XP & Vista Dual Boot ---> Vista only. How? Steve R (none[ at ]nowhere.org) 12/19/2008 7:45:53 PM Hello all, I have XP and Vista in dual boot on one disk. I've been running them both while I configured Vista with all the old apps that accumulated on XP over the years. Now that Vista seems to be running everything properly, I'd like to remove the XP partiiton. Specifically XP is on the first partition, and Vista on the second. My plan is to ghost images of both for safekeeping, then use partitioning software to remove the existing partitions and creat a new, larger, one for Vista. Then ghost the Vista image back to the new partition. Now, I expect to have a problem booting immediately because the Vista image won't have a proper boot loader when it's the only bootable partition. So, to correct this, I planned to use the "Boot Repair" option on the Vista setup disk. My question is: Will this work, and if not, what would be the best approach? Thanks in advance

Re: XP & Vista Dual Boot ---> Vista only. How? "philo" <philo[ at ]privacy.net> 12/19/2008 10:25:31 PM "Steve R" <none[ at ]nowhere.org> wrote in message news:6mtnk4tu9rskdvhrr3foe984im2k936m9k[ at ]4ax.com... [Quoted Text] > Hello all, > I have XP and Vista in dual boot on one disk. I've been running them > both while I configured Vista with all the old apps that accumulated > on XP over the years. Now that Vista seems to be running everything > properly, I'd like to remove the XP partiiton. Specifically XP is on > the first partition, and Vista on the second. > > My plan is to ghost images of both for safekeeping, then use > partitioning software to remove the existing partitions and creat a > new, larger, one for Vista. Then ghost the Vista image back to the > new partition. > > Now, I expect to have a problem booting immediately because the Vista > image won't have a proper boot loader when it's the only bootable > partition. So, to correct this, I planned to use the "Boot Repair" > option on the Vista setup disk. > > My question is: Will this work, and if not, what would be the best > approach? > > Thanks in advance I don't believe that's a viable option as I assume Vista is on your D: drive now. If you delete the entire drive and recreate as one...then restore the image of Vista back to it even if you can get the boot loader repaired, the drive reference will be wrong and your system will be unusable. What I'd do is simply delete the folders on the XP drive, then shrink the C: drive and use the free space to expand your Vista drive. You'll just end up with a small C: drive reserved just for your "boot" files

Re: XP & Vista Dual Boot ---> Vista only. How? dinesh <guest[ at ]unknown-email.com> 12/20/2008 12:33:00 AM none;915209 Wrote: > Hello all, > I have XP and Vista in dual boot on one disk. I've been running them > both while I configured Vista with all the old apps that accumulated > on XP over the years. Now that Vista seems to be running everything > properly, I'd like to remove the XP partiiton. Specifically XP is on > the first partition, and Vista on the second. > > My plan is to ghost images of both for safekeeping, then use > partitioning software to remove the existing partitions and creat a > new, larger, one for Vista. Then ghost the Vista image back to the > new partition. > > Now, I expect to have a problem booting immediately because the Vista > image won't have a proper boot loader when it's the only bootable > partition. So, to correct this, I planned to use the "Boot Repair" > option on the Vista setup disk. > > My question is: Will this work, and if not, what would be the best > approach? > > Thanks in advance Please do not try this... It did not work for me.. i had the same partitions and i tried to remove xp but when the computer restarts, it gives an error, Disk read error occured! :o -- dinesh Hope that works ! ! ! Dinesh.

Re: XP & Vista Dual Boot ---> Vista only. How? none[ at ]nowhere.org 12/20/2008 8:06:24 AM On Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:25:31 -0600, "philo" <philo[ at ]privacy.net> wrote: [Quoted Text] >I don't believe that's a viable option >as I assume Vista is on your D: drive now. > >If you delete the entire drive and recreate as one...then >restore the image of Vista back to it >even if you can get the boot loader repaired, the drive reference will be >wrong >and your system will be unusable. XP is installed in the first partition on the physical disk, Vista is in the second. There's unpartitioned space after Vista. When XP is running, Vista's partition does not have a drive letter assigned so it's essentiallly invisible to XP outside of Disk Manager. When Vista is running, its own partition is C: The XP partition becomes D: and cannot be changed or unassigned. The drive letters would be okay in my proposed solution.

