[mwaddoups]

Hey,

I used to use Windows Vista, and then began to dual boot with Windows 7. Now I only use 7, and I want to get rid of Vista - this is how my partitions work though:

C: - Win 7 system drive
D: - Most programs, videos AND Vista drive.

Therefore, I can't format D: to get rid of Vista - what is the correct way to remove this system. Is there any nicer way than simply deleting the Windows folder (I have already removed it from the boot entry list)?

Any help would be appreciated.

[DaveA]

Do you have a "production" copy of Windows 7 installed?

If not, I would not doing anything until you do.

You are going to have do a clean or upgrade install on the C drive and then format the D drive to remove ALL of the files off of it.

[DotHQ]

DaveA is right. To do it right you need to offload your files to an external drive so you can format and reload your data. It will save you headaches down the road.

[mwaddoups]

I guess that makes the most sense. It's massive headache to work out what programs are installed on there and associated, but I'm sure I can work it out. If I were to work with a linux live cd, and copy the actual program files from the D: drive to a usb disk, format, and copy them back, would the registry links and everything still work okay? I can't envision any issues...

[DaveA]

Originally Posted by mwaddoups

i guess that makes the most sense. It's massive headache to work out what programs are installed on there and associated, but i'm sure i can work it out. If i were to work with a linux live cd, and copy the actual program files from the d: Drive to a usb disk, format, and copy them back, would the registry links and everything still work okay? I can't envision any issues...

no

[saikee]

I give a bit more than DaveA

Your Vista partition when formatted would have a BCD ID number unique to the partition. The Vista/Win7 boot manager use the BCD ID to boot its OSes. An example of the BCD ID looks like this "c4c13df3-7949-11dc-98f8-81e4e48608ff"

Therefore if you reformat the partition the original booting configuration file becomes invalid for Vista but it is still good for Win7.

Having said that I believe one can rebuild the boot loader from scratch, using either Vista or Win7 installation DVD in Command Prompt.

[peck1234]

I would just do a nice clean install and make 7 your entire partition...