Member Avatar for miami1

I was wondering about removing win 7.
I recently recovered my hd when i dual booted unbuntu, tried to remove the unbuntu and got an MBR error onto my laptop with the help of Xlphos.
here is the real bugger, what do you do after u have installed win 7 and partition on a vista laptop, how do you remove it? How do you get rid of the dual boot screen option, and remove the partition, and give back the previous partition data space back to vista?

All this without corrupting your original windows vista parition?
I am deathly scared on messing up my MBR, and going through a complete reinstall.

Thanks in advance

  • 2 Contributors
  • 2 Replies
  • 120 Views
  • 6 Hours Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by miami1

Dani AI

Generated

Short summary and safe plan for : the goal is to restore Vista as the active boot loader, confirm Vista boots on its own, then delete the Windows 7 partition and reclaim the space. The crucial points that cause failures are deleting a partition that contains the active boot files or not marking the Vista partition active first. A full file backup and a Vista/Windows recovery disc or image is essential before changing partitions.

Restoring the Vista bootloader (two common methods). As suggested, EasyBCD provides a simple GUI to set the Vista loader and write an MBR (see EasyBCD at NeoSmart). The alternative is to use the Vista/Windows 7 recovery environment: use DiskPart to mark the Vista/system partition active, then run the boot-repair commands from the recovery Command Prompt:

diskpart
select disk 0
list partition
select partition <n>
active
exit
bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /rebuildbcd

After those steps, reboot to confirm the machine starts directly into Vista. If it does not, run Startup Repair from the recovery media (run it up to three times).

Removing the Windows 7 partition and reclaiming space. Once Vista boots cleanly with its own bootloader, delete the Windows 7 partition in Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc). If the freed space is immediately to the right of the Vista partition, use Disk Management -> Extend Volume to merge it. If Extend is greyed out because the unallocated space is non-adjacent, use a reputable partition tool (for example, a live GParted or a trusted partition manager) to move/resize partitions or create a new data volume instead of risking the system partition.

Cautions and final checks. Do not delete the partition while the machine still boots via the Windows 7 boot files. Preserve any OEM recovery partition. Verify backups and keep a Vista repair disc handy in case the MBR/BCD needs re-repair. The EasyBCD page (NeoSmart) is a good, user-friendly starting point: EasyBCD.

Recommended Answers

All 2 Replies

Member Avatar for scru

Have a look at easy bcd (google it). Use it to reset your mbr to use the vista loader, and then once you have verified that your mbr is in tact (and on the correct partition!), you may delete/recover the partition that you gave to 7.

Member Avatar for miami1

Thank you scru!
I will take a look into easybcd . Im just getting ready just incase i have to remove win 7. I mean i love it, but with the expiration date, and the extensive amount of work i do on my laptop, i do not want to risk losing data, or even down time again.

Once again thanks!

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.