Win7 dualboot AND Win7 update question

[TheSaw]

Hey, I have two questions:

I am running Win7 dualbooted with WinXP, everything works fine. I want to get rid of the XP partition, and keep the Win7 one only, but there is a problem. THe partition on which XP is installed is set as system and active. I've googled around but I've found no easy solutions to this. Any ideas on how to do this without reinstalling the OS?

My second question would be about the Win7 update: I installed the 7100 build, when it got released, but as I saw now, the latest builds are like 7200+. Are the changes updated on my build somehow, or I would have to reinstall to have the new build?

Thx.

 

[grouchpunk08]

Hey, I have two questions:

I am running Win7 dualbooted with WinXP, everything works fine. I want to get rid of the XP partition, and keep the Win7 one only, but there is a problem. THe partition on which XP is installed is set as system and active. I've googled around but I've found no easy solutions to this. Any ideas on how to do this without reinstalling the OS?

My second question would be about the Win7 update: I installed the 7100 build, when it got released, but as I saw now, the latest builds are like 7200+. Are the changes updated on my build somehow, or I would have to reinstall to have the new build?

Thx.

To see the changes in the different builds, you'd need to install those builds. Its not really cruicial, but there a few noticable differences once you get to 7232. It just feels more stable.

And to fix your boot problem, PLEASE HAVE SOMEONE CONFIRM THIS BEFORE DOING IT, I'm pretty sure if boot into windows 7 and you open computer, right click the white space and hit properties to open the 'system' page, then in the left panel click on advanced system settings. A new window will come up. make sure the advanced tab is selected, and hit settings under startup and recovery. There will be a new window with a box that says default operating system. On yours it should say xp. Open the box and choose Windows 7 and that SHOULD fix your problem. please have someone confirm this tho, I dont want to be responsible for making your computer unbootable.

 

[Captain Zero]

Personally, I recommend x64 7201. It has proven to be a very stable build. When you install it, simply boot from the DVD and delete the existing XP/7 partions using the 7 installer and allow it to format the drive.

 

[torrentg]

First, make sure you're set to see all hidden and system files. Then, copy the bootmgr file from the XP partition root to the 7 partition root. Then copy the boot folder from XP root to 7 root, ignoring the warning that you can not copy bcd and bcd.log. Let it skip over those when copying.

Then open an elevated command prompt and type

bcdedit /export X:\boot\bcd

where you change X to your 7 partition. So if 7 is D:\ do

bcdedit /export D:\boot\bcd

Now set the 7 partition as the active partition in disk management, part of computer management. Reboot, and now you should be able to format or delete the XP partition. Before you do so, you can simply type bcdedit in the elevated command prompt to check on things, if they're correct.

Finally, you can remove XP from the boot menu using free Easybcd software or go to start menu search box and type msconfig.exe and hit enter. Go to the boot tab and remove XP here.

If you want to use a latest build, you must download it from a torrent and either upgrade or clean install. Upgrade will be fine if your system is running fine now.

Post back with any questions or problems and good luck!

 

[TheSaw]

To see the changes in the different builds, you'd need to install those builds. Its not really cruicial, but there a few noticable differences once you get to 7232. It just feels more stable.

And to fix your boot problem, PLEASE HAVE SOMEONE CONFIRM THIS BEFORE DOING IT, I'm pretty sure if boot into windows 7 and you open computer, right click the white space and hit properties to open the 'system' page, then in the left panel click on advanced system settings. A new window will come up. make sure the advanced tab is selected, and hit settings under startup and recovery. There will be a new window with a box that says default operating system. On yours it should say xp. Open the box and choose Windows 7 and that SHOULD fix your problem. please have someone confirm this tho, I dont want to be responsible for making your computer unbootable.

No, I have Win7 there are default OS... I don't think it's related, I just had XP installed first, so it somehow remained system partition.

