Deleting XP from a dual boot system

P

pfcurtis

Member
I have searched this forum for a solution to my problem, but nothing I have found appeas to be exactly the same problem. Searching is tricky if you do not use the right words. I see many very helpful posts, and I appreciate all of you that take the time to help.

I had a computer running XP Pro, but started getting messages that the C drive was starting to fail. I backed up all the important files and decided to install Vista on another drive. I left the original drive in place, just in case I had missed a file I needed.

Leaving the drive in place was a mistake, because Vista was installed in a dual boot mode. I was able to boot into Vista or XP, but finally the XP drive gave up, and it would hang during the boot up.

I disconnected the XP drive and Vista would not boot. Reading suggestions from this forum, I tried repairing the Vista boot files using the Vista install disks. I ran the process several times without success. I even tried changing the disk boot order in the bios.

My goal is to remove the XP drive and have a Vista only machine. I am assuming that the XP drive is still functioing as a boot disk, even though the tracks with the XP program are bad.

Can anyone suggest a solution using EasyBCD?
Thank you
 
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You have to check your BIOS to make sure that the new drive is set to be the primary boot. From there you need to get a hold of GParted LiveCD and use that to make the Vista partition the Active System and Boot drive. After that using the Vista DVD to repair the bootloader should work just fine.

Welcome to NST pfcurtis!
 
Thankyou Makaveli213.
I have visited the Gparted web site and have tried to follow the links. I'm not into Unix so following the instructions is not easy - they assume you know what they are talking about. The link to the forum that explains the process step by step does not work.
Is there another method? I do have an old copy of Partition Commander. Can that be used to set the Boot and Active flags?

Addendum:

Makaveli213
Following up on my last post. The reason I could not follow the links was my impatience. When I clicked on the forum link, nothing happened, but when I returned to that window some time later, there it was.
Scanning the posts, I saw a reference to Parted Magic, so I went there and found a very nice and easy to follow web site. I down loaded the application, burned a CD and rebooted.
I switched to the drive where I had installed Vista and added the flag to boot.
I exited Parted Magic and rebooted and changed the first hard drive in the bios.
Another reboot, with the Vista disk and I selected repair.
The next reboot took me directly into Vista. I was then able to remove the bad XP hard drive and I have the machine running as I wanted it.
Thanks for your help:??
 
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Glad you got it working in the end. That is what we like to hear. Sorry if it seemed like my instructions were a bit more complicated. I will make sure to leave a link for GParted next time that you can use for this. :wink:
 
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