Multiple OS's

[bolaber]

I had windows vista installed on my computer and then I chose to install windows 7 (upgrade) on my second harddrive (not sure why i did that!). Now When i start my computer, it asks me which OS (vista or 7) do i want to boot from! How do i take that message away? Also, how do i format my drive with the vista because it is not letting me do so! In the Computer Management (Disk Management?) when i try to format my drive with vista on it, it says "Windows cannot format the system volume on this disk."

Thanks in advance

 

[saint19]

For format, boot from a CD utilities named hiren's boot and use partition magic, or acronis, or special fdisk.

For the message, start with the OS that you want that be the major OS. Start, run, msconfig, in the TAB boot.ini and in time out put 2 or 5....

 

[Jonmor68]

The boot loader for W7 will be on the Vista drive, which is why you can't format it from Disk Management.
Go to start, run msconfig as in saint19's post, select the vista line click on the delete button to remove it.
Boot in with the W7 dvd, start the install select custom then disk tools, format the Vista drive then continue instalation, choose repair Windows to fix the boot loader.

 

[pjmelect]

If you go into recovery console in Vista and do a fixboot then it will remove the Windows 7 boot loader, you can then use a third party partition program such as the ones on hiren's boot CD to partition and format the second hard drive.

 

[bolaber]

Thank you guys for the responses. I need to remove vista and keep 7. Not the other way around

 

[cjl]

Go to msconfig (in the start search menu) and go to the boot tab. You can delete entries from the boot menu from there.

 

[pjmelect]

Go to msconfig (in the start search menu) and go to the boot tab. You can delete entries from the boot menu from there.

I don't think that that will work, although it will remove the boot entry for vista (and you will be able to delete most of the data on the Vista disk) you will not be able to repartition the disk or reformat the disk as the windows 7 loader will still be on the Vista disk.

 

[shabaa]

You are correct pjmelect. The problem lies within the boot loader on the original drive. The system will not boot if the drive is removed with the current system configuration. There is a work around to solve this problem.
1. Disconnect the vista drive from the system.
2. In your bios make sure that the cd/dvd drive is set to be the first boot drive.
3. Put your windows 7 disk in and do a "install" of the OS.

This will reinstall your operating system and save all of the stuff you have to a "Windows old" folder from which you can get what you need. Your programs and desktop setting and your stuff should be as it was with the previously install OS BUT the boot loader will now be on the Windows 7 drive.

Now you can go and hook up the vista drive(with the system off) and it will be found by your OS when you reboot. (just make sure that you have the Win7 drive set up as the boot drive in your bios) and you can go and reformat the entire drive and you are no longer dependant on the drive as the boot drive and you now have all that storage as well.

 

[pjmelect]

I don’t think that you need to do all of that shabaa a better way would be to.

1. Disconnect the vista drive from the system.
2. In your bios make sure that the cd/dvd drive is set to be the first boot drive.
3. Go into recovery console in Windows 7 and do a fixboot