[Question] How to remove Win 7 from Dual Boot

[LordRendar]

A couple of days ago I had to update my PC to Win 7 64-bit because I went from 4GB Ram to 8Gb.
I created a 30gb partition to install the 64 bit version. Is there a way to remove the Win 7 32bit version
from the main partition without formatting the drive?

 

[strawman]

You might try asking on superuser.com. I'm sure there are a number of methods, but it'll depend on whether you want to keep anything from the original partition intact, and a few other things.

 

[Ravenpoe]

If you have access to the Partition Magic software, it can do that pretty easily.

 

[PatrThom]

I've never tried the dual-boot thing, but wouldn't it have been just as easy to use disk management to erase the 32-bit partition? Not remove it, just erase it, and then remove its entry from the boot chooser.

--Patrick

 

[strawman]

Be careful. The boot chooser probably requires the first partition to remain partially intact.

If it were me, I'd probably just erase everything and reinstall, or use a disk copying utility to copy the wanted partition to an entirely new drive, then make it bootable.

But this request is a bit strange, so it's probably more complicated. Not wanting to format the first partition seems to indicate that there are programs and data to be kept around. Wanting to remove the 32bit OS seems to indicate not only removing the option from the boot menu, but also recovering the space it takes up.

If you just want to remove it from the boot menu or get rid of the boot menu altogether, you can do that pretty simply.

 

[Eriol]

Also, there's really no benefit to running 32-bit windows vista or higher IMO. XP? Ya, 64-bit XP was just a bad idea, and never properly supported, but I don't think there's anything that would run in 32-bit 7 that wouldn't run in 64-bit 7 every bit as good.

My advice would be to copy what you need from the 32-bit partition (data) to an external drive or wherever, then re-install from a clean blank drive. It'll just save you more time in the long run IMO.

 

[figmentPez]

Also, there's really no benefit to running 32-bit windows vista or higher IMO. XP? Ya, 64-bit XP was just a bad idea, and never properly supported, but I don't think there's anything that would run in 32-bit 7 that wouldn't run in 64-bit 7 every bit as good.

There are a very few situations where 64-bit OS creates odd limitations.
- Some older hardware had 32-bit XP drivers that worked under 32-bit Vista (possibly Win7) and never had 64-bit drivers written. A notable example was PalmOS devices that sync over USB. A 64-bit USB driver for the PalmOS was never written, but the 32-bit driver from XP worked on 32-bit Vista (or so I heard).
- There's also a limitation where 64-bit systems won't run 16-bit code as a security measure. This means some older programs which have 16-bit installers won't be able to be installed, even if the program itself can run (this is an issue for some businesses using legacy software, and new installers can be written. It might be an issue for some old games as well.)

 

[Eriol]

There are a very few situations where 64-bit OS creates odd limitations.
- Some older hardware had 32-bit XP drivers that worked under 32-bit Vista (possibly Win7) and never had 64-bit drivers written. A notable example was PalmOS devices that sync over USB. A 64-bit USB driver for the PalmOS was never written, but the 32-bit driver from XP worked on 32-bit Vista (or so I heard).
- There's also a limitation where 64-bit systems won't run 16-bit code as a security measure. This means some older programs which have 16-bit installers won't be able to be installed, even if the program itself can run (this is an issue for some businesses using legacy software, and new installers can be written. It might be an issue for some old games as well.)

I work in an industry where "support forever" is the norm, and thus we sometimes have to run some very funky software that's very old, but I shudder at just how old something is with a 16-bit installer. Really, I shuddered a bit. But fair point overall, especially about the driver thing. I see that as plausible, if fucked up.

 

[Shakey]

We have a program that is 16 bit still, plus it requires an HP Laserjet 4 driver to be installed. The printer doesn't need to be attached, it just needs the driver. We just use Windows XP mode for that, and it works fine. It runs the program in a windows XP VM. A lot better than trying to maintain an old XP box for one or two odd programs.