Removing XP from Dual Boot with Vista Ultimate

[ucrazy51]

I added Vista to my Xp system on a different partition. Here's what
is shows now

Name: Microsoft Windows Vista
BCD ID: {current}
Boot Drive: C:
Windows Drive: C:
System Bootloader: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Windows Directory: \Windows

Entry 2
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: Microsoft Windows XP Pro
BCD ID: {ntldr}
Boot Drive: D:
System Bootloader: \ntldr

The D partition shows as System, Active, Primary Partition
The C partition shows as Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Logical Drive

I want to remove XP from the Dual Boot and drive and have only Vista.
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[ucrazy51]

Hi,

If you want to keep both partitions but get rid of XP , remove XP from
the OS boot list as above, then in  Vista's disk management, right click
your D partition and format it.

SIW2

Looking at the instructions it won't let me delete the D partition.
"You also cannot delete the system partition, boot partition, or any
partition that contains the virtual memory paging file, because Vista
needs this information to start correctly. You will have to use the
Vista installation disk to delete it." Now what.....

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, ucrazy51.

As I said in my other reply, no operating system will let you "saw off the
limb that you are sitting on". Or, to put it another way, it will not obey
an order to commit suicide.

Even MS-DOS would not reformat the disk that it was running on. To run
FDISK and Format.exe on that partition, we had to boot from the floppy disk.
Similarly, Disk Management can reformat just about any partition EXCEPT the
System volume or the Boot volume of the OS currently running.

But when you are booted into Vista, VISTA's Disk Management will happily
delete or reformat WINXP's Boot volume. ;^} Or you can boot from the
CD/DVD drive to delete any partition on the hard drive.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64 SP1)

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, ucrazy51.

I don't know what's going on. My Sent Items says I've already sent this
twice, on 9/1/08 at 2 pm CDT and again today, 9/2/08 at 3:26 pm, but neither
is showing up in the newsgroup. So this time I'm using Reply to All, so you
should see two copies, one in the newsgroup and the other via email. Sorry
for the duplication. RCW


Hi, ucrazy51.

The D partition shows as System, Active, Primary Partition
The C partition shows as Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Logical Drive

Is this in Disk Management when WinXP is running? Or when Vista is running?
The two OSes may NOT agree on which drive letter applies to which partition!
That's why it's a good idea to always give each volume (partition) a label
(a name), which will be written to the disk and will be the same, no matter
which OS is running. My guess is that your D: is the first partition on the
first (only?) hard drive, and that your C: is the second partition on that
drive. WinXP is installed into that first partition and Vista into the
second partition. In a change from prior practice, Vista always assigns C:
to its own Boot volume; WinXP and prior assigned that letter to the System
volume. Often, the System volume is also the Boot volume, but not always,
as in your case.

Contrary to what most of us expect, the meanings of "system volume" and
"boot volume" are backwards. We BOOT from the SYSTEM volume and keep the
operating SYSTEM files in the BOOT volume. For details, see:
Definitions for system volume and boot volume
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/314470/EN-US/

So, the lines I quoted above mean that D: is the partition that actually
boots the computer; the one that was designated in the BIOS as the boot
device when the computer was started for the current session. And C:, the
Boot volume, is the one that holds the \Windows folder for whichever OS is
currently running. (The boot volume for the other OS is "just another
volume" so far as the current OS is concerned.)

Removing WinXP involves two parts, which can be done in either order. You
must remove the lines in the start-up files that start WinXP. And, to keep
from wasting tons of hard-disk space, you also want to delete the gigabytes
of space used by WinXP's files, probably in your Vista's folder D:\Windows.

You can make the start-up file corrections using Vista's built-in
BCDEdit.exe. Many users find that program inscrutable, so you might prefer
a third-party app, such as VistaBootPro ( http://www.vistabootpro.org/ ).
Then you can recoup a little more disk space (probably less than 1 MB) by
deleting WinXP's startup files (D:\NTLDR, D:\NTDETECT.COM and D:\Boot.ini)
from the system volume.

When you are running Vista, you should be able to delete WinXP's \Windows
folder, just like deleting any other folder. (You can't delete the \Windows
folder for whichever system is currently running, of course; that's like
trying to saw off the limb you are sitting on, and even MS-DOS wouldn't let
us do that.)

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64 SP1)

 

[ucrazy51]

Hi, ucrazy51.

I don't know what's going on.  My Sent Items says I've already sent this
twice, on 9/1/08 at 2 pm CDT and again today, 9/2/08 at 3:26 pm, but neither
is showing up in the newsgroup.  So this time I'm using Reply to All, so you
should see two copies, one in the newsgroup and the other via email.  Sorry
for the duplication.  RCW

Hi, ucrazy51.


Is this in Disk Management when WinXP is running?  Or when Vista is running?
The two OSes may NOT agree on which drive letter applies to which partition!
That's why it's a good idea to always give each volume (partition) a label
(a name), which will be written to the disk and will be the same, no matter
which OS is running.  My guess is that your D: is the first partition on the
first (only?) hard drive, and that your C: is the second partition on that
drive.  WinXP is installed into that first partition and Vista into the
second partition.  In a change from prior practice, Vista always assigns C:
to its own Boot volume; WinXP and prior assigned that letter to the System
volume.  Often, the System volume is also the Boot volume, but not always,
as in your case.

Contrary to what most of us expect, the meanings of "system volume" and
"boot volume" are backwards.  We BOOT from the SYSTEM volume and keep the
operating SYSTEM files in the BOOT volume.  For details, see:
Definitions for system volume and boot volumehttp://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/314470/EN-US/

So, the lines I quoted above mean that D: is the partition that actually
boots the computer; the one that was designated in the BIOS as the boot
device when the computer was started for the current session.  And C:, the
Boot volume, is the one that holds the \Windows folder for whichever OS is
currently running.  (The boot volume for the other OS is "just another
volume" so far as the current OS is concerned.)

Removing WinXP involves two parts, which can be done in either order.  You
must remove the lines in the start-up files that start WinXP.  And, to keep
from wasting tons of hard-disk space, you also want to delete the gigabytes
of space used by WinXP's files, probably in your Vista's folder D:\Windows.

You can make the start-up file corrections using Vista's built-in
BCDEdit.exe.  Many users find that program inscrutable, so you might prefer
a third-party app, such as VistaBootPro (http://www.vistabootpro.org/).
Then you can recoup a little more disk space (probably less than 1 MB) by
deleting WinXP's startup files (D:\NTLDR, D:\NTDETECT.COM and D:\Boot.ini)
from the system volume.

When you are running Vista, you should be able to delete WinXP's \Windows
folder, just like deleting any other folder.  (You can't delete the \Windows
folder for whichever system is currently running, of course; that's like
trying to saw off the limb you are sitting on, and even MS-DOS wouldn't let
us do that.)

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64 SP1)

Thanks R C, for the detailed explanation of what I've got. The C
drive shows the above partitions when I'm running Vista. The XP shows
on the D drive. I've got Vista Boot Pro but was not certain about the
correct procedure to follow. I believe you've cleared it up for me.
Thanks again.

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, ucrazy51.

Well, I'm glad my post finally got to the NG. I still don't know why the
first try didn't work - or the second.

And I'm glad if it helped solve your dilemma. Thanks for the feedback. ;<)

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64 SP1)