Switching From 'dual Boot' To A Single Partition Windows 7
Jul 28, 2011
I'm trying to install a new hard drive and retire my current one to backup and data storage purposes.
The problem is that I've installed Windows 7 on a hard drive with 2 partitions, an old XP partition (D:) and the new W7 partition (C:). At the moment the disk management screen looks like this:
What I am trying to do is delete the D: partition, and then copy/resize the C: partition including Windows 7 installation to my new hard drive (F:)
If I ignore the new hard drive and just try to migrate to a single partition, I can never get it to boot. I tried using Partition Wizard to set the C: as a primary, active partition, copied over the bootmgr and boot directory, then used bootrec /fixmbr and bootrec /fixboot to try to make Windows 7 bootable from just the C:, but it didn't work. All I got was "disk read error" whilst the PC was trying to boot off the C: (this is with all other drives disconnected...).
I could try to migrate to a single bootable partition from a 'dual boot' configuration?? I tried this video's advice and did everything as instructed but got the disk read error problem.
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Mar 16, 2011
Can I make a dual boot for XP SP3 x32 and Win7 x64 on a single pc. Both will have their own hdd(primary master probably XP and primary slave Win7 x64 or other way around)...possible?
I'll have that project with an Asus K8V SE Deluxe mobo which is 64bit capable. Haven't tried it on that yet.(Using Win7 x64 on a newer pc).
I saw an old Compaq desktop with only 1.5gb ram with Win7 x32 and it was quite zippy(yeah surprised me really! ). It even had Adobe CS3, Cyberlink video editors(Power Director/Producer, Autocad 2005 in it in addition to Avast IS ver6(no firewall/behavioral shield, Comodo firewall(D+ max settings --sandbox disabled), standard Office 2007, PDFXchange Viewer suite etc..
Owner friend just did an experiment with that old Compaq and when it was finished invited us for a couple of beers and showed what he had done.
So me thinking....I might be able to try making that project but with an x64 capable mobo. Although I have not used x64 on it(even after I ditched it) it was zippy in XP x32 ram maxed out with Norton IS 2009 --with Malwarebytes, Superantispyware Pro/ ACAD 2008 / SAS Jump Statistical software / MathCAD / forgot the rest.
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Sep 11, 2012
I have been trying for a while to install mac os x on my windows 7 pc i have followed hundreds of different tutorials and hit a wall at every one.
what is the best way to install mac os x on a single hdd? i no my pc is compatible with it i dont no where im going wrong.
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Nov 11, 2012
Tried tackling this one single-handedly to begin with and failed.
I have Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 installed as a dual boot, different partitions single HDD.
I want to remove the Windows 7 partition and keep the Win 2008. I do NOT want to lose anything from the Win 2008 partition. Taken from Disk Management.
Disk 3 with 5 partitions
1st - Healthy, Primary partition 73MB. (I thought this was system reserve but its not, leftover space from a previous partition change). It's currently mounted and completely empty.
2nd - Unallocated space 500mb
3rd - Windows 7 OS (Healthy - system, active, primary partition)
4th - Windows 2008 Server OS (Healthy - boot, page file, crash dump, primary partition)
5th - Unallocated space 8mb'ish
I haven't been using Windows 7 for years and want to clean this drives partitions up because it's messy and wasting space. I just need windows server 2008 as it's been used as a server for years and that's all I need it for now.
I want to safely remove the windows 7 installation and merge that partition along with the 1st and unallocated spaces back into a single partition where windows 2008 server resides.
Now I've tried tackling this myself and failed. I stupidly made the windows server 2008 partition as active which killed my boot and took me forever to repair with zero loss fortunately. Sadly it was as simple as using diskpart in a command prompt from win 2008 boot disk to make win 7 partition active again.
So, how do I do this? The boot manager must be on the win 7 partition as removing active killed it. The windows 7 boot (during startup) is long removed, system boots directly to windows 2008.
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Aug 27, 2009
I setup an XP/Windows 7 dual boot on two drives. Currently C: Windows 7, D:XP
Love Windows 7 and now I'm ready to convert to single boot Windows 7.
