Windows 7 - Uninstalling Vista

Asked By Doug

17-Nov-09 05:08 AM

I have two hard drives ,each hard drive is partitioned into 2.

Drive 1

Partition  C:
Partition D:

Drive 2

Partition E:

Partition F:

I have Vista Home Premium on C: Drive
Have Windows 7 on E: Drive

My Boot File is on the C : Drive for both Operating Systems.

If I want to remove Vista on Drive 1 , Partition C:  First of all what would
be the easiest way of removing Vista? Reformat the drive or can you
uninstall it with the programs??

If I do Format the C: Drive,I would loose the Boot Manager File. I would
probably not be able to even boot into Win 7. If I can not boot into 7 Can I
insert the DVD do a repair to bring back the Boot file to C:?

Or can I just use a second party Boot Manager like  Easy BCD to configure
Boot manager??
Thank You

Doug

17-Nov-09 07:49 AM

Hi Doug,

Run disk manager and look at the hard drives, as Win7 usually sets up a
separate boot volume. If it has, you would be safe to format C: and simply
remove the reference from Win7's boot manager.

And yes, you could simply insert the disk and run a repair on the boot
sector.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

17-Nov-09 09:57 AM

Hi Roger,

Thanks for the reply, I really appreciate your knowledge on the subject.

In Manager C: Drive says: Healthy (System,Active,Primary Partition)   C: has
Vista on it

E: Drive says:  Healthy ( Boot,Page File, Active,Crash
Dump,Primary Partition)  E: has Win 7 on it.

To me it looks like E: has Boot Volume???

Thanks again for any assistance.

Doug

17-Nov-09 03:26 PM

C is the System partition, meaning it contains Boot Manager. Remove
the C drive, or, in Bios setup, make the E drive the boot drive. Then
run Windows 7 startup repair to make the E drive bootable.

17-Nov-09 05:27 PM

Hi Andy,

Do you mean to physically remove drive??Or change the drive letter??

I will try to change the boot drive to E:.

Thanks
Doug

17-Nov-09 07:10 PM

Hi Doug,

In win-speak, the volume containing the boot files is designated as the
system volume (and the one containing the system files is the boot volume).
If you format or remove C: at this point, you would have to run a repair
from the Win7 booted disk. If the drive is left in place, you will need to
remark E: as the active volume first or it will just repair the boot on C:.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

17-Nov-09 09:44 PM

Assuming there are two physical hard drives, removing the C drive will
automatically make the remaining drive (E) the boot drive as far as
the Bios is concerned. This will allow you to run startup repair to
place Boot Manager on that drive.

Alternatively, you can, without removing the C drive, set in Bios
setup drive E to be the boot drive, and then run startup repair to
place Boot Manager on that drive.

18-Nov-09 01:25 PM

I can mark E: as active volume in Manager????

Thanks
Doug

18-Nov-09 08:01 PM

Hi Again have some more questions, sorry??


I  would I remark I: as the active volume???

I was thinking if I manually removed the C: Drive which is partitioned in
tom C: and D:.
Then the 2nd Drive with E: and F: on it will be the only drive. Since E: has
Windows 7 on it .I can start up windows from the DVD and do a repair???

Then I can install the other drive again and format it??

I just want to make sure, I did something like this once and lost both OS's
Thank You Very Much

Doug

18-Nov-09 09:17 PM

Hi,

If you do not change the active drive, there is a possiblility that the
system will look back to the original drive when you reinsert it, rendering
your startup repair moot.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

18-Nov-09 10:33 PM

I am sorry, I have one more question. How to change the active drive???

I will not ask no more questions. I understand now if I put back the drive I
removed, it might want to boot from it and then I am moot.

Thank You Again

Doug

18-Nov-09 10:42 PM

I might of asked this. If I boot into windows 7 Than reformat my 1st drive
C: & D:. with Vista on it.

Then restart with Win 7 DVD do a repair so it puts Boot on Win 7 Drive which
is E:.??

Or reformat1st Drive C: & D:  with Vista

Then Boot up in Windows 7 with DVD do a repair, and it should put the boot
file on Drive E:

Can you tell I am a bit nervous about doing this!!!

I also have  Acronis True image.  I am trying to avoid using it.

Again

Doug

18-Nov-09 10:46 PM

I lied, one more question. Right now my C; and E: are active drives.C has
Vista and E: has win 7.

I should leave E: active and change C: not to be active???and How.

I know I am a pain in the ass by now. Trying to learn, and understand why
everything has to be done.

If you do not reply, I will understand

Thanks

Doug

19-Nov-09 06:15 AM

Hi,

If you just format and do a repair of the boot from the Win7 disk, that will
not change the active drive, and you will wind up just having the boot file
placed back where they already are. If you want the boot files on the same
drive as Win7, then that volume needs to be marked as [active] using disk
manager.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

19-Nov-09 08:05 PM

If I mark the drive that has Win 7 on it as Active. Then I can boot in win
7,  remove windows Vista. When I start after that, I use the DVD and do a
repair to put the Boot Manager on the drive with in Win??

Thanks

Doug

19-Nov-09 08:43 PM

Hi,

Not quite. Once you change the active drive, you will need to boot from the
disk and repair the boot, making the drive with Win7 the [system] drive.
Once changed, that is where the BIOS will look to transfer control to, so
the boot files need to be placed there before you will get a successful
boot. After completing the repair, you can then format C: and remove Vista.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org