Remove XP from an XP/Vista dual boot
 

Finally happy with Vista, and want to remove the old XP from your system? A few changes to the boot loader have been made in vista, but the steps are very similar.

not too difficult, simply load into Vista and format the partition XP is currently installed on. Since the Vista bootloader has control of the boot, there is no need to modify the boot.ini of XP.

Restart your computer with either Vista CD 1 or your Vista DVD in the drive, if you don't you will be prompted to pick an operating system. Once into setup, choose repair console from the first screen (not install).

Now the last option is for a DOS prompt, pick that.

A DOS prompt appears, and type the following:
bootrec.exe /fixmbr
*this will essentially remove XP from the Vista bootloader

bootrec.exe /fixboot
*this will check that XP is no longer present in Vista's boot.ini

Restart and XP is history.

Thank you for your post. I have been looking for it all over the Web! Seems like almost everyone can tell you how to set up a dual boot, but it’s very hard to find out how to eliminate it. Although I have been using computers since the 70’s I am definitely not even close to being and IT pro, but hopefully I will be able to follow the very clear instructions you have given. I probably will be ready to cast XP aside by the end of the month but, until now had no idea how to go about it.

My XP Pro is on the C drive and is the System disk 0 and Vista is on my G or #1 drive? Of course they both show as C or D in the dual boot and both are SATA 250gb drives. After removing XP, should I move the Vista drive internally to the 0 position and change it to the C drive or doesn’t it matter? I plan to use what is now the XP drive, for data and backups, using Acronis True Image Home 10.

Once again, many thanks for your post and any further information or advice you may offer.

C:\ is sytem partition
 

Title pretty much says it all. When I go in to format my xp partition (c:\) it tells me I can't format my system partition. Should I go ahead and do it anyway or what. Please help. I really want XP GONE!

ch33zer, You should really post this question on the operating system thread. Perhaps William Wilson will reply. If not, there are many knowledgeable and helpful people there that I am sure will help. I have not tried to remove XP yet and mine is on a seperate drive, so I can not help you. Just scroll to the top of the page and click on forums.

This is not a thread and I posted here in error causing you to follow suit. I obviously will be watching the answer you get because it looks like it will help me too. Good luck!

skybob

if you are not sure want you to do first back-up you hardrive and put on a cd in case of you needed someday. now you ready decided to remove your old OS its easy very easy . put a Vista on your dvd. and reboot your system. make sure your BIOS setup is set on DVD in first boot.
on Vista os continue on step by config and delete your partition and make a new partition on your C:\ drive and click format

now your vista is ready to run next time you boot on your pc follow instruction step by step. and your vista is ready used...

but be careful do all your card etc/ is not functioning properly so in that case you must to download all in the internet in order to get back on normal.

it might be wise to inform folks that this fix is for systems where the original mbr is on the vista drive. Most people already had xp installed and further down the road installed vista in dual boot....this is the recommended way to do it. In that situation you will still be left with an ntldr missing error upon restart.

god help me
 

can someone give me some info here i restored some xp files on my vista and i think some of my xp commands, services, or programs are running in the background and interfering with Vista and its saying Access Denied to most of my files

Ok, i will try and get all of these answers in one post:
Yes XP is a system partition, since it will detect an OS on the drive, but removable any way.

Yes, i suppose i should have mentioned that the MBR will be located on a single partition, thus you will need to either be careful about which partition is loaded first. Also running the MBR restoration from the vista disc, should be able to fix this.

It should not matter what drive letter is on the main OS, my laptop runs XP from an E partition. Just be careful to restore the MBR, with no OS on the C: partition, it is good to keep in mind that your boot.ini file will still be there, hidden.

XP on System Partition, Vista on Extended Partion, Logical Drive
 

I also want to get rid of Windows XP Pro, but I'm not sure if this will work for me. I have all of the following on Drive 0: 1) Drive D: Windows XP on a Primary, System, 2) Drive C: Vista Ultimate 64 in an Extended Partition on a logical drive. 3) I have almost all my applications and data on another logical drive E: in the same Extended Partition that Vista is on.

I want to get rid of Windows XP and keep the Vista C: and E: drive. The problem is that Vista Ultimate 64 has a complete system backup I could restore from (if I formatted), but it forces me to backup the XP drive with it. I have 2 other 250G hard drives I use for backups by the way. I don't want to wipe Drive 0 only to be forced to restore the XP C: drive I want to get rid of (and reclaim the space).

Can anyone help?
:confused:

My situation is similar, but a little more perilous I fear: I accidentally started to install XP onto the same partition as Vista (it didn't give me any other partition options despite my having created a 15Gig primary partition for it, just went ahead and chucked it onto C:), and I really need to get rid of it without having to reformat the drive and reinstall Vista - is there any way of doing so?
(I didn't get to the point where I fully completed the XP set-up, but when I boot into Vista there's a folder on the C: drive called Windows.0 which I think is the XP, but I'm assuming there are extra bits and pieces - registry etc - that I'd need to delete as well)

Unfortunately there is currently no system restore point otherwise this would be somewhat easier... help!