Removal of Windows 7 eval

[Proboscis]

My apologies if this has been discussed extensively before.

Before Windows 7 came out I installed an evaluation copy next to my
production copy of Windows XP in a dual-boot scenario. The current setup is
as follows:

- drive C: Windows XP Home Edition
- drive L: Windows 7 evaluation copy

I have finished evaluating Windows 7 a long time ago and now I would like to
free up the space on my L: drive. What would be the best/cleanest way to
remove Windows 7 without damaging my installed version of Windows XP on my
C: drive (and maybe even get rid of the dual boot startup screen)?

Thanks!

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Proboscis.

Step 1: Boot into WinXP and use either Windows Explorer or the Command
Prompt to remove the entire L:\Windows folder tree.

Step 2: There is no Step 2.

Well, OK, I was just being cute. ;^} There is a Step 2: Boot from your
WinXP CD-ROM and Repair your System Files. Or, before Step 1, while the
Win7 files are still in place, run C:\Boot\bootsect.exe /nt52 to restore the
WinXP-style boot sector. (Enter bootsect /help for details about what that
command does.) That should let you boot directly into WinXP, without the
dual-boot menu. When that is working right, delete the hidden file
C:\bootmgr and the hidden folder C:\Boot (which contains Win7's BCD).

Step 1 reclaims the hard disk space on Drive L: (probably 10 GB or more) and
Step 2 removes the dual boot menu and reclaims another 20 MB or so of disk
space on Drive C:.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8089.0726) in Win7 Ultimate x64