Hi
I have a system with dual boot, as you can see I have 3 partitions on disk 0: vista, win10, and factory image.
I have already removed the boot menu in msconfig and set win10 as default, but now I'm faced with the issue that the unwanted partition is the system partition and cannot be removed, and the one I want to keep (win10) is on the boot partition. How would I go about removing vista and merging the two? Thanks.
Your BCD (Boot Configuration Data) is contained within the Vista Partition and that Vista Partition is set as Active - Win10 is the current "Boot"ed partition... Thus assigned C:\
Basically your PC boots to Vista - then rolls over to windows 10 - If selected... Which you Now have set as the Default... If you where to format the Vista Partition - your PC would not boot anything...
Your Best Bet would be to shrink the front end of the Vista Partition by 100 MB
Format the 100MB Partition as Fat32, assign drive Letter S and set that Partition as Active...
Set Vista Partition as inactive
then Use>
bcdboot c:/windows /s s: /f Bios
bcdboot d:/windows /s s: /f Bios
OK thanks, I think I get what the idea is. Could you explain the steps of the process a little more if poss? Thanks.
Ummmm, @Kyhi ... that should be C:\Windows and D:\Windows......
An alternative would be to make the C: drive partition the system partition by using:
bcdboot C:\Windows /s C: /f BIOS
Then make sure the C: drive is set to active, the commands would be:
diskpart
select disk 0
select partition 2
active
exit
exit
Reboot, make sure the C: drive is set as the system partition, then using MiniTool Partition Wizard you can delete the Vista partition and extend the C: drive partition to fill the empty space.
@Kyhi's method will give you more of a standard and flexible final disk layout, though, but involves a few more steps. It's a bit out of the norm to have the partition with the OS set as the system partition, but many people do it.
Win10 (C) is in an extended partition. It would need to be converted to primary to set active.An alternative would be to make the C: drive partition the system partition
bcdboot c:/windows /s s: /f Bios
bcdboot d:/windows /s s: /f Bios Ummmm, ... that should be C:\Windows and D:\Windows......
/ is usually ok for paths in windows although \ is the convention and probably best for commands.
Not sure how well cmdline executables respond to it. Probably sensible to stick with the convention.
OK so which method would be the best to go with then, I just want win10 to occupy the whole drive, don't mind how.
Do you have "Macruim Reflect Free" ? and "Windows 10 Setup Media" ?
Make a Backup Image of Just your C:\ Partition - and place on E:\
Boot the windows 10 Setup Media - delete all partition on Disk 0 (doing this will remove vista and factory image)
Allow Setup the install onto Disk 0 (this will create the proper disk layout)
Then restore the Backup Image you just made to C:\ (thus restoring your existing OS)
One way to do it:
Use a 3rd party partition manager. Get it to create boot media. Boot it up. Convert win10 partition to primary and mark it active.
Delete the first (vista) partition. Extend the win10 partition to the left.
Another way:
Create an image of win10 partition, format the first (vista) partition. Restore the image to the first partition. Then delete the second partition and extend the first.
Easiest and safest to use boot media.
My boot media already contains Aomei backupper and Aomei partition assistant
183x64.iso
extract the 183x64.iso to usb - easily done with usb7ice
Usb7ice.zip
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