Edit EasyBCD Boot

chazdg

Member
I am triple booting Windows 7, Windows 8 Pre Release and Linux Mint. I installed EasyBCD in Windows 8. Two questions:

If I want to remove Windows 8, what is the best way to go about it? I understand how to do it if it was installed in Windows 7. Did I make a mistake by installing EasyBCD in Window 8? I was under the impression it had to be installed in Windows 8 for the bootloader to show all three operating systems.

Any suggestions are appreciated. My first post!
 
EasyBCD is just an app for managing the BCD in use. Doesn't matter which OS you run it from. The question of which OS to use as the "controller" of the boot, does depend on how and where you installed it, and what other systems you wish it to multi-boot with. e.g. W7 bootmgr/BCD won't boot W8, but W8 will boot W7 (forward and backward compatibility reasons appearing as "invalid digital sig" in the former case).
Please post a screenshot of your Disk Management (with all flags visible), so we can see how W8 is situated and how you can most easily remove it. The sticky thread will give you advice on posting attachments if you need it.
(and welcome to the forum btw)
 
Not very informative use of the Volume Label there Chaz (a much under-utilized resource imo, and should be sine qua non for anyone installing a multi-boot system to avoid the all too common mistake of overwriting the "live" system in error)
Which is W7 and which W8. If OS=7 and you ran Disk Management from W8 then you should have no problem removing the latter.
Better make it a bit clearer first though.
 
Not very informative use of the Volume Label there Chaz (a much under-utilized resource imo, and should be sine qua non for anyone installing a multi-boot system to avoid the all too common mistake of overwriting the "live" system in error)
Which is W7 and which W8. If OS=7 and you ran Disk Management from W8 then you should have no problem removing the latter.
Better make it a bit clearer first though.
OS C is W7; New Volume C is W8. You have a point with the Volume Label bit, but then again I have been Dual booting (XP and various flavors of Linux) and Triple Booting (XP, 7 and Ubuntu) for over 10 years and never made a mistake overwriting the 'live system'. I won't get too upset over that issue.

Disk Management was run from W8. Can you be a little more specific as to how to go about removing W8, without rendering W7 unable to boot? Can I use the W7 Disk? The W8 Bootloader is a bit of a learning curve for me. Should EasyBCD been installed in W8 or should it been W7? I always had luck with Grub, but Microsoft has muddied the waters IMHO.

I should add that I was surprised EasyBCD worked, as I always had trouble with it! Thanks for your help.
 
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When you installed W8, it put its boot files on W7 because that was "active"
All that should be required to remove W8 is to delete its entry from the BCD on your "OS" volume.
EasyBCD is a passive app, not an active part of the boot process, so it doesn't matter where you install it or run it from, it'll operate on the "active" partition's BCD.
When you're in W7, there will be nothing to stop you formatting the W8 partition. W7 will retain the W8 build of bootmgr but that doesn't matter a bit.
 
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