Personally, I recommend x64 7201. It has proven to be a very stable build. When you install it, simply boot from the DVD and delete the existing XP/7 partions using the 7 installer and allow it to format the drive.

Well I have everything so nicely installed here, I'm just too lazy to reinstall and reconfigure everything But if it's worth it, I'll do it and fix my partition problems aswell.

 

[TheSaw]

First, make sure you're set to see all hidden and system files. Then, copy the bootmgr file from the XP partition root to the 7 partition root. Then copy the boot folder from XP root to 7 root, ignoring the warning that you can not copy bcd and bcd.log. Let it skip over those when copying.

Then open an elevated command prompt and type

bcdedit /export X:\boot

where you change X to your 7 partition. So if 7 is C:\ do

bcdedit /export C:\boot

Now set the 7 partition as the active partition in disk management, part of computer management. Reboot, and now you should be able to format or delete the XP partition. Before you do so, you can simply type bcdedit in the elevated command prompt to check on things, if they're correct.

Finally, you can remove XP from the boot menu using free Easybcd software or go to start menu search box and type msconfig.exe and hit enter. Go to the boot tab and remove XP here.

If you want to use a latest build, you must download it from a torrent and either upgrade or clean install. Upgrade will be fine if your system is running fine now.

Post back with any questions or problems and good luck!

I'm going to try the partition thingy now.
About the update, if the system is running fine, would it be different from a clean install?

Thanks for the really prompt answers

LE: If i will delete the XP partition, will I be able to expand and add the free space to the Win7 partition?

LE2: After moving the 'boot' folder to win7 root, I get this error:

The store export operation has failed.
Cannot create a file when that file already exists.

 

[torrentg]

If you upgrade, it will retain all of your installed programs and tweaks.

Yes, you will be able to expand the 7 partition after to include the newly freed space.

Delete the boot folder on 7 and copy again, then do the command. I fixed the command in my last post. It was slightly wrong due to rushing heh. Will be good now.

You're welcome.

 

[Mongo]

I am running Win7 dualbooted with WinXP, everything works fine. I want to get rid of the XP partition, and keep the Win7 one only, but there is a problem. THe partition on which XP is installed is set as system and active. I've googled around but I've found no easy solutions to this. Any ideas on how to do this without reinstalling the OS?

All the more reason to have a small dedicated (100mb) active primary partition solely for boot files...

If you do decide to start over, give it some thought. I've setup my system this way for years. It's a big time saver and very convenient. My point is -- should you ever want to install a second or third OS and then get rid of it later on, you wouldn't find yourself stuck in a rut as you are in now. Things will be a lot easier to manage and maintain.

 

[TheSaw]

If you upgrade, it will retain all of your installed programs and tweaks.

Yes, you will be able to expand the 7 partition after to include the newly freed space.

Delete the boot folder on 7 and copy again, then do the command. I fixed the command in my last post. It was slightly wrong due to rushing heh. Will be good now.

You're welcome.

Okay, it worked now. One more thing to check before I reboot. This Win7 partition was the last partition (I have 4, so it was F: ), but it became C: after installing the OS on it. Won't that mix up things?

All the more reason to have a small dedicated (100mb) active primary partition solely for boot files...

If you do decide to start over, give it some thought. I've setup my system this way for years. It's a big time saver and very convenient. My point is -- should you ever want to install a second or third OS and then get rid of it later on, you wouldn't find yourself stuck in a rut as you are in now. Things will be a lot easier to manage and maintain.

I don't usually add or remove OS's, I'm trying to stick to a good and stable one

Thx.

 

[torrentg]

Okay, it worked now. One more thing to check before I reboot. This Win7 partition was the last partition (I have 4, so it was F: ), but it became C: after installing the OS on it. Won't that mix up things?

Nah. Should be good to go. Booting does not work by drive letters. It works by partition or drive. As long as the correct boot files (as we did here) are on the partition that is set active, you will boot well.

