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I have a laptop running Vista Home Premium. I repartitioned and installed Windows 7. I want to keep Windows 7 which is installed on Drive D and format Vista which is on Drive C. Will I still be able to boot if I format the Vista Partition?

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    I'm officially confused.
    – Nippysaurus
    Commented Aug 6, 2009 at 6:57
  • Edited to make more clear.
    – BinaryMisfit
    Commented Aug 6, 2009 at 7:19

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Since Vista was installed first the boot files will likely be located on C:.

If you want to format C: win 7 won't let you from inside Windows since it will cause boot problems. Easiest way to perform the format is to boot from your Windows 7 media and then start the install. At the harddrive selection screen you can format C: and then cancel the setup.

After you have done this Windows 7 will not boot. To fix the issue you boot from the Windows 7 media again and instead of Install now you select repair at the bottom left corner. At the repair menu you select automatic startup repair and let it finish. This should restore your boot files and give you a working system again.

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  • How can this be done without using the Windows 7 CD?
    – Omar
    Commented Nov 24, 2009 at 18:29
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Yes you can format the partition that Vista is on. Label the drives, right click and name each drive Win7 and Vista as appropriate. Now with a partition manager like Partition magic, or others I am sure there are free ones out there. Format the Vista partition. Make sure you have backed up anything you might need, and make sure even if you don't think you will ever need Vista again that you back it up anyway when Windows 7 is finally released you want to make sure you can upgrade a cheaply as possible which might require something off the partition you want to delete.

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