I'm not real savy re. bcdedit so will need very detailed instructions
I did find the command line in Windows 7 by going through accessories but I'm scared to go further without help.
Eventually I want to clean up the D:xp and use it for storage etc.
I'm guessing this procedure may have already be written up but I can't seem to find it.
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Dec 15, 2009
I've a Dual Boot with Xp/Win 7 on my office Desktop workstation. Window7 is the beta version of the Win 7. And like all other companies.... my company also want it's wallpaper and screen-saver on each machine ..... But i somehow manage to install Window 7 on my office Desktop.
Now i want to remove Window 7 partition and restore my Xp MBR and that too without using Windows Xp Bootable CD ( as CDs are not allowed in my company )...
How can i restore my Xp MBR while accessing my Xp Partition as i already have deleted my Windows 7 partition .
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Aug 29, 2012
I'm a long-time reader but new poster. I am currently running Windows 7. I want to install Windows XP onto another disc and have a dual-boot setup. I keep Windows 7 up to date and secure, but for the XP partition, I would rather not have antivirus running or even installed, in order to limit background processes. I will not be logging into any place or making any credit card purchases when booted into Windows XP. It will just be used for surfing, games, etc. Further, if and when XP becomes compromised or buggy, I will simply overwrite the partition with a backup image.
If I use Bitlocker to lock down the Windows 7 partition (with the encryption key on a thumb drive) and boot into Windows XP, am I correct in thinking the XP installation see or can't access the Windows 7 partition? If XP gets compromised, can a virus access or write to the Windows 7 partition?
Is there any other reason why this would not be secure? Can a virus write to the BIOS?
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Nov 12, 2009
This tutorial describes how to install Windows XP and Windows 7 on the same partition (first tutorial for one partition written).The short concept: Install XP twice and have 7 replace the first installation.Need more testers to confirm it works for everyone and the instructions are clear enough.Requirements: Both Installation discsA Windows XP LiveCD (might work with other OS, but no guarantees)EasyBCD.Install Windows XP normally if you're not already running it.Don't bother installing any drivers or software on it.Start another installation of Windows XP. Choose the same hard drive and leave it unchanged without formatting. When it asks you what to do then choose to install in a different directory "C:Windows.xp".Finish installing that one and only the necessary drivers.afterwards.Install Windows 7 on C: over the regular C:windows. A warning will tell you that it will move the old files to "Windows.old" directory. The good thing is it doesn't touch the Windows.xp directory.Install and run EasyBCD. Go to "Add/Remove Entries" and add an entry of "Windows NT/2k/XP/2k3" type and a name of your choice. (as shown in the attached image)Don't forget the "Save" button.You may also want to adjust the loader timeout from "Change Settings".In C: you will find a (hidden) file "boot.saved". Open it, remove the entry to the "WINDOWS" directory and make the "WINDOWS.XP" your default one (if it's not) and save as boot.ini".Restart and boot from the Windows XP LiveCD (which you should have burned and tested on CD or DVD before starting).Open the Command Prompt (Run "cmd") and enter the following lines in order
[code]...
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Jan 10, 2012
I installed Win7 on the same Partition as WinXP. I was in a hurry and forgot totally to partition the HD before I installed, was doing 100 things on the side during the Installation, and noticed my mistake only after the install was complete. Is there any way I can do a Multi boot for those two OS now? The WinXP folder has been renamed to Windows.old, and even with EasyBCD there's no way I can get the Comp to boot into WinXP.
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Jan 9, 2012
I installed DOS into 2GB FAT 16, then installed Windows 7 Ultimate expecting Windows 7 to install itself in a partition with a drive letter other than C (just as XP had done in a previous dual-boot setting with DOS) But no, Windows 7 has hijacked the C drive letter for itself. How can I stop Windows 7 from "stealing" from DOS, the drive letter C, for itself?
