Changing dual boot Windows computer to single

W7/W10 dual boot computer

My computer was initially a W7 machine. Besides System Reserved, there have been three partitions on the machine's single drive:

1) A primary partition with W7, program files, etc.
2) "My Stuff" (my documents and project files)
3) "Video" for my video collection.

Last year I added a small partition for W10. That became my primary starting point for getting online. The rest of the partitions have remained accessible through W7 and are primarily for working on projects.

With W7 support now long gone and my computer becoming problematic when I'm on that side of the machine, I've decided I need to make the entire computer W10.

This webpage explains how easy it is to remove one OS from a dual boot machine using MSConfig:

How-To Remove an OS from Windows Dual Boot Config

But in that example, W7 was the second OS on the computer, not the original.

That leaves me unclear about a few things. I hope some members here can help me out with some info:

-Will that page's instructions work OK for me? W7 was my machine's original OS, and W10 was the second one, the opposite of the page's example.

-If I can delete W7 that easily, my documents and projects (primarily music and video projects) will remain unaffected?

-What will happen with the programs installed on the W7 C drive? I assume I'll need to reinstall them under W10.

Here's my current plan. Could you please point out any problems with it?-

--Before trying to change the computer to a single boot machine, I'll continue to archive files on external drives to free up space.

--I'll keep shrinking partitions and adding the freed-up space to the W10 partition.

--As I add to the W10 partition, I'll try installing each program I currently use, knowing I'll lose some which are too old to be compatible with W10. Project and video files I hope I can simply move into the new W10 partition.

--Other than saving as many programs as possible, I plan on re-partitioning the computer after it's a single boot W10 machine. I will still have the C drive, the "My Stuff" projects partition, and the video collection partition.

In case it's helpful, I'm attaching a screenshot of what Disk Management currently shows.

I know there are some sharp experts here. I hope some guidance can be posted for me since, of course, I want and need my computer to operate as expected after all this shuffling around of data.

Thanks for making it this far in this long post - if you did!

Randy B.

topgundcp said:

I assume F is your Windows 7. While in Windows 10, from msconfig: Make sure Windows 10 is set as default OS then delete the other.
D and E will not be affected.

This is excellent news - Thanks for the reply, topgundcp. I'm busy being paranoid about screwing up my computer because it would pretty much be The End of The World if I lost this machine.

Yes, F is the W7 partition. Before I pull the plug by doing as you say with changing MSConfig in W10 - I need to move everything I want to keep from F and try installing whatever programs I can into W10, right? I mean, I like the reassurance that D and E won't be affected by the change, but F will be totally affected, right? I mean, it'll be wiped clean?

These tutorials may be useful:

How to Remove and Uninstall Windows 7, 8, or 10 from Dual Boot PC
Dual Boot Windows 10 with Windows 7 or Windows 8

Macrium Software | It's our Business to protect your data
Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect
Imaging with free Macrium - Windows 7 Help Forums

topgundcp said:

You might also want to run programs that were installed in Windows 7. If they work then just copy over to Windows 10 and use as is..

Samuria said:

If you delete the f parition then you will have to move c to the left then expand it as its small size for 10

zbook said:

These tutorials may be useful...

wow. Well, you guys are basically awesome. I didn't realize I could just copy programs in that work with W10 without reinstalling them. Nice! - And, yes what I'm doing is thinning things out, then eventually the F partition will be gone and what is now the tiny W10 partition will be the biggest partition. I've expanded and shrunk partitions before so I'm pretty sure I'll be OK with that part of this computer re-do.

Tutes to read - Good!

I'm feeling much more confident. My plan seems to be validated and actually a bit easier than I anticipated. THANKS.

RB

An update: After 2 weeks of hell trying to execute my plan, I've had to give up. I'm keeping my computer a dual boot machine, each with its primary purpose. W10 is for online and light work. W7 will continue to be where I do most of my work - writing, producing music, editing videos, doing animations, etc. I have no idea what kind of program could simply be copied over to W10. I have large programs with parts sprawling all over the drive, bits here and there, and then each with several registry entries. They need from the ground up reinstallation. Little plugins for programs I could successfully copy over from W7 to W10 but had to give up on trying to re-install the programs themselves, finding the installers, re-registering them, and so on. Some programs I've had for so many years they probably wouldn't even work with W10. Disappointing. I'll just keep going on with what I had hoping the computer has at least a few more years of life in it. Of course, I have everything backed up several times, so if it dies, I won't be losing work. - Anyway - You guys were very helpful with your replies and advice, but I couldn't mark this thread as Solved, so I came back to give this update.

topgundcp said:

You might also want to run programs that were installed in Windows 7. If they work then just copy over to Windows 10 and use as is. No need to re-install...

You could make a backup image of your current win7. You have a lot of stuff on F so the image file will be quite a size. Preferably store it on a separate disk, though if necessary it should fit on partition E

Then try "upgrading" your win7 installation to win10. Theoretically that should keep your programs and settings ( at least those that can work with win10).

You might find that works well enough for what you want.

If you are not happy with the result, restore the backup image.

SIW2 said:

You could make a backup image of your current win7...

Thanks, I appreciate that. Yes, that's something I could do. There are complications, but I'll work through those.

I don't want to seem ungrateful for everyone here who pitched in to help. Thanks, all!

RB