Delete XP and Keep Vista

Hi to all,

I posted this topic a long time ago, but I need more information about how to remove a dual boot configuration on my laptop. It's a HP Pavilion dv8320us, with Windows XP MCE 2005 installed first. It came with two hard drives, 80 Gb each, and installed Windows Vista Home Premium in the other drive. I did this because I was worried about Vista, so I can go back to XP if anything goes wrong. After seven months of using Vista, I never had a problem, and It's performing very good .

I no longer use XP, all my programs are working great and all of them are now Vista compatible. I don't need XP anymore, so I want to recover that disc space and keep only Vista. How can I do that?

Laptop specifications:

Processor: Intel Centrino Duo 1.60 Ghz
Memory: 1.5 Gb DDR2
Hard Drive: 2 x 80 Gb
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 7600 - 256 Mb

I Know I can do this with VistaBootPro, but I've been reading the VistaBootPro forums searching about my question, and found this. Basically they talk about the configuration of the "system" drive, where XP is installed, and I have to exchange the cables of the hard drives to make Vista the "system" drive. Now I'm confused . Please HELP!!!

Thanks in advance.

PS: sorry for my english...

 

Unless you're using a very archaic system, the only "system drive" is whatever the MBR lists as the primary drive, and swapping cables will just screw up the MBR. I would format the XP drive and reboot. If the notebook has trouble booting, boot from the Windows Vista CD, and use the System Recovery Options to run Startup Repair.

As far as I understand it, Vista actually replaces the NT boot loader with its own boot loader the moment it is installed, which means Vista should not care less whether XP is there or not, or which drive it is on (In fact, XP also didn't care if it was on the system's "primary" drive or not...if XP was on that drive, that drive WAS the primary boot drive).

 

Yes, if you installed Vista after XP then Vista boot loader is in charge. Which means that even if you delete XP installation your PC will still boot. To be on the safe side, don’t format the XP disk; instead just delete Windows , Documents and settings, and Program Files directories. Because I don't know whether Vista is keeping it's boot files i.e x:\BOOT folder , bootmgr. But I guess, even if you format and Vista becomes unbootable, you can repair it with Vista installation disk : Boot from the DVD and run the setup > Install now > Repair your computer > Select the Vista installation (there should be only one in your case) > Startup repair

 

I found this about my question: REMOVE XP FROM DUAL-BOOT WITH VISTA

It tells me that I have to unplug the old Windows XP drive, but I'M ON A LAPTOP!!!, and I can't just open my laptop and do that. Please, help me!!!!

 

Before deciding you need to pull out the XP drive, try some of the suggestions above. I would actually suggest leaving the drive IN so that the boot record doesn't get confused about which drive goes where (that can play havoc with your boot sequence).

If you're using an HP and HP still has the same policy I remember, you probably can't pull out your hard drive without voiding the warranty (one reason I don't buy HP), so try other alternatives first

 

You may also want to look at the original post you made a day or so ago about this same thing because I found and replied to that first. In short, I suggested you try formatting the XP partition from within Vista.

 

Thanks for all your answers...

 

I downloaded and installed EasyBCD, and removed succesfully the Windows XP entry from the boot menu. Now every time I boot my laptop, It enters directly to Vista. But now I'm not so sure to format the XP drive. Is there any files that Vista needs to boot in the XP partition. If I format the drive 0 (where XP is installed), will Vista boot normally?

Thanks in advance...

 

answers to those questions were mentioned in above posts.