 

[TheSaw]

Okay so i'm writing from my phone now, because my pc is just like a brick... Except it makes noise. Yeah... It doesn't boot, it's a black screen here nothing else. I did the steps exactly how you said it, and doublechecked everything. Now what?

 

[torrentg]

Either the files weren't copied completely over or the wrong partition is set active. Those are the only two reasons the computer can not boot.

So you could put the Win 7 DVD in the drive, boot from the DVD (by going into bios first and setting the DVD drive as boot or holding the F8 key as a normal boot...sometimes you can boot from DVD quickly that way.)

Then do a startup repair.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html

 

[TheSaw]

Okay, so the startup repair says it cannot find any problems. The system restore cannot see the previously created snapshot (i did one before doing this).

Is there a way to set the active partition back to the original one from command prompt?

Btw, I am 100% sure all the files were copied (except the 2 you mentioned), and that I set the right partition as active.

 

[Mongo]

Okay, so the startup repair says it cannot find any problems. The system restore cannot see the previously created snapshot (i did one before doing this).

Is there a way to set the active partition back to the original one from command prompt?

Btw, I am 100% sure all the files were copied (except the 2 you mentioned), and that I set the right partition as active.

Boot to the Windows 7 install DVD and select Repair. Under System Recovery Options choose "Command Prompt". At the prompt, type in DISKPART.

1. At the DISKPART prompt, type in:

[B]list disk[/B]

## This will list ALL physical disks on your computer.

2. To select the disk you want to work with, type in:

[B]select disk[/B] [I]n[/I]

## Where [I]n[/I] is the disk number.

3. To list all partitions on the disk, type in:

[B]list partition[/B]

## Note of the number of the partition that you want to mark as active.

4. Select the partition, n, you want to mark as active:

[B]select partition[/B] [I]n[/I]

5. At the DISKPART prompt, type in:

[B]active[/B]

For a list of other DISKPART commands, type HELP.

 

[TheSaw]

Thank you for the help, but I just did that right before you posted.
So, I still want to do this, what went wrong? I can make screenshot to prove everything is as you said it should be, but still not working

Also, is there a 7260 build out for 64 bit platform? I can't seem to find it, except the 32 bit.

 

[torrentg]

Glad that you're system is "fixed."

Now onto what you were trying to do. It basically comes down to this:

The computer should boot perfectly fine from any partition or disk on the pc, as long as that disk is set to boot in bios and the active partition on the disk contains the boot files. There really is nothing more to it than that.

After you first copy the boot folder (along with bootmgr file too), then do the bcdedit /export command

go into the 7 partition and make sure the bcd file is in the boot folder at root there.

Also, I'm sure you've set 7 partition as active too, but I'd like to mention that only primary partitions, and not logical ones, may be set as active. Could you possibly post a screenshot of disk management so I or someone else could help further?

 

[TheSaw]

My partitions:

Win7 is on C:
XP is on D:
I wanna get rid of D:

Moving the boot files:

Skipping those 2 files:

Result:

Files and folders on C: (I even copied boot.ini this time, just in case)

BCDEdit

I also found some more info on how to do this, but it looks so much more complicated. Is it worth trying?

 

[Mongo]

Okay, once all the bcd stuff has been dealt with, now set the Win7 partition as Active. Then execute the following:

bootsect /nt60 p:

Where P is the drive letter of the active partition or %SystemDrive%.

 

[TheSaw]

The current active partition, right? The one I just set active? (the system variable %SystemDrive% contains C:, just wanted to make sure)

Anyways i can't execute bootsect ... do i need to do this by booting from the Win7 disk?

C:\Users\Atti>bootsect /nt60 c:
'bootsect' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

 

[Mongo]

Yes, the *new* active partition, which in this case would be the Win7 partition (with all the bcd files already moved over).

As for bootsect, it is located in the \boot folder on the Win7 installation DVD.