help needed after vista installation

Hello,

I installed Vista on a PC that previously had XP pro. I basically only
need vista nowadays and want to get rid of XP pro to gain more HD space.

So, Vista is on partition C and XP is on partition D on the sam
harddrive.
I can not delete or partition the XP part. I get an error message
saying :

"The attempted operation cannot be completed. This operation is not
valid on volumes containing system partition, boot partition ore
pagefiles"

The XP partitions says "System, Primary Partition". I set the Vista
partition to be 'active'.

Anybody here with an idea or suggestion how to get rid of XP in a safe
way?

Thanks for your help.
Iris


--
irisbu

try going to XP on the start menu and right click and select properties
then try altering the file that reads: xp.pro.file.safe-lock if that
doesn't work contact me at . I'll be happy to get
deeper into this dilemma and fix it!
-alienware


--
alienware

Hi Iris,

Look in Disk Management and see which partition is marked as "System".

If you are intending to shut down your machine in the near future -
make sure the "System " partition is the one marked Active.

Otherwise you wan't be able to boot

In order to delete the XP partition - you need to make the Vista
partition the System partition.

You can do that as follows:

In Vista

Go to folder options and make sure Hidden files and protected operating
system files are showing.


Copy and paste bootmgr and the pale yellow boot folder from XP
partition directly onto the root of the Vista partition.

You will get a message saying bcd is in use and can't be copied - skip
it and copy the rest.

Open an elevated command prompt and type:

bcdedit /export C:\Boot\bcd

Press enter.

Close command prompt.

Make sure Vista partition is marked Active.

Reboot.


Hope it helps

SIW2
irisbu;1084837 Wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I installed Vista on a PC that previously had XP pro. I basically only
> need vista nowadays and want to get rid of XP pro to gain more HD space.
>
> So, Vista is on partition C and XP is on partition D on the sam
> harddrive.
> I can not delete or partition the XP part. I get an error message
> saying :
>
> "The attempted operation cannot be completed. This operation is not
> valid on volumes containing system partition, boot partition ore
> pagefiles"
>
> The XP partitions says "System, Primary Partition". I set the Vista
> partition to be 'active'.
>
> Anybody here with an idea or suggestion how to get rid of XP in a safe
> way?
>
> Thanks for your help.
> Iris


--
SIW2

Hi, Iris.

To get rid of WinXP, you need to do just 3 things:

1. Delete WinXP's boot folder tree, with all those GBs of files and
folders.
2. Remove WinXP's startup files (NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and Boot.ini) from
the Root of the System Partition (but these 3 files total much less than 1
MB).
3.` Remove WinXP from the startup menu (but you can just leave this and
ignore it if you like).

For background, please read this KB article:
Definitions for system volume and boot volume
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314470/EN-US/

Note a couple of key points in that KB article. First, the terms "system
volume" and "boot volume" seem backwards to most computer users. ("We boot
from the system volume and keep the operating system files in the boot
volume!") But that usage is rooted in computer history and is not likely to
change. Second, each OS will have its own boot volume, but there will be
only a single system volume for the whole computer.

Boot into WinXP and run Disk Management. Assign a name (label) to each of
your volumes. Drive letters are transient and can change, depending on
which OS is running, but the volume labels are written to the disk and will
stay the same, no matter which OS is running. For now, let's assume the
names will be "First" and "Second".

Now, in WinXP's Disk Management, note which volumes have the System and Boot
status. I expect that Drive C: will be labeled "First" and will be both
System and Boot. Then reboot into Vista and run Disk Management. Drive C:
will now be the one labeled "Second"; it will have the Boot status, but not
System. The System status will now be on Drive D:, the one still labeled
"First".

If all that is as I expect, then to get rid of the WinXP installation, all
you need do is delete WinXP's boot folder, D:\Windows.

You cannot delete D:\Windows while booted into WinXP because no OS will
delete itself, or its own boot folder. But when you are booted into Vista,
WinXP's boot folder is "just another folder" and can easily be deleted.

Note that I did not say to delete or reformat the system volume. Neither
WinXP nor Vista will do that.

Reliance on "drive" letters may be causing some of the confusion. Part of
that is because the lettering algorithm changed in Vista's Setup.exe. If
you had installed Vista by booting into WinXP and running Vista's Setup.exe
from the WinXP Desktop, Setup would have seen that WinXP had assigned the
letter C: to "First", the System Partition - which also was WinXP's boot
volume. But you apparently installed Vista by booting from the Vista DVD.
This is a perfectly valid method, but Vista's Setup could not see WinXP's
drive letter assignments in this case, so it started assigning letters from
scratch. First, it assigned the letter C: to its own boot volume, which is
"Second". Then it assigned the next letter, D:, to the System Partition,
"First" - which WinXP called C:.

So, both WinXP and Vista agree that "First" is the System Partition, but
WinXP calls it Drive C: and Vista calls the same partition Drive D:. And
both WinXP and Vista think their own boot volume is Drive C:, but WinXP
means "First (C" and Vista means "Second (C".

> The XP partitions says "System, Primary Partition". I set the Vista
> partition to be 'active'.