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Jun 23, 2011
I would like to make my PC dual-boot with Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit version & Linux Ubuntu. I know about Wubi to install Ubuntu within Windows, But would like more space than the 30gb limit that Wubi uses. How do I create an partition with Windows that can be used for a dual-boot. doctorwhovian11-24144041650249291689021989539000 has chosen the best answer to his/her question. Click here to view the answer that was selected.
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Jun 22, 2010
I have a dual boot scenario currently on an Intel 80GB SSD, with one partition as XP Pro, and the other is Windows 7, split 20GB(XP)/50GB(7).
The XP partition needs to be upgraded to Windows 7 for my wife's work remote access, and it will also include Office 2010 Pro.
Will I run into any issues dual booting into the existing Windows 7 partition after the upgrade, or should I just reinstall our personal Windows 7 OS after the upgrade is installed?
I have other hard drives to use as well if space becomes an issue, but I'd like to keep the existing Windows 7 install without starting from scratch.
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Mar 31, 2010
I have a laptop with twin HDDs and I have Vista on the C: partition on Drive 1. I created a new partition G: on Drive 2 and, while Vista was running, inserted the Win 7 disc and started installation to G:. All went perfectly and I have retained my original partitions with drive letters and labels, plus a new G: partition labeled Win 7. All seems to be working fine.Now I heard from a geeky friend that BOTH OS should be running on C: and that windows has some clever way of making that work. Is this true - and are there any disadvantages continuing installing MANY apps on G:?
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Nov 20, 2012
I am building a new computer and I want to go with a dual screen setup. I was wondering if I should go with a GTX 670 2GB GPU or two Sapphire Radeon 7870s. If not specifically these cards, let me know what you think. Is it better to have a single GPU with dual DVI output or two slightly cheaper GPUs using crossfire?
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Jan 16, 2011
I am thinking about dual-booting my system with Windows 7 as the main OS, and linux ubuntu as a secondary. I have a few questions:
1. How much space should I leave for ubuntu's partition?
2. How do I make a swap partition (or whatever it is called, for swapping files between OS's)?
3. Can I set it up to automatically boot into windows unless I am holding down a specific key, or something similar?
BTW, my HDD is ~500gb, but my current (factory) windows partition is 450gb.
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Oct 17, 2012
My computer has windows 7. I created a separate partition on my hard drive to install windows xp, but now when I try to install it I get an chkdsk /f error.
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Nov 11, 2010
The motherboard died on my 3-year-old Compaq, so I just ordered a new computer that comes preloaded with Win7Home Prem x64. It was from Dell Outlet so I couldn't choose the OS. I've been using MCE (XP pro 32-bit) for several years and love it.I'm worried about program and hardware compatibility with Windows 7 x64. I don't use very graphics-heavy apps like CADD, Photoshop, etc. I only plan to do a little video editing with my .avi clips. I also have an older version of Replay AV that I use to record live streaming radio. I don't want to buy a new scanner (Canoscan LiDE 20 - no x64 drivers!) so here are my options:
A-Partition the new 1TB drive for dual boot setup with Windows 7 Home x64 / WinXP Pro (32-bit). I would buy the XP Pro OEM Branded DVD.
B-Install my old 200GB SATA Seagate Barracuda 7200 as a second drive and run XP programs and scanner from that.
C-Buy Win 7 Pro 32-bit OEM Branded discs, remove Windows 7 home x64, and do a complete new install with the new discs, and hope that my XP programs work with XP Mode. (new i5 processor supports virtualization)
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Jun 27, 2009
I have two questions:
I am running Windows 7 dualbooted with WinXP, everything works fine. I want to get rid of the XP partition, and keep the Windows 7 one only, but there is a problem. THe partition on which XP is installed is set as system and active. I've googled around but I've found no easy solutions to this. Any ideas on how to do this without reinstalling the OS?
My second question would be about the Windows 7 update: I installed the 7100 build, when it got released, but as I saw now, the latest builds are like 7200+. Are the changes updated on my build somehow, or I would have to reinstall to have the new build?
