If you have a dual boot system with Windows Vista and another Windows version like Windows XP, 2000, etc and now you want to completely remove Windows Vista from your system, then this tutorial will help you.
1. Boot into other Windows version. Suppose you have Windows XP installed along with Windows Vista, then boot into Windows XP.
2. Insert your Windows Vista Setup DVD in your DVD drive. Click on "Start button -> All Programs -> Accessories". Right-click on "Command Prompt" and select "Run As Administrator". If you are prompted to enter password, enter the password and continue. You can also open Command Prompt in Administrator mode by typing "cmd" in Startmenu Search box and press "Ctrl+Shift+Enter".
3. Now provide following command:
[DVD_drive_letter]:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt52 ALL /force
and then press Enter. Suppose your DVD drive letter is F:, then provide following command:
F:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt52 ALL /force
4. Eject the Setup DVD and restart the system. Now your system will start in Windows XP automatically.
5. Now you can safely delete Windows Vista folders to reclaim the disk space:
Program Files
Users
Windows
You can format the whole partition too if its not the boot partition. e.g. if your Windows Vista was installed on a partition other than C:, then you can safely format that partition but if it was installed on C: drive, then don't format it. Just manually delete the above mentioned folders.
This article was posted by VG in following section: Troubleshooting, Windows Vista.
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Maharishi
Hi, Huge thanks for the easy technique. It worked for me flawlessly. My Vista installation was in C:. Actually, i deleted it due to the repeated loop of process saying "Configuring updates:stage 3 of 3" after updating to Service Pack 1. I had no restore point created before. Now, i want to know if it would affect my Windows XP if i format my C: entirely. I will make a backup of boot.ini, ntldr and ntdetect.com and will copy them back to C: after format. Is it advisable to do this?
VG
Don't format it. Just delete all files/folders except the 3 boot loader files.
Maharishi
Hi, I tried to manually delete those folders. But it shows error saying "Cannot delete something.dll; Access is denied. Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use."
VG
^^ Take ownership of the file/folder and assign all permissions to the current logged in user.
Maharishi
Hey, It's up. You rocks. Thanks a lot. Keep posting such nice things to experiment with.
VG
^^ Glad to know it worked for you. :)
SAHIL PALIWAL
THANKS FOR THIS SUGGESTION REALLY THIS IS VERY USEFULL TRICS FOR EVERYBODY.
Rajat
Thanks a ton mate! This was a life saver. Thankfully works on Windows 7 as well. Windows 7 had gone bonkers and this was the only thing that could help! I am back on my stable XP and got rid of windows 7. :-D Cheers!
thewisecrab
Hello VG :)
Sorry for bumping an old post :| , but I dont know where else to ask this doubt.
I decided to remove Win7 from my HDD since it was occupying too much space. However, after formating it's partitions (as expected), the Win7 boot loader is still present.
I also lost my downloaded and written copy of Win7, so I dont know how to revert back to the old XP bootloader (I didnt have a dual boot system before, I only want that annoying "7" boot loader to go away) using you posted technique.
How do I go about?
Regards,
TWC :)
PS Great work with his site, keep it up :)
VG
^^ The same tutorial should also work for Windows 7 as well.