dumping vista

[judge alba]

I have a dual boot computer one system is vista the other is windows 7 each on a separate partition on the same disk.
I use windows 7 and almost never use the vista one , what i was wondering is can I delete the vista stuff including the vista os without having to format the entire disk.

also do i need to format the partition with vista after deleting vista.
I'm hoping to free up some space and seeing as I wont be using vista any more thought this might be a good idea if it's doable.
I hope this makes sense what I've written

 

[farmkid]

Because it's a dual boot system, you might have a problem if you just wipe the Vista partition. The boot loader may look for the Vista OS and have a problem when it can't find it. I don't know for sure if that will be a problem, but I've been dual-booting Linux and Windows for a while now, and I've had issues like that when I've been messing with one OS or the other. You should probably look into it before you just charge ahead with a format. It might be as simple as formatting your Vista partition and then booting from the Windows 7 disc and doing a repair, but I don't know for sure.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

You'd first need to edit the Windows bootloader file from within Win7. Instructions for editing boot.ini are here. Basically, you'll want to remove the section referring to your Vista installation and make sure the default boot partition is set to your Win7 installation.

Once that's done, feel free to format the Vista partition any way you choose. It should just show up as another disk in Windows.

You can run the contents of your boot.ini past us if you're uncomfortable editing it on your own. Just post it in this thread.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Definitely just removing Vista will result in the OS boot screen continuing to show Vista as an option.

A lot of people swear by Bootcamp as an app that can help you with this type of thing.

I've never used it though, so don't take this as a plug for it, just mentioning it as a possible option.

 

[Deks]

It can be done.
Backup your data off the Vista partition first.
Make sure you are already running Windows 7.
Once you backed up the data, you can format the partition containing Vista.
After the format, your boot options will either remain the same, only detect 7 or just go bonkers.

If it doesn't automatically default to Windows 7, then input your Win 7 DVD and boot into it.
Do not select install OS, but rather choose the option for 'Repair Comptuer'.
Once it's done, the system should automatically boot you into Win 7, after which you can do whatever you want with the former Vista partition (my recommendation would be to merge it with your third partition - if you have it - on which you store your data).

 

[CorporalClegg]

Just out of curiosity, why did you keep Vista in the first place? It's some what redundant. XP I can see, but Vista?

If it was a data issue, you could have just backed it all up first.

I'll second the link Robert provided. It's the safest way. Third party programs can cause problems. Just be sure (and this might be self explanatory) to backup the boot.ini file to a floppy or flash drive. Floppy is better--if you have one, of course.

 

[Michael Chris]

Boot.ini doesn't exist for Vista and 7. You need to use bcdedit

 

[judge alba]

thanks guys you've given me a few ideas to try just need to pluck up the courage to do it. maybe next day off