Re: XP & Vista Dual Boot ---> Vista only. How? none[ at ]nowhere.org 12/20/2008 8:15:37 AM On Fri, 19 Dec 2008 18:33:00 -0600, dinesh <guest[ at ]unknown-email.com> wrote: [Quoted Text] >Please do not try this... It did not work for me.. i had the same >partitions and i tried to remove xp but when the computer restarts, it >gives an error, Disk read error occured! :o That's exactly what I'd expect if you tried to boot off the restored Vista partition. It can't boot because Vista's boot loader was located on the XP partition, and that's now gone! However, there's a untlity on the Vista setup disk that repairs the boot loader. I've played with it a few times already in the process of setting up this dual boot configuration. I've wiped out Vista completely at least twice, and restored XP from a pre-Vista image once, which, naturally, didn't have the boot loader. Vista was still there on the second partition, but inaccessible. Running the boot loader repair utility restored everything necessary to dual-boot again. That's why I suspect that my plan can work, but unfortunately haven't tested thisi particular scenario. Thanks for the words of warning though.

Re: XP & Vista Dual Boot ---> Vista only. How? "philo" <philo[ at ]privacy.net> 12/20/2008 9:44:54 AM <none[ at ]nowhere.org> wrote in message news:ma9pk4laots66n1u1d9qi4ge4cd116chvr[ at ]4ax.com... [Quoted Text] > On Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:25:31 -0600, "philo" <philo[ at ]privacy.net> wrote: > > >I don't believe that's a viable option > >as I assume Vista is on your D: drive now. > > > >If you delete the entire drive and recreate as one...then > >restore the image of Vista back to it > >even if you can get the boot loader repaired, the drive reference will be > >wrong > >and your system will be unusable. > > XP is installed in the first partition on the physical disk, Vista is > in the second. There's unpartitioned space after Vista. > > When XP is running, Vista's partition does not have a drive letter > assigned so it's essentiallly invisible to XP outside of Disk Manager. > When Vista is running, its own partition is C: The XP partition > becomes D: and cannot be changed or unassigned. > > The drive letters would be okay in my proposed solution. Then it looks like it should work... but to be on the safe side, I'd clone the entire drive first!

Re: XP & Vista Dual Boot ---> Vista only. How? "Rick Rogers" <rick[ at ]mvps.org> 12/20/2008 1:54:39 PM Hi, This article is about recovering the boot after installing XP as a dual boot, but the steps necessary are the same: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919529 -- Best of Luck, Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/ Windows help - www.rickrogers.org My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com "Steve R" <none[ at ]nowhere.org> wrote in message news:6mtnk4tu9rskdvhrr3foe984im2k936m9k[ at ]4ax.com... [Quoted Text] > Hello all, > I have XP and Vista in dual boot on one disk. I've been running them > both while I configured Vista with all the old apps that accumulated > on XP over the years. Now that Vista seems to be running everything > properly, I'd like to remove the XP partiiton. Specifically XP is on > the first partition, and Vista on the second. > > My plan is to ghost images of both for safekeeping, then use > partitioning software to remove the existing partitions and creat a > new, larger, one for Vista. Then ghost the Vista image back to the > new partition. > > Now, I expect to have a problem booting immediately because the Vista > image won't have a proper boot loader when it's the only bootable > partition. So, to correct this, I planned to use the "Boot Repair" > option on the Vista setup disk. > > My question is: Will this work, and if not, what would be the best > approach? > > Thanks in advance

Re: XP & Vista Dual Boot ---> Vista only. How? "GrahamH" <graham[ at ]harrison3951.freeserve.co.uk> 12/20/2008 4:07:58 PM Why not just leave XP on there? It may be useful at some time if only for test purposes. If your running low on disk space on Vista then remove all software and utilities from XP, shrink the partition down then resize the Vista partition from the free space you gained. Just a thought. Graham.... [Quoted Text] > > "Rick Rogers" <rick[ at ]mvps.org> wrote in message news:OmpPEqqYJHA.6108[ at ]TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl... > Hi, > > This article is about recovering the boot after installing XP as a dual > boot, but the steps necessary are the same: > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919529 > > -- > Best of Luck, > > Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP > http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/ > Windows help - www.rickrogers.org > My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com > > "Steve R" <none[ at ]nowhere.org> wrote in message > news:6mtnk4tu9rskdvhrr3foe984im2k936m9k[ at ]4ax.com... >> Hello all, >> I have XP and Vista in dual boot on one disk. I've been running them >> both while I configured Vista with all the old apps that accumulated >> on XP over the years. Now that Vista seems to be running everything >> properly, I'd like to remove the XP partiiton. Specifically XP is on >> the first partition, and Vista on the second. >> >> My plan is to ghost images of both for safekeeping, then use >> partitioning software to remove the existing partitions and creat a >> new, larger, one for Vista. Then ghost the Vista image back to the >> new partition. >> >> Now, I expect to have a problem booting immediately because the Vista >> image won't have a proper boot loader when it's the only bootable >> partition. So, to correct this, I planned to use the "Boot Repair" >> option on the Vista setup disk. >> >> My question is: Will this work, and if not, what would be the best >> approach? >> >> Thanks in advance >

