Deleting the small hidden windows 7 etc. boot partition using EasyBCD and third-part partition sw.

Hello all:
Could anyone please give any help on the specific matter (how to move the boot from the small hidden partition to the main windows one) using EasyBCD and other partition software in order to make the main Windows partition active and to delete the small hidden partition?
Detailed instructions would be very welcome and could help many EasyBCD users!
Thank you very much!!!
Paolo
 
Thank you very much, Terry60, you saved my day!
I have some BIOS/MBR laptops with Windows7 pre-installed and I would like to move the boot files to the "main" Windows partitions. Glad to hear that EasyBCD can do this job fast and easily (including marking the Windows partitions as "active"). So after having done so I can at last delete those small hidden partitions!
Thank you very much for everything and best regards,
Paolo
 
Glad you got it figured out, but honestly, Windows only sets aside 100MiB for the boot partition. Given the size of even the smallest SSDs these days, 100MiB is just not worth the hassle for anyone reading this.
 
Glad you got it figured out, but honestly, Windows only sets aside 100MiB for the boot partition. Given the size of even the smallest SSDs these days, 100MiB is just not worth the hassle for anyone reading this.

You're right, my dear friend mqudsi!
But that very small 100 MB partition is a Primary partition anyway...
And if in the HD (or SSD) there are already Primary partitions other than the Windows one, that 100 MB partition could prevent to install further OS'es!
I take this opportunity to send you my best regards!
Paolo
 
Hi Paolo,

You are absolutely correct. But the only partition that actually needs to be a primary partition is the boot partition. The existence of that partition will actually help you with the primary partition situation since only the boot partition needs to primary; NTLDR or BOOTMGR installed to the primary FAT32 boot partition can be used to load Windows XP+ from any other primary or logical partition on the drive. Same with Linux, so long as GRUB is installed to the FAT32 primary partition - it can then load Linux from any supported filesystem on both primary and logical partitions.
 
Hello again, mqudsi and thank you very much!
For sure you're right, that small FAT32 Primary Partition could also be used for loading Windows XP and/or Linux in a multi-boot system...
I think the right choice depends from the various situations and preferences however.
As for me, I found very useful using a sort of "Virtual PC" in order to load a full version of Windows XP Pro while remaining in the Windows 7 environment, provided you have Windows 7 Pro at least (download link: [Direct Download Links] Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC for Windows 7 - AskVG).
From Windows 10 the Microsoft "Virtual PC" does not work, so it would be necessary to use Oracle's Virtual Box (a free software downloadable from Oracle VM VirtualBox) and to install a true copy of Windows XP later.
Installing and using Microsoft Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode from Windows 7 (Pro, Ultimate or Enterprise) is really a simple matter; in about ten minutes you're done... and there is no need for a multi-boot!
My best regards again, my friend!
Paolo
 
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