Only one partition on each HDD should be marked Active (bootable). This
should always be the System Partition.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8064.0206) in Win7 Ultimate x64 RC 7100

"irisbu" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> Hello,
>
> I installed Vista on a PC that previously had XP pro. I basically only
> need vista nowadays and want to get rid of XP pro to gain more HD space.
>
> So, Vista is on partition C and XP is on partition D on the sam
> harddrive.
> I can not delete or partition the XP part. I get an error message
> saying :
>
> "The attempted operation cannot be completed. This operation is not
> valid on volumes containing system partition, boot partition ore
> pagefiles"
>
> The XP partitions says "System, Primary Partition". I set the Vista
> partition to be 'active'.
>
> Anybody here with an idea or suggestion how to get rid of XP in a safe
> way?
>
> Thanks for your help.
> Iris
>
>
> --
> irisbu

Hello everybody,

thank for all the replies and help so far.

I am busy right now with extra work, but I will try and post the
results here later on. Just wanted to say thanks for the support, not
that you think I'm running away.

Iris


--
irisbu

@ SIW

I try your suggestions. However, I have a problem to copy and past th
bootmgr file into boot dir of Vista.
I get the following error 0x80070522: A required privilege is not hel
by the client

I am the only administrator though on this pc

any further suggestions appreciated

Thanks

Iri

--
irisbu

Hi iris,

Try turning UAC off. Good idea to turn it back on again afterwards

Hope it help

SIW

irisbu;1088460 Wrote:
> @ SIW
>
> I try your suggestions. However, I have a problem to copy and past th
> bootmgr file into boot dir of Vista.
> I get the following error 0x80070522: A required privilege is not hel
> by the client
>
> I am the only administrator though on this pc
>
> any further suggestions appreciated
>
> Thanks
>
> Iri

SIW2;1084861 Wrote:
> Hi Iris
>
> Look in Disk Management and see which partition is marked as "System"
>
> If you are intending to shut down your machine in the near future
> make sure the "System " partition is the one marked Active.
>
> Otherwise you wan't be able to boot
>
> In order to delete the XP partition - you need to make the Vist
> partition the System partition
>
> You can do that as follows
>
> In Vist
>
> Go to folder options and make sure Hidden files and protected operatin
> system files are showing
>
>
> Copy and paste bootmgr and the pale yellow boot folder from X
> partition directly onto the root of the Vista partition.
>
> You will get a message saying bcd is in use and can't be copied - ski
> it and copy the rest
>
> Open an elevated command prompt and type
>
> bcdedit /export C:\Boot\bc
>
> Press enter.
>
> Close command prompt
>
> Make sure Vista partition is marked Active.
>
> Reboot
>
>
> Hope it help
>
> SIW
> > irisbu;1084837 Wrote:
> > Hello
> >
> > I installed Vista on a PC that previously had XP pro. I basically onl
> > need vista nowadays and want to get rid of XP pro to gain more HD space
> >
> > So, Vista is on partition C and XP is on partition D on the sa
> > harddrive.
> > I can not delete or partition the XP part. I get an error messag
> > saying
> >
> > "The attempted operation cannot be completed. This operation is no
> > valid on volumes containing system partition, boot partition or
> > pagefiles
> >
> > The XP partitions says "System, Primary Partition". I set the Vist
> > partition to be 'active'
> >
> > Anybody here with an idea or suggestion how to get rid of XP in a saf
> > way
> >
> > Thanks for your help
> > Iris>

--
SIW2

@SIW

Thanks for the quick reply. I turned UAC off and was able to copy.
followed your steps above.

I still get a problem: I set C: as active. D: which has XP used to b
'active' and 'system'

after a reboot, D drive is again active and also did not change t
system.

What am I missing or overlooking

Thanks again for your help
Iri

--
irisbu

@ SIW

Had problem to assign the Vista partition to be system and activ
yesterday
This morning however I worked just fine. So Vista is active and syste
as well

I have only a last problem now

The partition on the hdd that used to be XP. I did format tha
partition and hoped to be able afterwords to expand the C: partition t
gain the diskspace

But when I click the C: drive under Computer Management, the 'exten
volume' is greyed out and can not click it.

Any suggestions how to get around that problem

Thanks again for your help
Iri

--
irisbu

Hi iris

If the unallocated space is on the left of the left of the Vist
partition - Vista Disk management will not be able to extend

It will only extend a partition to the right.
You would need a third party partition manger to do that.

Hope it help

SIW

irisbu;1088840 Wrote:
> @ SIW
>
> Had problem to assign the Vista partition to be system and activ
> yesterday
> This morning however I worked just fine. So Vista is active and syste
> as well
>
> I have only a last problem now
>
> The partition on the hdd that used to be XP. I did format tha
> partition and hoped to be able afterwords to expand the C: partition t
> gain the diskspace
>
> But when I click the C: drive under Computer Management, the 'exten
> volume' is greyed out and can not click it.
>
> Any suggestions how to get around that problem
>
> Thanks again for your help
> Iri

--
SIW2