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!

Help
 

I have my Vista installed in C; and XP is in D; and I have tried to format D; but it is not formatting.I have done exactly as you told me, restarted and boot with vista dvd then repair and type those codes but why m I not able to format the drive?HELP PLEASE...!

I have my Vista installed in C; and XP is in D; and I have tried to format D; but it is not formatting.I have done exactly as you told me, restarted and boot with vista dvd then repair and type those codes but why m I not able to format the drive?HELP PLEASE...!

remove XP
 

Hi William,

Please help me how to remove XP from my laptop and restore back windows vista from recovery disk. (i don't have any Vista CD/DVD's) My laptop have VISTA OS in the recovery partition. But after installing XP i am not able to access my virtual directory.

it will appericate if i restore back my VISTA OS with out deleting my data.

Kindly let me know for further information.

Hi, I'm new to this forum - I stumbled upon it when trying to find the answer to my dual boot problem and have been impressed with the quality of information here. I realiase that I'm asking the same question here but to ensure I don't kill my system I need to be sure that my circumstances are the same as the others.

I originally had XP installed then installed Vista on a seperate harddrive set up as dual boot, not realising that it would be difficult to remove XP at a later stage. It would appear that my Drive 0 (XP) contains the MBR info because if I remove this drive - leaving on Drive 1 (Vista) plugged my PC can't boot, even if I change my Vista to the Drive 0 position.

My concern is that if I do as William suggests by inserting the Vista DVD then opt to repair and then use commands 'bootrec.exe /fixmbr' & 'bootrec.exe /fixboot' that it will cause a problem as my MBR appears to be on my Drive 0 (XP drive) and I'll be trying to fix Drive 1 (Vista). Can you confirm that this procedure will 'repair' my Vista drive and allow it to boot independantly. Also, can I perform this procedure with the XP unplugged?

Regards
Hootie

Since you used 2 different drives, more than likely the vista drive doesn't have a MBR at all. If you remove the XP drive then use the vista installation disc then it will rewrite it and set it up on that drive.

The xp drive will have to be corrected as well because it will contain vista references and keep asking for dual boot options. These options will need to be removed.

If it was me...I would save all data that I wanted and then do a seperate restore/reinstallation on both drives.

Yes, I'm convinced the Vista drive doesn't currenly have it's own MBR so if the 'DVD repair' option fixes that then that will be perfect. As for the XP drive I no longer wish to use this, instead I wish to perform an LLF on it and use it as a mirror drive for the Vista drive, once it runs independantly.

I do not wish to reinstall the OS on my Vista drive so I do need to be sure/confident that the 'DVD repair with cmd options will fix its MBR, can you confirm that my understanding is correct in that it will based on the knowledge that the XP drive will no longer exist. Thanks again.

lol...
I can confirm that you have the right information. But that is all. There is no confirmation that the dvd repair option will work as intended. Sometimes plans go really well and others go off on some unknown tangent.

Ok...I take your point, guess I was just being over cautious. I'll will try it shortly and report back the results... providing that my PC still works. Thanks for your help.

boot loader
 

i tryed this but when i start up my computer it still comes up with xp as a chose to boot but when i go to it, it omes up with error because xp isnt there but the boot option it how do i get rid of that option?

I followed the instructions for the two dos prompts and then restarted, only to get a message saying "A disk read error has occurred. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart"

Any ideas how to get vista loading again?

xp not installed correctly over vista..
 

i experienced the same error....n even after tons of searching online for answers...havent got 1... hey lmoderator can u suggest me d answer to dis plssssssss...