Bill Detwiler: Dual-booting Windows is a handy way to test betas and service packs before committing to a new OS. But once you've made your decision to stick with the new OS or give it the boot, you'll likely want to get rid of those extra partitions and revert to a single OS. If you don't want reformat the hard drive and completely re-install your chosen operating system, there is an alternative.
I'm Bill Detwiler, and during this IT Dojo video, I'll show you how to use the Windows Bootsect command to extract Vista or Windows 7 from a dual-boot configuration with Windows XP.
When you set up a dual-boot configuration with Windows Vista or the Windows 7 Beta or Release Candidate, you're also installing the Windows Boot Manager and its Boot Configuration Data system on the boot partition. This is the system that let's you choose between the installed operating systems when you boot the computer.
To get rid of the Windows Boot Manager system and go back to a single partition, you can use the Bootsect command, which can be found on either the Windows Vista or Windows 7 Beta or release candidate DVD in the Boot folder.
To begin, boot the system into the original operating system on the first partition -- for this example, Windows XP. Then, insert the DVD into the drive. As soon as you do, press and hold down the [Shift] key in order to prevent the DVD splash screen from appearing. Once the DVD has spun up, you can release the [Shift] key, and you are now ready for the next step.
You can launch the Bootsect command from a Command Prompt or by using the Run command.
Press [Windows]+R to open the Run dialog box. When the Run dialog box appears, type the following command line in the Open text box:
D:\Boot\Bootsect.exe /nt52 ALL /force
Now, if your DVD drive uses a letter other than D -- you'll need to substitute that letter for the D in this command.
When you click OK, you'll momentarily see a Command Prompt window, and the operation will instantly remove the Windows Boot Manager system and its Boot Configuration Data from the boot partition. At this point, remove the DVD from the drive, and you can then restart the system.
When the system restarts, you ll see that the Windows Boot Manager no longer appears and the system boots directly into the original operating system -- Windows XP, in this example.
To continue cleaning up, you'll have to remove a couple of backup files from the root directory, as well as remove the Vista or Windows 7 files from the second partition.
You'll find the Boot.BAK and Bootsect.BAK files in the root directory. You can delete them; and since they are system files you'll be prompted to confirm the delete operation.
Now that the Windows Boot Manager is removed, you can use partition software to reformat the second partition, merge it back into the first partition, set up another dual-boot configuration, or use it in some other way.
Whichever option you chose, you now have your original Windows XP installation ready to use without all the fuss of a reinstall.
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I'm Bill Detwiler. Thanks for visiting TechRepublic's IT Dojo.
