How do I changet the "system" partition ?

[Volzy]

I am not dual booting, but somehow during the upgrade from XP to 7, the installation went to another partition because I had two partitions that were FAT32 and one that was NTFS -- So windows 7 installed on the NTFS. However, the C drive was FAT 32 and that is the "system" partition.
So I think I want to try to delete the C drive and assign the E drive [where windows 7 is installed] as "system", but it wont let me.

 

[Nibiru2012]

Welcome to the Windows 7 Forums website Volzy! :ciao:

We hope we'll be able to help you out with your issues.

When you did the "upgrade" install instead of clean or "custom" install, Windows 7 will NOT install or run on a FAT32 partition.

You will need to do a clean install to your C drive and reformat it to NTFS, that's the only way to get it to install there.

Windows won't ever let you delete the C drive at all.

Are you running one hard drive or two?

If you're just on one hard drive, you'll have to delete partitions or reformat them to NTFS.

Use Partition Wizard's free bootable ISO CD image and burn it to a CD and then you can boot up from it and change things around.

Use either the native Windows 7 ISO burning software or ImgBurn which is free also.

How to get Partition Wizard Bootable CD
Download Partition Wizard Bootable CD iso file absolutely FREE from http://www.partitionwizard.com/download.html. Burn ISO file onto a CD using any CD/DVD Burner software.

Why Partition Wizard Bootable CD
* Manage partition without installing anything on your computer
* Manage partition without Operating System
* Restore partition if partition table is damaged causing computer to not boot
* Restore partition if partition is deleted by accident causing computer to not boot
* Rebuild MBR if MBR is damaged
* Analyze partition mapping without having to boot computer

What to expect from this bootable CD
Step 1: Choose boot disk

I hope this helps you out some.

 

[Volzy]

Yes I did an upgrade rather than a clean install. I am only running one hard drive. Everything that is installed on E I want to move to C so it can be on the system partition. I already reformatted all of the drives to NTFS. Is there a way to move all of the programs from the E drive to the C drive and assign the C to be the boot drive ?

 

[Nibiru2012]

I'm not sure if Partition Wizard will do that, even in a boot function.

To be honest with you, your system will be much better and more responsive if you do a clean install.

I know it's a pain, but really you'll will notice a difference. A lot of users have had problems with the upgrade install of Windows 7. Not right away, but within a couple of weeks or so.

If all you have is the Upgrade Windows 7 disks, don't worry, you CAN do a clean install with them and your product key.

Go here to see how it's done > Clean Install Windows 7 with Upgrade Media

Let us know how it turns out! Good Luck!

 

[TrainableMan]

The standard W7 Partition Wizard should let you merge an empty partition if it is directly to the right of the partition you want to merge it with, Unfortunately your C: drive will probably be on the left but at least you may be able to merge the other partitions.

I believe, only one partition may be the system partition at a time. So you may need to remove system from the one drive before assigning it to the other.

There are several freeware partition managers that will do more than the default W7 one and some of them can probably merge all your drives into one.

BTW, once you merge everything you should probably do a search in your registry for C: and D: and E: or whatever it was calling them and make sure they are changed. If you just run a registry cleaner it will likely say, oh not found, I'll delete it for you, when really it should just change D: to C: etc. In fact, is W7 calling where windows is installed the C: drive currently? If not I fear once you merge everything your registry will be a mess. And in that situation ... fresh install is best. Yes it's a pain but it will be more of a pain in 2 weeks when you have all you programs installed and your setting just how you want them and you still get errors all the time.

 

[clifford_cooley]

Change your active partition to the partition that Windows 7 is installed to and then reboot.
If your system will not boot, use Windows 7 Install DVD and do what is known as a Startup Repair.
Once this has been done you will be able to remove all other partitions and expand Windows 7.
I know first hand that Partition Wizard Home Edition does an excellent job.