remove vista and stay with win 7

Discussion in 'Windows Vista' started by MEAN_AS, Apr 24, 2013.

  1. MEAN_AS

    MEAN_AS MDL Novice

    Apr 28, 2012
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    I have windows vista home ultimate preinstalled in my laptop in c:Drive. I was unsatisfaied from vista and installed W7 ultimate in my d drive. Now i am fully satisfied with w7 and wish to uninstall vista. But when tried to format c drive, it says 'unable to format cdrive'.
    Please help me out to uninstall vista from my system . I have changed the boot to win 7 but would prefer to remove vista without too much drama thanks
     
  2. Carlos Detweiller

    Carlos Detweiller Emperor of Ice-Cream

    Dec 21, 2012
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    Check your Disk Management (Win+R, then diskmgmt.msc). It may be the Vista drive is still the boot drive. Best would be if you could link to a Disk Management screenshot of yours.
     
  3. MEAN_AS

    MEAN_AS MDL Novice

    Apr 28, 2012
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    screen shot hope it looks ok

    ScreenShot001.jpg shot of boot up
     
  4. tonto11

    tonto11 MDL Addicted

    Jun 18, 2012
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    You may choose to ignore this suggestion, but you can now get a 500gb 7200rpm for less than the original cost of your 80gb original one. Put it in a portable HD box, partition and format as you wish, then ghost your Win 7 partition from your original drive to the first primary partition of the new one. Put the new drive in the laptop, boot on a Win7 installation cd and fix the boot so it works. Then you can put your old drive in the HD box and have a portable HD for backups. ...T
     
  5. MEAN_AS

    MEAN_AS MDL Novice

    Apr 28, 2012
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    Thanks Tonto but they dont want spend anymore money but thanks anyways....
     
  6. MEAN_AS

    MEAN_AS MDL Novice

    Apr 28, 2012
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    just a thought could i delete the LOT .. and start start fresh with win 7 ?
     
  7. tonto11

    tonto11 MDL Addicted

    Jun 18, 2012
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    Well if you've got a portable HD you could ghost the win7 onto a partition on it , then delete the lot then ghost win7 back and fix the boot. That would preserve what you've got. ..T
     
  8. EFA11

    EFA11 Avatar Guru

    Oct 7, 2010
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    Nothing says fresh like format c:\ . Save your important data to a dvd/cd/usb remove the D: volume, expand the c: volume and either upgrade Vista to Win7 (yuck) or then boot to a windows 7 install media and format c: and install fresh (yum!) hehe


    -edit-
    OR
    format D: leave it there and use it for data as intended and then boot to c: with install media and format or upgrade to win7
     
  9. MEAN_AS

    MEAN_AS MDL Novice

    Apr 28, 2012
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    Thats a very good idea but i dont have access to one ...
    What would it take to delet the two drives and start again ....
     
  10. EFA11

    EFA11 Avatar Guru

    Oct 7, 2010
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    once you delete the d: volume and expand c: you can format c: during Win7 setup.

    Deleting the d: volume and expanding c: would give you the total space of both drives into one. Right now your drive is partitioned into 3 drives. The first being your recovery.
     
  11. MEAN_AS

    MEAN_AS MDL Novice

    Apr 28, 2012
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    yip thats correct and vista is in C drv and d is wjn 7 so my next steps would be ....i dont want to crash an burn cheers
     
  12. EFA11

    EFA11 Avatar Guru

    Oct 7, 2010
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    What would you like to do? Keep the data drive as a data drive or combine C: and D: to make one Drive? Personally, I don't keep the restore either lol, so I would wipe the entire drive during Windows install and make use of the entire hard drive.

    But, if you would like to remove D: and make C: bigger, keeping the restore. Open the drive manager and right click on d: and delete the volume, it will become unallocated space. Then right click c: and expand the volume to the remainder of the space you gained from removing d:. After that, boot to windows 7 disk/usb installing it with advanced not upgrade and format c: and install windows 7.

    I assume you know what to do once win7 is installed since you have been using it, activation etc.
     
  13. MEAN_AS

    MEAN_AS MDL Novice

    Apr 28, 2012
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    #13 MEAN_AS, Apr 25, 2013
    Last edited: Apr 25, 2013
    (OP)
    ok thanks il have a crack at it now bbs hopefully:biggrin::biggrin:
     
  14. MEAN_AS

    MEAN_AS MDL Novice

    Apr 28, 2012
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    one more thing ive change boot seq to win 7 when i remove d drv will it revert back vista start up ?
     
  15. EFA11

    EFA11 Avatar Guru

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    When you install Windows 7 it should fix the MBR to boot when it formats.
     
  16. MEAN_AS

    MEAN_AS MDL Novice

    Apr 28, 2012
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    #16 MEAN_AS, Apr 25, 2013
    Last edited: Apr 25, 2013
    (OP)
    it say Windows cant delete the active windows partition that contains windows on c drv and d drv
     
  17. MEAN_AS

    MEAN_AS MDL Novice

    Apr 28, 2012
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    #17 MEAN_AS, Apr 25, 2013
    Last edited: Apr 25, 2013
    (OP)
    D has the boot drv ,and C drv has active, primary partition :eek: Help !!!
     
  18. Carlos Detweiller

    Carlos Detweiller Emperor of Ice-Cream

    Dec 21, 2012
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    You cannot do it from within Windows, you need to boot from the install media (so the old Windows isn't active anymore). Then, when it asks where to install to, click the drive options (or similarly labeled) button.
     
  19. oldsh_t

    oldsh_t MDL Expert

    Dec 23, 2009
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    In other words MEAN_AS, Pop your Win7 disk into your drive > Reboot the computer > Watch the screen and when it says "Boot from this CD/DVD" > Hit "Enter"

    You will now boot up to the install media where you will be able to do what you want!!
     
  20. MEAN_AS

    MEAN_AS MDL Novice

    Apr 28, 2012
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    So to remove d drv I need to do is .... cause vista still on C drv so when formatting can it be deleted then so there is only a C drv thanks ...