Removing dual boot

[tman]

Originally, I built my HTPC with WinXP MCE, this was fine until I decided I
wanted to switch to VMC. I installed a second disk, and built VMC on this.
Obviously, the boot loader was still on the XP MCE disk, but I selected
Vista from the boot menu (and made this the default boot option). Vista
therefore becomes the 'system' disk, but not the boot disk. This has worked
fine up until now.

I'm now in the position that I want to remove the XP MCE disk completely and
switch solely to VMC. Sounds easy, but I need to rebuild the boot loader on
the Vista H/D after removing the XP H/D. If I just remove the XP H/D, Vista
won't boot at all. I've tried running bcdedit (within Vista) and switching
the boot loader to the Vista disk, but this didn't help. I therefore believe
I need to re-create the MBR on the Vista disk, but I can't see an obvious
way of doing this if I can't get into the O/S. If I boot from the Vista DVD,
it goes straight into its setup routine, not giving me any repair options.
If I press F8 during the menu boot (with XP) I get the normal Vista boot
options, but this still doesn't help.

Is there a way I can just transfer all boot settings to the dedicated Vista
hard disk, so I can remove the XP disk, and continue booting Vista as the
sole O/S.

Thanks

 

[AJR]

Accomplish with ease using a third-party boot manager such as VistaProBoot

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

No. The Vista instance you have installed is set to that drive letter, which
is not the boot drive. You can't remove the boot drive without changing the
drive letter. You do not have to have XP on the boot drive, but you need the
boot files there. Look over this utility to help you rebuild the bootablity
of the Vista install, but remember you can't change the Vista drive letter.
How to use the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment to
troubleshoot and repair startup issues in Windows Vista:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392/en-us
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Mark L. Ferguson
..

 

[andy]

Originally, I built my HTPC with WinXP MCE, this was fine until I decided I
wanted to switch to VMC. I installed a second disk, and built VMC on this.
Obviously, the boot loader was still on the XP MCE disk, but I selected
Vista from the boot menu (and made this the default boot option). Vista
therefore becomes the 'system' disk, but not the boot disk. This has worked
fine up until now.

I'm now in the position that I want to remove the XP MCE disk completely and
switch solely to VMC. Sounds easy, but I need to rebuild the boot loader on
the Vista H/D after removing the XP H/D. If I just remove the XP H/D, Vista
won't boot at all. I've tried running bcdedit (within Vista) and switching
the boot loader to the Vista disk, but this didn't help. I therefore believe
I need to re-create the MBR on the Vista disk, but I can't see an obvious
way of doing this if I can't get into the O/S. If I boot from the Vista DVD,
it goes straight into its setup routine, not giving me any repair options.
If I press F8 during the menu boot (with XP) I get the normal Vista boot
options, but this still doesn't help.

Is there a way I can just transfer all boot settings to the dedicated Vista
hard disk, so I can remove the XP disk, and continue booting Vista as the
sole O/S.

First run Disk Management, and set the primary partition on the Vista
disk drive to active.
Then remove the XP disk drive, configure your system so the BIOS boots
from the Vista disk drive, and follow steps 2 through 15 at