Removing your Windows 7 installation, partition

Removing your Windows 7 installation, partition

Julio Franco on 27 January 2009 - 08:05 · 22 comments & 13969 views

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The strongest critique we received about our recent guide on dual booting Windows 7 with XP/Vista was that we should've included information covering the likely event of you wanting to kick the beta OS to the curb, sooner or later.

Well, we couldn't agree more, so as a follow up to that guide we're going to look at the reverse process; deleting your Windows 7 partition and reallocating its hard drive space to another partition.

If you recall, in the dual boot guide we looked at two separate approaches for creating a new partition depending if you are running Windows Vista or Windows XP, and we intend to do the same here.

View: How to remove your Windows 7 installation & partition

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(2 replies) #1 Darconf on 27 Jan 2009 - 09:49

wow a lot of work, I found an easier way. first, go to msconfig in run box. select boot tab, and delete and apply the windows 7 entry. then go to disk management and format or delete partition, and reboot. simple as that.

#1.1 aarste on 27 Jan 2009 - 14:16

Darconf said,

Not that simple, msconfig in XP doesn't even have the Windows 7 line which suggests the bootloader was moved to 7's partition, so these steps are necessary so XP won't fail to boot if the 7 partition was removed.

#1.2 sphbecker on 29 Jan 2009 - 18:56

Correct, when you install Vista or Windows 7 on an XP system it rewrites the Master Boot Record pointing to the Vista/7 NT Loader. If you simply delete that partition you will get an error, something along the lines of NT Loader not found. If that happens you can boot from the XP CD, start the recovery console (not automatic repair--although that will work too but it does a lot more). Once you get to the command prompt you type fixmbr and it points the computer to boot from the XP partition (which should not have been modified by 7. I have never done a repair on Vista's cd but this article explains the process.

(2 replies) #2 tom5 on 27 Jan 2009 - 11:51

It would be much interesting to read how to remove Win7 beta from a partition without erasing all the other files

I myself use a linux live distro for this because Windows won't let you remove some system files/dirs, even if they belong to another Windows installation.

#2.1 excalpius on 27 Jan 2009 - 18:27

Unless you take ownership and repair the inherit child/parent permissions and ownership when doing so. Then you can delete the other system files just fine.

#2.2 sphbecker on 29 Jan 2009 - 19:03

Yep, it’s all about the file's ACL. Assuming both systems where running NTFS then Windows A sees Windows B's ACL data in the file system and tries to make sense of it. However, all of the accounts on Windows B had different SIDs even if the username is the same. You are left with a file who's ACL only grants full access to an account your current OS doesn't understand and it throws the access denied error. All you have to do is recursively take ownership of the files and then recursively grant yourself full access.

(1 reply) #3 nozen09 on 27 Jan 2009 - 16:32

I purchase Vista when it was first release so i have the first Windows Vista rtm DVD and have since updated Windows Vista to SP1. Could i use my Windows Vista DVD RTM with Windows Vista SP1 or do i need a Windows Vista SP1 DVD to repair Windows Vista SP1

#3.1 99749 on 27 Jan 2009 - 17:16

Yes, it should be fine.

(1 reply) #4 ghos on 28 Jan 2009 - 02:36

Curious if you can use EasyBCD to repair the bootloader after you delete the partition. It seems to me that that should work as well. Otherwise it seems pretty painless.

#4.1 nunjabusiness on 28 Jan 2009 - 12:26

Yes

#5 Gangsta on 28 Jan 2009 - 03:01

I finally installed Beta 1. And I am not uninstalling it until it runs out (or I get Win 7 RTM).

It's that good. (then again, I had no problems with Vista, so I dunno what that's saying...)

#6 Gamerhomie on 28 Jan 2009 - 06:14

Well for the past week I have struggled with shrinking the boot partition as Windows Vista's built in partition manager isn't friendly. I've completely screwed up Vista once enough where even the install disc couldn't fix the problem and finally found the solution to my problem - A variation of Gparted (that didn't work either), Parted Magic. Worked perfectly, flawlessly, no errors, even when I was ready for them. I resized three partitions and have created a fourth one using the software. I highly recommend it for deleting the Windows 7 partition.

#7 .beta on 28 Jan 2009 - 14:45

Same as vista..I tested it out on my computer under another partition and it removed without no problems .

#8 Pam14160 on 28 Jan 2009 - 19:44

I have two 160 gig HDDs and a back 500 gig Hdd external, hence, I cleaned up the "D" drive and then loaded win 7 onto the D Drive.

The only thing is that when in win 7 I cannot view the drive with Vista on it; only the drive with win 7. The oppose in Vista.

And , as Gangsta indicates; it will not be removed until RTM. ( I am really enjoying win 7).

(1 reply) #9 S11Tech on 28 Jan 2009 - 22:03

I'm not sure why anyone would want to remove Windows 7, Been using it as my primary OS since launch, and I love it more and more. What a bloody stable OS.....If anything, remove it, remove Vista as well and use your whole partition for Win 7 only

#9.1 JulioFranco on 29 Jan 2009 - 06:08

We happen to agree, if not good entirely as a primary OS it makes a strong case for having a dual boot set up.

That said, at some point you will want to upgrade to the next beta/RC or RTM, so we are just jumping ahead

(1 reply) #10 mrfluffy on 29 Jan 2009 - 04:15

Would this work ?

Right click My Computer> Properties>Advanced System Settings> Advanced> Startup and Recovery> Settings.
Change Default Operating System to Earlier version of Windows.

Btw, i am new here : ) G'day from FNQ Australia .

#10.1 99749 on 29 Jan 2009 - 07:59

Probably not if you delete the Windows 7 partition and that's where the boot loader is.

#11 mrfluffy on 29 Jan 2009 - 08:37

Thanks for your reply, mate . I thought that too, but thought it worth a mention. The other tickable option 'Time to display recovery options' also looks interesting, but i love the Win7 setup i have and am not willing to risk it.
Wish i could afford a spare hard drive to clone to, and give it a try.

(2 replies) #12 jingarelho on 29 Jan 2009 - 12:29

couldnt you just boot in XP, delete de W7 partition, open a command prompt and execute FDISK /MBR ? i do it all the time to remove DUAL BOOT Linux distros.

#12.1 Pam14160 on 29 Jan 2009 - 18:01

That depends on where win 7 place the bootsect. It it is on the partition that contains Vista it should be not problem, however, if it is on the 7 partition you won't beable to reboot because the bootsect will be gone.

#12.2 Pam14160 on 29 Jan 2009 - 18:04

Sorry about the wording; need to learn to read what I type.

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Removing your Windows 7 installation, partition

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