dual boot revert and dual boot hardware

[KSoD]

Those commands are for XP only. You will need to follow this to fix a Vista boot loader.

Repairing the Windows Vista Bootloader - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

 

[peter_ming]

thanks mak! will do as your advice as soon as possible.

 

[Bodhi]

Alright clarify for me what you are trying to do. What is the 2nd installed OS? Win7? Vista? XP? Linux? Just saying 2nd installed OS doesnt mean anything as it can be any OS out there which was installed 2nd. I dont know which order you installed the OS's in so just saying the 2nd installed one gets us no where.

Plus if you only have XP/Win7 and you are trying to remove Win7 but still keep the BIOS Boot Method my next question would be why? If you remove 1 of 2 OS's installed then there is no need for the BIOS boot method or a Boot Selector screen. It would just go from the BIOS splash screen right to your XP install. No extra steps needed.

So clarify for me what you have and what you want to do. I know you have XP on your 1st HDD 1st partition. Win7 on the 2nd HDD 1st partition.

Which one do you want to keep which one do you want to remove? Are you going to install Vista/Win7 again or just stick with a single boot?

Hello, I'm new in the forums and went here looking for answer to this precise question (well, only that I have Vista instead of Win7).

Originally I had Win XP on the 1st Mobo HD and installed Vista with a dual boot on MoBos HD 2... Now I want to get rid of XP and the HD because my Vista HD is much bigger.

What do I have to do?

Thanks!

 

[KSoD]

I will need to see a screen shot of you Disk Management screen. Start>Right click on Computer>manage. When that window pops up select Disk Management.

Upload it to Imageshack.us or Photobucket and then paste the forum code in your response.

I will then be able to determine if XP or Vista has the boot priority. From there i can advise you better.

 

[Bodhi]

I will need to see a screen shot of you Disk Management screen. Start>Right click on Computer>manage. When that window pops up select Disk Management.

Upload it to Imageshack.us or Photobucket and then paste the forum code in your response.

I will then be able to determine if XP or Vista has the boot priority. From there i can advise you better.

Thanks! ok, here it is: 2009-08-20_1413

if you want me to paste it tell me, for me it is simpler to put it there for you to view it.

 

[KSoD]

Well this will be tricky.

You will have to right click in the Vista drive. Select making it the System Active drive. At that point you should be able to remove the XP Drive with no issues. Upon boot you most likely will have a boot issue with Vista.

Recovering the Vista Bootloader from the DVD - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

You would then have to follow the steps there to repair the Vista Boot Loader.

 

[Bodhi]

Well this will be tricky.

ok.. mm yep, I read the link and it is tricky, should I expect some extra trouble in the road? unknown factors?

I'm planning to do something else, since my big HD is 1TB I can make two smaller partitions to put my current D: and E: in their respective partition, then do what you say (should I do this from the console on the pic?) and then reboot..

now.. if things doesn't work.. can I simply put back my XP HD and expect to boot again normally?

I will tell you my concern... I have like 50 applications, some of them with VERY valuable personalized configurations.. and I can't risk them... so, installing from scratch is not an option here..

 

[KSoD]

If you dont delete the XP stuff and leave that drive alone, inserting it should allow you to boot normally.

Like i said it will be tricky cause of the way it is setup. I have had many success stories going through this process. I have also had a couple complete failures where doing this affected the Vista install and bricked it forcing a reinstall.

So really the choice is yours on what you do. I have provided the information necessary to accomplish the task, barring something unknown or unexpected it should work as i have outlined.

I cant account for those unknown or unexpected cause they are just that. Unknown and unexpected. They would have to be fixed as the situation came up. I cant possibly cover every thing cause, well it just wouldnt work. There is so much that can happen or not happen that even I wouldnt be able to cover it all.

The only thing i can say, with your Vista install, is to make a Image using something like Clonezilla or Acronis True Image. That way if something does happen, just use the image and put Vista back on as it is now without losing anything. That is about all the real advice i can give.

 

[Bodhi]

you are right, and it is good advice... thanks.. I might try it tomorrow moring... will write here with a success story (otherwise, I might not be able to even find this place again!

 

[KSoD]

Best of luck. Let us know the status and we will do our best to try and resolve any issues.