Vista Tutorial - Can't format drive after dual boot removed

I installed C:\Vista and D:\WinXP as a dual boot setup using two SATA drives
and EasyBCD 1.52. Everything was fine and I continued to use them both until
I felt everything was stable. I decided it was time to remove the training
wheels (XP dual boot) using EasyBCD 1.52. I rebooted and everything was fine.
Now I wanted to format D:\. Right clicking on the drive and selected Format
it would not allow me to do it. I then proceeded to delete everything on the
drive. I can delete everything, but Boot and Bootmgr. It tells me that they
are in use. To prove this I unplugged the D:\ drive and the system would not
boot.
This is what is showing in EasyBCD:
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k180/irvdk/Boot.jpg
Can someone tell me what is wrong and how to fix it?

The boot records have been placed on your second hard drive. I had a similar
problem (but not with SATA) I have two hard drives, on drive 0 i dual boot
XP and Vista, on drive 1 i have a backup partition and other backup images.

While XP and Vista dual boot on drive 0 everything is fine. However, i
reformatted drive 0 and installed Vista on its own. Vista, in its infinite
wisdom, created a 10GB partition on my second hard drive (drive 1) and
installed all the boot records. When i dual booted with XP and Vista all
boot records were stored on the XP partition on drive 0.

I believe it is a BIOS problem so check to see if your BIOS had an update
(mine doesn't, even though the machine is only 2 years old). If there is no
BIOS update then the only option is to stay as you are with the boot records
on your second hard drive. Although you should only have a 10GB partition
for these files, the rest of the drive should be okay for formatting.

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows - Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

"Irv" <Irv@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:0E7A5D5C-5096-46BB-AD55-3724A3DBC1E4@microsoft.com...
>I installed C:\Vista and D:\WinXP as a dual boot setup using two SATA
>drives
> and EasyBCD 1.52. Everything was fine and I continued to use them both
> until
> I felt everything was stable. I decided it was time to remove the training
> wheels (XP dual boot) using EasyBCD 1.52. I rebooted and everything was
> fine.
> Now I wanted to format D:\. Right clicking on the drive and selected
> Format
> it would not allow me to do it. I then proceeded to delete everything on
> the
> drive. I can delete everything, but Boot and Bootmgr. It tells me that
> they
> are in use. To prove this I unplugged the D:\ drive and the system would
> not
> boot.
> This is what is showing in EasyBCD:
> http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k180/irvdk/Boot.jpg
> Can someone tell me what is wrong and how to fix it?
>

Hard for me to believe that there is not a way to tell windows that the boot
records is not on the correct drive. Surely you could go into the Registry
and make a change???
Irv
PS..I am running the latest available Bios


"John Barnett MVP" wrote:

> The boot records have been placed on your second hard drive. I had a similar
> problem (but not with SATA) I have two hard drives, on drive 0 i dual boot
> XP and Vista, on drive 1 i have a backup partition and other backup images.
>
> While XP and Vista dual boot on drive 0 everything is fine. However, i
> reformatted drive 0 and installed Vista on its own. Vista, in its infinite
> wisdom, created a 10GB partition on my second hard drive (drive 1) and
> installed all the boot records. When i dual booted with XP and Vista all
> boot records were stored on the XP partition on drive 0.
>
> I believe it is a BIOS problem so check to see if your BIOS had an update
> (mine doesn't, even though the machine is only 2 years old). If there is no
> BIOS update then the only option is to stay as you are with the boot records
> on your second hard drive. Although you should only have a 10GB partition
> for these files, the rest of the drive should be okay for formatting.
>
> --
> John Barnett MVP
> Associate Expert
> Windows - Shell/User
>
> Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
> Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org
>
> The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
> kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
> reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
> any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
> use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
> mail/post..
>
> "Irv" <Irv@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:0E7A5D5C-5096-46BB-AD55-3724A3DBC1E4@microsoft.com...
> >I installed C:\Vista and D:\WinXP as a dual boot setup using two SATA
> >drives
> > and EasyBCD 1.52. Everything was fine and I continued to use them both
> > until
> > I felt everything was stable. I decided it was time to remove the training
> > wheels (XP dual boot) using EasyBCD 1.52. I rebooted and everything was
> > fine.
> > Now I wanted to format D:\. Right clicking on the drive and selected
> > Format
> > it would not allow me to do it. I then proceeded to delete everything on
> > the
> > drive. I can delete everything, but Boot and Bootmgr. It tells me that
> > they
> > are in use. To prove this I unplugged the D:\ drive and the system would
> > not
> > boot.
> > This is what is showing in EasyBCD:
> > http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k180/irvdk/Boot.jpg
> > Can someone tell me what is wrong and how to fix it?
> >
>
>

