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Edit: I fixed the problem with EasyBCD eventually.

I recently had problem booting due to system reserved partition tinkering and had to install a second Windows 7 to HDD in order to boot and fix the system reserved partition. The original W7 is on the SSD and everything is working fine, if I open msconfig the boot tab tells me I only have one OS, but the windows folder in the HDD is clear as night.

Now I am preparing a full disk encryption, it asked me wether I am single boot or dual-boot. I assume clicking single boot will work fine, but this is a good time to get rid of the second windows.

I've seen solutions online where formatting the HDD is part of the solution, I don't have the resources to backup 1TB. What are my options?

fixer1234
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Manumit
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  • Should be as simply as removing the data then removing the entry for the [boot option](http://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/). – Ramhound May 23 '15 at 21:23
  • My boot meny in easyBCD shows only current OS – Manumit May 23 '15 at 21:28
  • Well, you could fiddle with it.. You could delete any directories for the Windows that you don't want. Worst case scenario, something weird goes wrong and your other windows doesn't boot,though I am not sure how that would happen. I'd guess that as long as your boot.ini refers to the windows you want to keep, refers to the folder of the windows you want to keep. Then you could delete the folder of the windows you don't want. – barlop May 23 '15 at 21:36
  • Also, you could try putting in a windows 7 CD and getting a recovery console and doing `bootcfg /rebuild`, and see if it detects the other windows. You might even be able to get a recovery console without a windows 7 cd. Try doing F8 twice, so get the F8 menu up then hit F8 again, sometimes the recovery console option can be there, otherwise use a windows 7 cd – barlop May 23 '15 at 21:37
  • @barlop: Why are you talking about boot.ini? – Karan May 23 '15 at 21:51
  • @Karan oh damn, tell me it's not old age. Yep it's old age. Not boot.ini that was XP. http://superuser.com/questions/351017/where-can-i-find-the-boot-ini-file-on-windows-7 Anyhow, i'ms sure enough that the command to rebuild the bootable info in Win7 (which yep is no longer in a file whose text you can just edit), is indeed `bootcfg /rebuild` in Win 7 so that rebuild command is worth a try, to see if it detects the other windows. – barlop May 23 '15 at 22:38
  • @Karan And i'm thinking in win7 the command line might not be called the recovery console and might not be be directly in the f8 menu.. but(I mention to correct myself) it is a repair option from after clicking "repair your computer" in the f8 menu and going through the options and clicking command prompt ..http://res1.windows.microsoft.com/resbox/en/windows%207/main/65a1558c-4130-45c3-93b4-e1de3c40739d_0.jpg – barlop May 23 '15 at 22:42
  • I have NO way of accessing windows recovery menu since ASUS bios uses f8 for its boot menu. Supposedly, they should work together but It's a joke. – Manumit May 23 '15 at 22:53
  • @Manumit that is no obstacle. So hit F8 it'll bring up the boot menu, choose hard disk Then Immediately start hitting F8, that may even be the ideal time. – barlop May 24 '15 at 00:18
  • yup I tried that to no avail – Manumit May 24 '15 at 00:31
  • @Manumit Try going into the BIOS then exitting the BIOS then hammering F8. when adding somebody use @ then their name. Go to notebook forum http://forum.notebookreview.com/ and to that specific laptop make and ask there how to get the F8 menu. An owner of that laptop may answer you – barlop May 25 '15 at 15:12

2 Answers2

1

1) Open the HDD in Windows Explorer

2) Grant yourself permissions to the folders you want to delete

3) Delete the folders

It's not that hard...

qasdfdsaq
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  • You will have to deal with a bootmanager referring to deleted windows folders and possibly a confused system partition. (I've fixed it now) – Manumit May 25 '15 at 20:00
  • You stated twice that your boot manager did *not* refer to the deleted Windows folders. The answer applies specifically to that case. – qasdfdsaq May 26 '15 at 15:02
  • All I had to do was add the HDD boot entry manually into easybcd, then I could start deleting. – Manumit May 26 '15 at 19:19
0

Try this. Open "run" and type in msconfig. Go at the menu named "boot" and select one of the window copies you want to delete. I hope it helps ;)

Eroll
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