Removing XP in favor of 7

K

KPrestia

Member
I've been using windows 7 long enough now to feel comfortable getting rid of my XP install. I had used EasyBCD to make a few simple changes to my dual boot start up screen. Now I'm curious if there is a way to use EasyBCD to remove XP and make 7 my primary OS. XP was installed first and 7 was done afterwards. I've looked over the program and I've seen the option to uninstall the vista MBR but I'm curious if there is a way to do the same to XP so I would have 7 only.
Thanks ahead of time! :smile:
 
Hi KP, welcome to NST.
The key thing to check is where the "system" flag is.
Run Disk Management in W7, and as long as XP isn't "system", all you need to do is delete the XP entry from the BCD using the add/remove entries tab in EasyBCD, then format the XP drive and use it for whatever you want.
If XP is "system", then that's where all your boot files are (W7 and XP), and removing XP is not so straightforward.
Post back in the latter case with a Disk Management screenshot, and we'll advise what to do next.
(you can attach screenshots using the paperclip icon in the "go advanced" dialogue below the "quick reply" box.)
 
Thanks for the reply Terry.
My XP partition is listed as "system". I've done like you asked and attached a snippit (great tool in 7 btw!)
The drive listed as D: was originally my C: drive and has XP installed on it.
 

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Do you have a recent partition copying app like Paragon Drive Copy 9.0 or similar ?
With the W7 partition that far down the HDD, you'd do well to move it to the front of the disk.
If you're happy to leave it where it is, the simplest plan would just be to use a Linux live distro like this one. Burn a copy to a CD, boot it and delete everything on the XP partition except the folder named "boot" and the bootmgr file. (W7 probably will refuse to do the deletes because Windows ownerships and permissions will be set to prevent the system being damaged by accident. You can spend days taking ownership and resetting permissions yourself, but it's much simpler to use a Linux system which doesn't give a fig for Windows permissions.)
W7 should carry on booting as before (from the D: partition), and you can just remove the redundant XP entry from the BCD with EasyBCD, and then W7 will boot directly without presenting a menu.

If you have a Vista/W7 compatible cloning app, you can make a copy of your W7 partition, format the whole HDD, restore the clone to the front of the disk, and then boot the W7 DVD and "startup repair" 3 times, to reinstate the boot process. That will see no XP so just create a single BCD entry for W7.

Or if your W7 is fairly new, you could just reinstall it to a freshly formatted disk. (Partition it yourself as you want it first, or W7 will create a "secret" unlettered boot partition for you)

Remember though that W7 is still a Beta release, and not really suitable (no express or implied warranty) for use as your primary system. The 7000 build will begin to self-destruct in 2 weeks, and the 7100 has much poorer driver support than 7000 and is also time-limited.
 
Thanks for the quick reply again.
I'm about to head out for the day but I will definitely look at the options you've listed when i have time tonight and make a post later with an update. As far as 7 goes though, I'm running the Release Candidate and it's not scheduled to flake out until July of 2010. I've been impressed enough with it thus far though. I'll likely end up picking it up once it goes live later this year...(if MS can get it out when they claim they will :smile:)
I appreciate the help!
 
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