an additional boot option.

Uncheck the box I highlighted below.

 

[XB77]

Bingo! Thanks Jonathan, that was it. Wonder how that got checked--don't remember checking it. But that fixed my phantom dual boot issue. As an aside, does EasyBCD work on Win 7? I will also look at your references for the VM option, thanks.

 

[Jonathan_King]

Oh yes, EasyBCD works very well with Windows 7, especially the latest beta version.

When you installed Windows 7, it automatically changed that setting. It wasn't your fault.