Need to move Windows boot manager from Win 7 drive to Win 10 drive


  1. Posts : 5
    Windows 10
       #1

    Need to move Windows boot manager from Win 7 drive to Win 10 drive


    I have found that when I installed Win 10 Pro 64 on my PC, on a new SSD drive, it put the boot manager on the old Win 7 drive. Perhaps that was because it was in the Drive 0 Sata port and the new SSD was in port 1. Didn't know that at the time. I've used the " which OS do you want the launch " blue screen all this time. Win 10 being the default. If I unplug the old drive, my PC finds nothing to boot to.

    I looked at the drive partition info in the "Computer Management -> Disk Management" part of Win 10 and see my C drive is not set as active, but a small System Reserved partition at the front of the Win 7 partition is. The Win 10 partition is set as " Boot, page file, crash dump, Primary partition " and Healthy. With a secondary partition as Recovery Partition.

    I used diskpart to verify I am not using an EFI type partition. Doesn't say EFI on any partition in the Manager screen either.

    I looked in the c:\boot\ folder on the Win 10 partition and it was empty. I couldn't find where it is supposed to be hiding on Win 7 partition. The Reserved partition is empty as well, but it is listed a " System, Active " I assigned a drive letter to it long enough to browse it.

    Where is the boot manager and how do I move it ?
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 18,424
    Windows 11 Pro
       #2

    The easiest way for you to fix your problem is to install EasyBCD:
    EasyBCD - NeoSmart Technologies

    On their webpage, scroll down and you will see three download options. You want the far right "non-commercial". On the next screen you don't even have to register, just click the download box. EasyBCD will have an option in the program to move your boot files to the drive you want. Once you are done with EasyBCD, you can uninstall it - the changes to the boot files are permanent and will remain.

    Changing the Boot Partition
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 5
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #3

    If it's as easy as that, I'll be quite happy. I ran the utility, and checked the partitions in Windows 10 and didn't see any changes. I do see lots of stuff in the Win 10 C:\boot folder, so that's hopeful. I haven't rebooted, yet as I am running a long virus scan to check the Win 7 drive that suddenly needed to have disk scans run on it before allowing things to boot.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 18,424
    Windows 11 Pro
       #4

    You will also have to change the boot priority in BIOS to move the new boot drive to the top. EasyBCD will only make the drive bootable, it won't change the BIOS settings to make the computer boot from it.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 5
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Worked great ! Very happy. Computer boots to Win 10 with no other HDs installed. The Win 10 drive was always at the top of the list in the BIOS, so no changes required.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 18,424
    Windows 11 Pro
       #6

    Glad it worked for you!
      My Computer


 

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