Re: XP & Vista Dual Boot ---> Vista only. How? Steve R <none[ at ]nowhere.org> 12/20/2008 5:25:22 PM On Sat, 20 Dec 2008 08:54:39 -0500, "Rick Rogers" <rick[ at ]mvps.org> wrote: [Quoted Text] >Hi, > >This article is about recovering the boot after installing XP as a dual >boot, but the steps necessary are the same: >http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919529 Good article. Thanks! To everyone who's replied -- I'm gonna do an experiment: Clone the Vista partition onto an unused disk. Disconnect all the drives, and substitute the cloned Vista. See if it works after repairing the boot loader. If it does, then the plan to remove XP will work, if not, then I'll take Graham's suggestion and just shrink XP down to a minimum and ignore it. I'll post back with the results for future reference.

Re: XP & Vista Dual Boot ---> Vista only. How? "John Barnes" <jbfoofy[ at ]nomailemail.com> 12/20/2008 7:02:45 PM Since you did have a D partition in Vista, I would run a scan of the registry to see if you have any references to that drive. Use regedit. You will have some, like in mounted devices. Make sure none seem critical. <none[ at ]nowhere.org> wrote in message news:ma9pk4laots66n1u1d9qi4ge4cd116chvr[ at ]4ax.com... [Quoted Text] > On Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:25:31 -0600, "philo" <philo[ at ]privacy.net> wrote: > >>I don't believe that's a viable option >>as I assume Vista is on your D: drive now. >> >>If you delete the entire drive and recreate as one...then >>restore the image of Vista back to it >>even if you can get the boot loader repaired, the drive reference will be >>wrong >>and your system will be unusable. > > XP is installed in the first partition on the physical disk, Vista is > in the second. There's unpartitioned space after Vista. > > When XP is running, Vista's partition does not have a drive letter > assigned so it's essentiallly invisible to XP outside of Disk Manager. > When Vista is running, its own partition is C: The XP partition > becomes D: and cannot be changed or unassigned. > > The drive letters would be okay in my proposed solution.

Re: XP & Vista Dual Boot ---> Vista only. How? Steve R <none[ at ]nowhere.org> 12/21/2008 1:12:12 PM On Sat, 20 Dec 2008 11:02:45 -0800, "John Barnes" <jbfoofy[ at ]nomailemail.com> wrote: [Quoted Text] >Since you did have a D partition in Vista, I would run a scan of the >registry to see if you have any references to that drive. Use regedit. You >will have some, like in mounted devices. Make sure none seem critical. Good idea. For a reason not entirely clear to me, Vista insisted on making the XP partition D and insisting that it remain D, even though I'd have prefered to have no drive letter assigned to it. It definiitely caused problems with system restore and the recycle bin. System restore and recycling are disabled on that partition now, however it wouldn't be surprising at all that there are things that point to it still existing in the registry.

Re: XP & Vista Dual Boot ---> Vista only. How? dinesh <guest[ at ]unknown-email.com> 12/22/2008 11:40:32 PM none;915630 Wrote: > On Fri, 19 Dec 2008 18:33:00 -0600, dinesh <guest[ at ]xxxxxx-email.com> > wrote: > > > > > > >Please do not try this... It did not work for me.. i had the same > > >partitions and i tried to remove xp but when the computer restarts, it > > >gives an error, Disk read error occured! :o > > > > That's exactly what I'd expect if you tried to boot off the restored > Vista partition. It can't boot because Vista's boot loader was > located on the XP partition, and that's now gone! > > However, there's a untlity on the Vista setup disk that repairs the > boot loader. I've played with it a few times already in the process > of setting up this dual boot configuration. I've wiped out Vista > completely at least twice, and restored XP from a pre-Vista image > once, which, naturally, didn't have the boot loader. Vista was still > there on the second partition, but inaccessible. Running the boot > loader repair utility restored everything necessary to dual-boot > again. > > That's why I suspect that my plan can work, but unfortunately haven't > tested thisi particular scenario. > > Thanks for the words of warning though. Your Welcome...:D -- dinesh Hope that works ! ! ! Dinesh.