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Oct 26, 2010
I built this machine using a caviar green HD and loaded Windows 7 64. It seemed pretty slow, so soon after I added a 128GB SSD and loaded Win 7 64. On start up I got the dual boot option and would just select the SSD as the main OS drive.I got tired of the dual boot option and foolishly formatted the OS partition on the Caviar.I has assumed with on OS on the caviar it would default to the SSD. Dumb me.I can rectify this with out reloading Win on the SSD. I finally got all my applications set up right.
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Jun 12, 2009
I have a dual-boot of Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit on separate partitions. I want to replace the Windows 7 32-bit partition with Windows XP and keep the Windows 7 64-bit partition. What's the easiest way to do this?
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Feb 12, 2011
In a dual boot system with 2 hard drives, one for Vista and one for Win 7, do both OS partitions need to be "Active & Boot & System"?
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Jul 12, 2009
I'm currently running Windows 7 and I'm trying to partition my hard drive so I can dual boot Mac os x Leopard. I have 133 GB free on my 230 GB internal hard drive, but when I partition the drive the computer will only let me open about 5 GB of space. I have defragged the drive and nothing changed.
I am new to dual booting and I am really only doing this as an experiment. If anyone can give me any advice as to how I can partition more space or how much is needed I would be very grateful.
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Jan 16, 2009
I've just installed Windows 7 64-bit on my desktop PC as it worked so well for the past month on my laptop I shrunk my Vista 64 partition and installed Win 7 x64 build 7000 on the new partition. All went smooth and well!
As I wanted to transfer some files and settings from my Vista install to my new Windows 7 I assigned a drive letter to my hidden Vista drive in the "Disk Management" utility and went on with my business. Now, as I'm done I'd like to hide my Vista partition again but I can't get it to work
When I select my Vista partition and select the "Change Drive Letter and Paths" and then press the "Remove" button I get the following error box:
"Windows cannot remove the drive letter of your volume. This may happen if your volume is a system or boot volume, or has page files."
My Vista volume is the first volume of the physical drive, the boot files is there but I don't have any page file on it. How come this drive could be hidden and revealed in the first place but not hidden again?
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Dec 22, 2009
I made a dual boot system about a month and a half ago and I now no longer have need of Windows XP. Windows 7 is my primary OS, so how do I go about removing the XP partition?
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May 10, 2011
Hope someone here can point me in the right direction. I currently have a dual boot machine. Win7 and Vista. I bought the machine with Vista and shortly after 7 came out. So I installed 7 and never looked back at Vista. I want to delete the Vista partition so I can regain space on the drive but it wont let me. It's an active primary partition. Even though I am logged into 7 it says that I can't delete a primary partition.
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Sep 11, 2010
I'm wanting to install Windows 7 as a dual boot alongside my existing XP set up and have been trying to follow the excellent guide at Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP
But I'm stuck at resizing the existing partition as described at Partition or Volume - Shrink
I get as far as the command prompt and selecting the drive, but as soon as I type "shrink querymax" or "shrink desired=15360" or even just "shrink" I get the message
"Diskpart has encountered an error: This service cannot be started in safe mode"
Now I can't see any way of getting a command prompt WITHOUT starting in safe mode.
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Sep 26, 2010
Can i format the primary partition in a dual booted system that is xp and windows 7 where xp is the primary partiyion. And would the other os still work
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Sep 22, 2012
I have read that using a computer specifically for financial transactions with known and trusted entities (such as a bank) is a good way to reduce (though not eliminate) the risk of your accounts being hacked by reducing the likelihood of inadvertently installing a malware, spyware, or virus by reducing internet sites visited. Assuming this is correct, I was wondering about dual booting one computer with two physical hard drives (each with its own OS) versus one hard drive with two partitions. I figure the former would be "more secure" since one drive would be isolated from any unwanted programs. However, since they shared a few things (motherboard and such), is this set up as "secure" as having two computers? If so, how does one go about setting up a dual boot with two separate hard drives of the same operating system using one computer?
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Nov 25, 2009
I am having a problem that seems more like a Win XP problem, but since its part of my migration to Windows 7 and many people these days may be trying the same.
