Dual Boot Windows 7 and Windows 8 - Delete Windows 7

How to Delete "Windows 7" in your Dual Boot with Windows 8


information   Information
This tutorial will show you how to delete Windows 7 in your dual boot with Windows 8 when Windows 7 was installed first and Windows 8 installed second. This will leave you with only having Windows 8 installed afterwards.

warning   Warning
You will need to have the Microsoft System Reserved Partition.



Part One

Here's How:


1. Start or restart your PC, and boot into Windows 8. (see screenshot below)
Delete Win 7-001.PNG

2. Open Disk Management by typing diskmgmt.msc in search bar. (see screenshot below)
Delete Win 7-002.PNG

3. In Disk Management, delete the partition that you installed Windows 7 on so that is is now unallocated space. (see screenshots below)
Delete Win 7-003.PNG
Delete Win 7-004.PNG
Delete Win 7-005.PNG


4. If you like, you could either create a new partition to use with the unallocated space, or extend the Windows 8 C: drive into the unallocated space to add it back to the C: partition. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: This will vary depending on how you have your hard drive setup though.
Delete Win 7-006.PNG
Note   Note
For (B) Setup to extend Partition C: you will need a third party partitioning app like Paragon Software,

Note   Note

Paragon Extend.PNG

5. When finished, restart your PC and only have Windows 8 installed and listed in the Windows Boot Manager screen.

Part Two

When you have your Dual boot on a PC with a uEFI setup.

Delete Win 7-007.PNG
Delete Win 7-008.PNG

Follow the steps in Part One.




All done.
Ray






 

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Hello cycledoc,

My guess would be because of the new Windows 8 boot GUI. :)
 
I purchased a Windows 8 upgrade and presently dual boot with Windows 7. I am ready to commit to Windows 8, remove any windows 7 partitions, and expand the Windows 8 partition to recapture that disk space. This tutorial seems to be what I need, but I am concerned that the present Windows 8 partition is not Primary, and I fear leaving the system unbootable. I've used EaseUS to get where I am now as shown here:




Disk Management configuration.jpg

I'm not sure how to proceed. Thanks in advance for any help you might offer.

Regards,
John
 
I purchased a Windows 8 upgrade and presently dual boot with Windows 7. I am ready to commit to Windows 8, remove any windows 7 partitions, and expand the Windows 8 partition to recapture that disk space. This tutorial seems to be what I need, but I am concerned that the present Windows 8 partition is not Primary, and I fear leaving the system unbootable. I've used EaseUS to get where I am now as shown here:




View attachment 14165

I'm not sure how to proceed. Thanks in advance for any help you might offer.

Regards,
John


Welcome to EightForums, John.

1) You have a lot of wasted space, being used by your OEM manufacturer's install of Windows 7.

2) I personally would backup the personal DATA, & do a clean install.
 
Can I simply delete the Windows 7 volume shown as (E:) in the attached disk management image?
Can I also delete the 1.46 GB Recovery Partition which I believe pertains to the Windows 7 installation?
Will Windows 8 then boot normally even though it is not installed in a primary partition?
Can I or should I change that partition from logical to primary?

Thanks in advance for the excellent guidance available at this forum!
 
Thanks theog!

This is what I plan to do:
1. Delete the Windows 7 volume as you describe in the tutorial.
2. Convert the Windows 8 partition from logical to primary ( I cannot do this first because I have 4 primary partitions now; however, deleting the primary Windows 7 volume should make 1 primary available again ).
3. Leave the primary 1.46 GB partition alone.
4. Expand the Windows 8 partition into the unallocated space freed up by deleting Windows 7.

Do you see anything I might be missing?
 
Hi john

Do you see anything I might be missing?

Yes,
I wuould also detele the 476mb & 15.37gb partition.
Than you can make D: Primary & extent into the two unallocated spaces.
Do backup first.
 
So far, so good! :D Before I delete the 15.37 GB partition, can you tell me what purpose it serves? Is it an OEM installed volume that would have allowed me to recover the original Windows 7 installation that came with the computer?


HDDRECOVERY PARTITION.jpg
 
Hi John

Now that Windows 8 is installed, has no use.
It was your OEM manufacturer's Recovery Partition.
 
Hi,
I was wondering if you could help me - I have a similar query to jhcarver had.
My disks look like this:

partitions.png

I think that I need to do the following:


  1. Delete the Windows 7 partition
  2. Convert the Windows 8 partition from Logical to Primary
  3. Extend the Windows 8 partition into the empty space

Will this work? Will it boot?
Thanks in advance

Tom
 
Hi,
I was wondering if you could help me - I have a similar query to jhcarver had.
My disks look like this:

View attachment 15080

I think that I need to do the following:


  1. Delete the Windows 7 partition
  2. Convert the Windows 8 partition from Logical to Primary
  3. Extend the Windows 8 partition into the empty space

Will this work? Will it boot?
Thanks in advance

Tom

Yes, you can also delete E: as is of use with Windows 8.
 
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