Windows 7 Forums


Reply
Thread Tools

How do I changet the "system" partition ?

 
 
Volzy Volzy is offline
New Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 2
Thanked: 0
 
      07-03-2010
I am not dual booting, but somehow during the upgrade from XP to 7, the installation went to another partition because I had two partitions that were FAT32 and one that was NTFS -- So windows 7 installed on the NTFS. However, the C drive was FAT 32 and that is the "system" partition.
So I think I want to try to delete the C drive and assign the E drive [where windows 7 is installed] as "system", but it wont let me.
 
Reply With Quote
 
 
 
 
Nibiru2012 Nibiru2012 is offline
Quick Scotty, beam me up!
Nibiru2012's Avatar
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Planet X
Posts: 4,851
Thanked: 1073
 
      07-03-2010
Welcome to the Windows 7 Forums website Volzy!

We hope we'll be able to help you out with your issues.

When you did the "upgrade" install instead of clean or "custom" install, Windows 7 will NOT install or run on a FAT32 partition.

You will need to do a clean install to your C drive and reformat it to NTFS, that's the only way to get it to install there.

Windows won't ever let you delete the C drive at all.

Are you running one hard drive or two?

If you're just on one hard drive, you'll have to delete partitions or reformat them to NTFS.

Use Partition Wizard's free bootable ISO CD image and burn it to a CD and then you can boot up from it and change things around.

Use either the native Windows 7 ISO burning software or ImgBurn which is free also.

How to get Partition Wizard Bootable CD
Download Partition Wizard Bootable CD iso file absolutely FREE from http://www.partitionwizard.com/download.html. Burn ISO file onto a CD using any CD/DVD Burner software.

Why Partition Wizard Bootable CD
* Manage partition without installing anything on your computer
* Manage partition without Operating System
* Restore partition if partition table is damaged causing computer to not boot
* Restore partition if partition is deleted by accident causing computer to not boot
* Rebuild MBR if MBR is damaged
* Analyze partition mapping without having to boot computer

What to expect from this bootable CD
Step 1: Choose boot disk

I hope this helps you out some.
 
Reply With Quote
 
Volzy Volzy is offline
New Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 2
Thanked: 0
 
      07-03-2010
Yes I did an upgrade rather than a clean install. I am only running one hard drive. Everything that is installed on E I want to move to C so it can be on the system partition. I already reformatted all of the drives to NTFS. Is there a way to move all of the programs from the E drive to the C drive and assign the C to be the boot drive ?

Last edited by Volzy; 07-03-2010 at 09:25 PM..
 
Reply With Quote
 
Nibiru2012 Nibiru2012 is offline
Quick Scotty, beam me up!
Nibiru2012's Avatar
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Planet X
Posts: 4,851
Thanked: 1073
 
      07-03-2010
I'm not sure if Partition Wizard will do that, even in a boot function.

To be honest with you, your system will be much better and more responsive if you do a clean install.

I know it's a pain, but really you'll will notice a difference. A lot of users have had problems with the upgrade install of Windows 7. Not right away, but within a couple of weeks or so.

If all you have is the Upgrade Windows 7 disks, don't worry, you CAN do a clean install with them and your product key.

Go here to see how it's done > Clean Install Windows 7 with Upgrade Media

Let us know how it turns out! Good Luck!
 
Reply With Quote
 
TrainableMan TrainableMan is offline
^ The World's First ^
TrainableMan's Avatar
Join Date: May 2010
Location: PA, USA
Posts: 4,654
Thanked: 887
 
      07-04-2010
The standard W7 Partition Wizard should let you merge an empty partition if it is directly to the right of the partition you want to merge it with, Unfortunately your C: drive will probably be on the left but at least you may be able to merge the other partitions.

I believe, only one partition may be the system partition at a time. So you may need to remove system from the one drive before assigning it to the other.

There are several freeware partition managers that will do more than the default W7 one and some of them can probably merge all your drives into one.

BTW, once you merge everything you should probably do a search in your registry for C: and D: and E: or whatever it was calling them and make sure they are changed. If you just run a registry cleaner it will likely say, oh not found, I'll delete it for you, when really it should just change D: to C: etc. In fact, is W7 calling where windows is installed the C: drive currently? If not I fear once you merge everything your registry will be a mess. And in that situation ... fresh install is best. Yes it's a pain but it will be more of a pain in 2 weeks when you have all you programs installed and your setting just how you want them and you still get errors all the time.
 
Reply With Quote
 
clifford_cooley clifford_cooley is online now
(c_c)
clifford_cooley's Avatar
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Arkansas, USA
Posts: 4,509
Thanked: 930
 
      07-04-2010
Change your active partition to the partition that Windows 7 is installed to and then reboot.
If your system will not boot, use Windows 7 Install DVD and do what is known as a Startup Repair.
Once this has been done you will be able to remove all other partitions and expand Windows 7.
I know first hand that Partition Wizard Home Edition does an excellent job.
 
Reply With Quote
 
 
 
Reply

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Partition Wizard Home clifford_cooley Free Software Database 12 01-23-2011 02:02 AM
Help with windows 7 upgrade 32bit version to windows 7 64bit version dubld24lo Installation, Setup and Updates 19 02-21-2010 10:47 PM
can't format extra HDs grichardt Windows 7 Support 3 02-21-2010 05:56 AM
Resizing hard drive in new Windows 7 Berni Installation, Setup and Updates 5 01-16-2010 12:18 PM
Windows 7 Ultimate 32- bit to 64-bit lewwarren Installation, Setup and Updates 13 11-16-2009 05:35 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 12:27 PM.
W7Forums is an independent website and is not affiliated with Microsoft Corporation.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33