As I said, I am in the progress of migrating to Windows 7. As a transient solution until I have transferred and re-installed everything under Windows 7 I want to have a dual boot capability, i.e. I bought me a larger HD, created two partitions on it, installed Windows 7 on the first partition, and then I used a disk-imager (Acronis Disk Director) to copy my entire old XP disk 1:1 to the second partition of the new HD. I then set things up so I can choose between the two partitions using the Windows 7 boot manager. After some fiddling the choosing and booting in principle works fine.
BUT, when I try to start WinXP, I have the very strange effect, that the system at first boots and starts WinXP up fine up to the point where it presents the login screen. When I then enter my name and password my credentials at first seem to be accepted, i.e. I get a "Loading your settings..." dialog but to my dismay only seconds later that dialog always turns into "Logging off..." (???!@#@$&!) at which point the system hangs for some long period. If I wait long enough (~5 minutes) it eventually returns to the login screen again. I also tried to login as Administator but that failed as well (the error message mumbled something about no domain server to verify my id which is complete nonsense, since my XP system was never part of any domain, so there is no server in the world that could verify anything here!).
Any idea what could cause this and why can't I not log into that copied/moved 1:1 Window XP installation? Any hints/suggestions/pointers would be highly welcome!
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Dec 8, 2009
I have a small query about this whole partitioning business. I'm trying to set up a partition so I can dual-boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu.
My computer came with a Dell Recovery partition and an OEM partition as well as the main C: drive, which are all primaries. I've created a new logical drive, which I've called Z:, with the idea being to install the Linux OS in that chunk of the drive.
My first question: First up, I've formatted it as "exFAT" - is this the same as FAT32?
Next question: can I divide this 'Z' into smaller chunks with different formats, or do they all have to be the same format? I was hoping to be able to format a small bit of the drive into a Linux file-system so that both OSs can be kept entirely separate from each other, but leave the bulk of it as FAT so that I can see my files with both OSs. If this is not possible, what would be the best way to achieve the desired result?
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Dec 15, 2009
My boot drive is a 120Gb Samsung spinpoint, previously one whole partition containing XP. This XP wasnt a clean install, it was an upgrade to Windows 98 I think, and this may be the problem. I have a number of other hard disks, 1 PATA and 2 SATA, which I am using for video editing stuff.
I downloaded GParted, shrunk the XP partition to 76Gb and created a new 35Gb partition for Windows 7. A bit small, but I figured once everything was tested out, I could grow out the Windows 7 partition.
This was successful, and I inserted the Windows 7 disk...selected custom install, and installed to my newly created partition.
Windows 7 did its reboots and I filled in the usual bunff to create basic accounts, etc.
Then I rebooted, and was a bit surprised I did not get the dual-boot menu, it went straight into Windows 7. Using F5 and F8 did not provide any further options, specifically the 'Previous version of Windows' one.
Going into Windows 7 Disk manager, i could see the partition was still there. I read other posts of what Windows 7 does (belately) and yes, it had 'hidden' the XP partition. I gave it a drive letter (D, but Windows 7 saw it as an empty disk!
I downloaded EasyBCD, and it showed only one entry in the bootloader. I tried to add a new entry, using type:"Windows NT/2k/XP/2k3", but the Drive was greyed out; if I selected "Vista/Longhorn" I could then change the drive to D: and then change type back to XP (odd). I then clicked 'Add Entry', but it came back with an error message "EasyBCD could not locate a copy of NTLDR on your hard drive. Please download a copy of NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM from Htpp://(blah blah) and copy them to the drive D: in order for your newly-created entry to work.".
Does this mean my XP partition is truly trashed? Is there a way to get back my XP partition?
I am thinking of maybe inserting the XP disk and repairing, maybe it will detect XP and fix it, but if it will blow away both my installations, I might not bother.
Last resort is to use File Scavenger on the dead partition, but when I checked it out in GParted again just now, it said that 3Gb out of the 76Gb had data, could it be that Windows 7 has just not recognised my original XP partition as an XP partition, thought it was its configuration partition, and just overwrote stuff?
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