Deleting Vista - Vista/W7 dual boot

meditek

meditek

Member
I have Vista on drive C: (system, active, primary partition 1) and Windows 7 on drive G: (boot, primary partition 2). The partititions are on the same drive. I can dual boot into either. Windows 7 is set as the default OS in MSConfig. I am not using encryption (Bitlocker).

I wish to remove Vista and use the whole drive for W7.

I would appreciate a detailed description of the easiest way of doing this from someone who has actually done it. The Windows 7 Repair gets confused very easily.

thanks
 
EasyBCD 2.0 latest build
BCD Install/Repair
Change boot drive
Point it to W7 when asked.
Reboot into W7
W7 should now be "active" "system" "boot"
Format the Vista partition from W7 Disk Management
You will not be able to "extend" W7 into the Vista space ( extend only works at the high end), but you can use the partition for W7 apps or data.
If you want to make the whole HDD into one W7 partition, or put W7 up front (where it performs best), you'll need a bootable
Vista/7-compatible 3rd party partition manager to move it.
 
Terry60 said:
EasyBCD 2.0 latest build
BCD Install/Repair
Change boot drive
Point it to W7 when asked.
Reboot into W7
W7 should now be "active" "system" "boot"
Format the Vista partition from W7 Disk Management
You will not be able to "extend" W7 into the Vista space ( extend only works at the high end), but you can use the partition for W7 apps or data.
If you want to make the whole HDD into one W7 partition, or put W7 up front (where it performs best), you'll need a bootable
Vista/7-compatible 3rd party partition manager to move it.
Click to expand...

I had actually done the whole enchilada removing XP after installing Vista a couple of years ago and it worked OK (not using BCD) but, in bed last night, I suddenly thought of Drive letters. Won't moving G: to C: foul up the installation? I never thought about it when I moved Vista but it worked nevertheless except for sticky closedowns frequently.
 
Drive letters are unimportant, they differ from system to system. As long as you are able to move the boot files and continue to boot the computer successfully you can do whatever you want with Vista's partition.
 
kairozamorro said:
Drive letters are unimportant, they differ from system to system. As long as you are able to move the boot files and continue to boot the computer successfully you can do whatever you want with Vista's partition.
Click to expand...

Thanks, yes now I think about it Vista kept it's drive letter when I zapped XP. I think I must have had a flashback to the DOS HD days last night!
 
Thank you Terry and Kairozomorrow. The whole operation proceeded painlessly. The final single partition being provided directly from Windows by Paragon Partition Manager 10.

PS Terry, do they still have that Bulldog at Compton Abbas? Went all the way down there to fly it in the 70's.
 
Last edited:
It would seem so.
How did it fly ?
My only aerobatics were done in a Pitts S2a, which was a dream.
After years of flying bricks like the Cherokee it was a revelation.
Just goes where you point it, no struggle, no effort.
A sixty degree steep turn in the PA28 required the upper-body strength of an olympic weight lifter. Eighty degrees in the S2a, just needed finger pressure, which made it so much easier to be precise and accurate.
 
Terry60 said:
It would seem so.
How did it fly ?
My only aerobatics were done in a Pitts S2a, which was a dream.
After years of flying bricks like the Cherokee it was a revelation.
Just goes where you point it, no struggle, no effort.
A sixty degree steep turn in the PA28 required the upper-body strength of an olympic weight lifter. Eighty degrees in the S2a, just needed finger pressure, which made it so much easier to be precise and accurate.
Click to expand...

Hmm, hard to remember but I do recall it being similiar to a Messerschmidt Monsun but heavier. Ended up with 120 hours on Pitts. Stopped flying in 1979 after two nasties - didn't want to discover whether the third time was lucky or not! Of the 7 people who taught me aerobatics 6 were killed. In 2005 went up in a Pitts S2C in Florida, which was splendid, and discovered that you never forget but felt sick after doing a rolling circle and landed. Never flown since.

All the best.
 
You can change the Boot and OS-Drive Letter under Win7 (VISTA and Win XP) via regedit(32).
It is much to edit, so you need a Registry-Editor with the Search and change -function.
If you are a "Crack", you can edit first the Registry and then Copy this Partition (including all files) from your OS (with a third Party tool) to the new Partition, but it must be the same, for there you have change the Boot and OS-Entris in the Registry.
The "Table" for HDD-/Partition-Letter to real HDD-/Partition-ID are in:
Computer -> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> MountedDevices
\DosDevices\C: and followings
But you must change too the Registry-Folder-(and Program) Device Letters in all HKEYs and for Boot and OS this are very much entrys.
It is easy, but danger and only acceptable with an automatic Registry Search and Change-routine-Program (very much entrys to change).

I have did this yesterday for test.
Explizite Instruction are in the Net, my instruction are in German language only.
Make a HDD-Backup first (Image), shure is shure.
It is possible the BCD-Entry-Vector tell the wrong Partition to boot the OS.

I have a second OS and with this and EBCD 2.0 I have rebuild the new Boot-Entry for the moved OS.
(Delete the old Entry and then Add the new Entry).

Greetings from Germany,

STRUPPI
 
Thanks for the Info Struppi.

As everything is now working good, I am happy to accept that it is all on Drive G: It could be on Drive: Alpha Centauri for all I care as long as it works!

I am interested in why you went to all that difficulty? I am unable to see the reason..

LOL, as for being 'crack', I once knew Cobol/CPM/MSDOS as well as my wife but times overtook me when I sold out and retired from computing in 1989!
 
Hi meditek,
you have forgotten "Fortran" and "C" (i am a old men).
Pascal and machine code only a little bit...
I was BETA-Tester for Microsoft "Cicago", NT 4.0 and MSN.
I was too Hardware tester for a Computer shop.
This all after my main work, without Money, only for learning.

Well, I am only interested for possible USER Errors and what is to do.
So I test much, read world wide in Forum and test, what i read.
I understand not so much english, or italien- or spain-language, but I try what i mean to understand (try and error).
It is only for "learning by doing", so my brain is young and my body is old and invalide.
The Computer is my Door to the world.

But i am not a computer crack, for German standart i am a little bit under medium knowing.

Greetings from Germany,

STRUPPI
 
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