Newbie how to use BCD for this...

[rojoyinc]

I had a C: drive with XP.

I installed win7 on D: drive, it setup dual boot (on C to boot XP (on C: or win7 on D

During problems, I installed win7 again and it setup a 2nd win7 boot that I no longer use).

I want to remove C: (winXP) so that I can format it and use it as a backup drive for my win7 (D: install). Problem is the C: drive has the boot info, and the D: drive has none.

If I remove the C: drive, of course D: becomes C:, but has no boot record. So it won't boot win7.

I don't really want a dual boot now, I just want my D: (win7 drive) to boot on its own.

What would I do to make D: (win7) boot itself when C: is removed (and D: becomes C

I have win7 installed perfectly and LOTS of my software installed. It's a major hassle to reinstall all my software again. So I'm afraid I might hose something.

PLEASE! - hoping this util can do what I need?

Addendum:

I don't dare mess things up. It's taken me a mouth to get win7 and all my software installed registered etc. (like pshop needs to be deactivated to be reinstalled etc. it's a pain.

I was thinking... if I boot the DVD for win7 and "recover/repair" will it clear my programs from the registery? I just want it to boot. win7 works great right now.

would I use BCD and "manage boot loader" and write MBR to D:? (says vista - mine is win7) are they the same to BCD?

Its just so not cool having one OS require to boot from 2 drives. MBR and then the OS drive.

Addendum:

Maybe this will help.

________________

There are a total of 3 entries listed in the Vista Bootloader.
Bootloader Timeout: 30 seconds.
Default OS: Windows 7
Entry #1
Name: Earlier Version of Windows
BCD ID: {ntldr}
Drive: D:\
Bootloader Path: \ntldr
Entry #2
Name: Windows 7
BCD ID: {current}
Drive: C:\
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Windows Directory: \Windows
Entry #3
Name: Windows 7
BCD ID: {94c3fb01-fb2f-11de-8483-93640f17be45}
Drive: Deleted Partition
Bootloader Path: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Windows Directory: \Windows

_______________________

Of course it says C: is win7 because that's the booted OS.
If I boot XP that becomes C: and win7 is D:.

XP drive has the MBR and D: doesn't. So D: won't boot if I remove C:
It's logical to think, I can remove C: - (D: becomes C and then write a MBR on the drive. But I don't want to mess up win7/registry!

[Terry60]

Get EasyBCD 2.0 latest build
From W7 use Diagnostics / Change boot drive
Point it at whatever letter W7 calls itself.
Put the W7 disk 1st in the BIOS HDD boot sequence.
Reboot, check in Disk Management that W7 is now "boot " "system" and "active"
Do what you will with XP.

[rojoyinc]

THANKS! - though I wasn't clear on what you were saying.

I found how in the docs. (that referred to the commend line util) and vista and
well that didn't work.

Installing 2.0 helped.. I just tried it and worked great.

clicked diagnostics in BCD - clicked change boot drive (new in this version) that I didn't have in previous.

Selected C: - waited... took 20 seconds or so. Said reboot. I disconnected the 0 drive (old boot drive) and the old boot menu is on proper drive now. Moved drive 1 to drive 0
booted with dual boot menu... ran BCD and removed "winXP and stray win7 from dual boot menu" not the dual boot menu doesn't come up (most desired now)
C: boots with win7 as I wanted. Reattached old C: as drive 1 - apprears as D: and I'll format it for a backup of C:

thanks for a great utility.

[rojoyinc]

Used seagate drive wizard to do a clone of my now working win7 drive to D: then unplugged D: to keep it as a backup of win7, clean install with all my programs installed. (feels good what a relief).

Now if win 7 would quit telling me I need PERMISSION to delete my own files. It refuses to allow me to delete files. (I'm admin) and computer owner, who do I need permission from? Bill Gates mom? I'm already planning (after about 25PC's since 1980) that I'll be apple from now on... I'll do anything to stop seeing "contact your administrator" shouldn't that be limited to a corporate install of a OS? And not a home/media version? With what... 6 versions of windows - wouldn't you think that the home versions should be less secure and not refer to you permissions from your administrator.

Sorry just venting. I also turned off auto updates. They do more harm than good. One wanted to upgrade mym Nvidia driver and bombed, giving me a nvxxxxx.dll error every time a ran a program or booted. I manually downloaded and installed the latest driver and fixed it. Seems all my past computer problems have been due to auto updates (of crap I really didn't want or need).

[Terry60]

Set it to notify, but not download or install.
That way you get vital security patches without delay, but you can choose to unselect graphics drivers or anything else you don't want before giving the go-ahead.
Get yourself a live Linux (bootable from the CD). It's very handy to have around when you want to delete or modify Windows system files. It ignores all Windows permissions and ownerships. Generally a lot quicker than taking ownership and fiddling around inside Windows.