Hi, Mervyn.
The Windows startup procedure is quite simple - but it confuses many users.
Boot-up ALWAYS starts in the SYSTEM PARTITION. From there, it branches to
the BOOT VOLUME - wherever that may be.
That's it!
The confusion comes in the many meanings of simple English words. :>( The
computer BOOTS from the SYSTEM partition and keeps its operating SYSTEM
files in the BOOT Volume.
For definitions of these terms, see KB 314470:
Definitions for system volume and boot volume
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314470/EN-US/
In the typical system, the first partition on the first HDD serves as BOTH
the System Partition and the Boot Volume for the only Windows installation.
That's what you probably had before installing Win7. When you installed
Win7, you created a new second partition to serve as the Boot Volume for
Win7, but it continued to use the first partition as the System Partition.
(Vista probably calls that second partition Drive D:; Win7 may or may not
agree.) Setup updated the startup files on that first partition to give you
the option of booting Vista or Win7. When you used the downloaded
third-party "partition manager" to wipe that first partition, it also wiped
out those critical startup files.
NO operating system will obey an order to delete its own Boot Volume or boot
folder (\Windows) or the System Partition. That's like ordering it to
commit suicide or saw off the limb that it's sitting on, and it won't obey.
That's why you had to use a separate "partition manager" to do the job
without booting into Windows at all.
But Vista will happily delete Win7's boot folder - and vice versa. So the
simplest way for you to delete Vista would have been to boot into Win7 and
delete X:\Windows (with X: denoting the letter that Win7 uses for the System
Partition - see the next paragraphs). This would remove all the Vista
operating system files, while leaving the startup files intact on the System
Partition.
If you installed Win7 by booting from the Win7 DVD-ROM, it would have
assigned C: to its own Boot Volume - the new second partition - and would
refer to the first partition as D:, but Vista would still call that first
partition C:. So you could now boot into Win7 (on your new Drive C
and
delete D:\Windows to remove Vista but leave the startup files on D: intact.
But if you installed Win7 by booting into Vista and running Win7 Setup from
the Vista desktop, it would have used the same letters that Vista had
assigned; Win7 would see Vista in C:\Windows and Win7 in D:\Windows. So now
you could boot into Win7 on D: and delete C:\Windows to remove Vista without
disturbing the startup files.
To see what letters your current OS has installed, use Disk Management
(diskmgmt.msc). And look in the Status column to see which volumes have the
System and Boot labels.
Like I said: Simple - but confusing. :^}
RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8089.0726) in Win7 Ultimate x64
