Upgraded to Win 7, How to delete XP?

[jaymanek]

Ive upgraded to Win 7 and now everytime I start the PC it asks which windows to use, XP or Win7.

I basically want to get rid of XP and any files I had on the system with it.... I want to start fresh with 7.

All the posts on the internet suggest I can do this with Disk Cleanup on windows 7 but it doesnt give me the option to delete XP..

Any ideas please?

 

[balge]

Hi
does the XP install still work? You may have set up a dual-boot system rather than an upgrade install.


cheers

 

[Merc Owner 2B]

Easiest thing would be to reload Win7 (fresh Install) which would delete everything and give you what you need. Sounds like there are no files that you want to keep.

 

[John]

I would have thought the setup program has just not removed the XP entry from the boot.ini file.

Right click on COMPUTER and go to PROPERTIES. Then click on ADVANCED SYSTEM SETTINGS at the top left and choose SETTINGS under STARTUP AND RECOVERY. Select Windows 7 in the drop down and untick TIME TO DISPLAY LIST OF OPERATING SYSTEMS.

BUT, if by some bizarre reason you have created a dual boot setup (I don't think this is possible with a Windows 7 upgrade), by all means try and see if XP still works. If it will annoy you to know you still have XP on there, you will either have to delete Windows XP or you will need to re-install and wipe the disk before you start - but this will wipe anything you've stored under C: (so backup first). If it doesn't work, the paragraph above will resolve.

 

[John]

PS: boot.ini doesn't exist anymore - it is now under MSCONFIG (START > RUN) in Windows 7

 

[Danny DeVito]

I would have thought the setup program has just not removed the XP entry from the boot.ini file.

Right click on COMPUTER and go to PROPERTIES. Then click on ADVANCED SYSTEM SETTINGS at the top left and choose SETTINGS under STARTUP AND RECOVERY. Select Windows 7 in the drop down and untick TIME TO DISPLAY LIST OF OPERATING SYSTEMS.

Under the boot tab delete the xp entry

 

[silver_star]

This can be done easily with BCDEDIT on the command line. I can't remember the exact switches but there is one to list the boot entries and another to delete the obsolete one. Just google BCDEDIT...I even think there is a gui version that you can download somewhere.

 

[GRAV888]

Personally, I would leave XP on the system until you are 100% happy with WIN7.

 

[silver_star]

Personally, I would leave XP on the system until you are 100% happy with WIN7.

No need, Win 7 comes with XP mode which is essentially a virtual XP machine and works a treat.

 

[John]

No need, Win 7 comes with XP mode which is essentially a virtual XP machine and works a treat.

Only if Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate though.

 

[grober]

Juxtaposition of Operating system and Delete always makes me nervous.

 

[jaymanek]

I will give this a go... just to be clear, I deffo dont need anything on the old system as this is an old PC that I want to wipe clean for a new person to use.

 

[Merc Owner 2B]

I will give this a go... just to be clear, I deffo dont need anything on the old system as this is an old PC that I want to wipe clean for a new person to use.

As I mentioned before, easiest thing would be to reload Win7 (fresh Install) which would delete everything and give you what you need.

 

[mercnewbie]

In short i would NEVER use an upgrade package.

The best thing you can do is buy a full non-upgrade version of Win 7 and start again

 

[John]

Windows operating system upgrades can either do 'in place' upgrades (whereby you install over the top) or they can wipe your disk clean and install fresh.

The latter being the same as if you bought a Windows 7 Full product.

The upgrade is there as a loyalty to someone who previously bought Windows, which (as long as it is a qualifying product) will entitled that person to the same new version of Windows but for less money.

It doesn't mean you are forced to install a particular way or you get less functionality.

 

[Rory]

Windows operating system upgrades can either do 'in place' upgrades (whereby you install over the top) or they can wipe your disk clean and install fresh.

The latter being the same as if you bought a Windows 7 Full product.

I've just done a an upgrade from XP to W7 and that's what I think happened with mine - it seemed to do a clean install. Certainly I've seen no sign of XP since!

 

[jaymanek]

hmm i guess i need to try again..

 

[jaymanek]

Im just re installing, I think the step I did wrong the first time is to choose the wrong partition and/or hard drive to install windows too...
I have two hard drives and they seem to have two partitions on each.

 

[jaymanek]

Ok so now I have to choose between two versions of windows 7 when i boot up!!

The version I want to delete is on the C Drive, so I did a disk cleanup on drive C but the utility just hangs at "Scanning Previous Windows Installations"...
Ill leave it overnight just in case it sorts itself out.

Any other way of removing the second Windows 7 which is on my C drive?

The version I want to keep is on drive D.

 

[Igurisu]

You need to check which drive the PC is booting to Jay. You can use the version on D: but normally the PC will boot from C: unless you tell it differently.

If you delete the C: without telling it to boot to D: it just won't load windows.