Go into your BIOS and change the boot order to have the Vista drive first in
boot priority (after the DVD player). You may have to do this in two
places, one to put the HD in the proper boot order and another to place the
Vista drive at the top of the HD priority.
Then insert the Vista DVD and start the install until you get to the place
where you have the repair options. Do a repair start or startup or whatever
it's called and you will be okay. Prior versions in test required as many
as 3 tries before it worked, so don't give up if the first and second tries
fail. Do the startup repair, reboot and you should be okay to format the
other drive.


"Irv" <Irv@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:0E7A5D5C-5096-46BB-AD55-3724A3DBC1E4@microsoft.com...
>I installed C:\Vista and D:\WinXP as a dual boot setup using two SATA
>drives
> and EasyBCD 1.52. Everything was fine and I continued to use them both
> until
> I felt everything was stable. I decided it was time to remove the training
> wheels (XP dual boot) using EasyBCD 1.52. I rebooted and everything was
> fine.
> Now I wanted to format D:\. Right clicking on the drive and selected
> Format
> it would not allow me to do it. I then proceeded to delete everything on
> the
> drive. I can delete everything, but Boot and Bootmgr. It tells me that
> they
> are in use. To prove this I unplugged the D:\ drive and the system would
> not
> boot.
> This is what is showing in EasyBCD:
> http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k180/irvdk/Boot.jpg
> Can someone tell me what is wrong and how to fix it?
>

Tried it four or five times to no avail. It will not take it. It keeps
showing that the Vista installation is on the D:\ Partition of the C:\ drive.
No matter what I do it will not change.
Irv

"John Barnes" wrote:

> Go into your BIOS and change the boot order to have the Vista drive first in
> boot priority (after the DVD player). You may have to do this in two
> places, one to put the HD in the proper boot order and another to place the
> Vista drive at the top of the HD priority.
> Then insert the Vista DVD and start the install until you get to the place
> where you have the repair options. Do a repair start or startup or whatever
> it's called and you will be okay. Prior versions in test required as many
> as 3 tries before it worked, so don't give up if the first and second tries
> fail. Do the startup repair, reboot and you should be okay to format the
> other drive.
>
>
> "Irv" <Irv@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:0E7A5D5C-5096-46BB-AD55-3724A3DBC1E4@microsoft.com...
> >I installed C:\Vista and D:\WinXP as a dual boot setup using two SATA
> >drives
> > and EasyBCD 1.52. Everything was fine and I continued to use them both
> > until
> > I felt everything was stable. I decided it was time to remove the training
> > wheels (XP dual boot) using EasyBCD 1.52. I rebooted and everything was
> > fine.
> > Now I wanted to format D:\. Right clicking on the drive and selected
> > Format
> > it would not allow me to do it. I then proceeded to delete everything on
> > the
> > drive. I can delete everything, but Boot and Bootmgr. It tells me that
> > they
> > are in use. To prove this I unplugged the D:\ drive and the system would
> > not
> > boot.
> > This is what is showing in EasyBCD:
> > http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k180/irvdk/Boot.jpg
> > Can someone tell me what is wrong and how to fix it?
> >
>
>

Try unplugging the non Vista drive and do your startup repair. Leave the
drive unplugged until you boot, or at least try a couple more times. Let us
know any error messages you get when you try to reboot after the repair
completes if it doesn't boot. (you can always plug it back in if it still
continues to fail)

"Irv" <Irv@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
newsC4AE54B-9667-4861-AC01-C0D08664B3A0@microsoft.com...
> Tried it four or five times to no avail. It will not take it. It keeps
> showing that the Vista installation is on the D:\ Partition of the C:\
> drive.
> No matter what I do it will not change.
> Irv
>
> "John Barnes" wrote:
>
>> Go into your BIOS and change the boot order to have the Vista drive first
>> in
>> boot priority (after the DVD player). You may have to do this in two
>> places, one to put the HD in the proper boot order and another to place
>> the
>> Vista drive at the top of the HD priority.
>> Then insert the Vista DVD and start the install until you get to the
>> place
>> where you have the repair options. Do a repair start or startup or
>> whatever
>> it's called and you will be okay. Prior versions in test required as
>> many
>> as 3 tries before it worked, so don't give up if the first and second
>> tries
>> fail. Do the startup repair, reboot and you should be okay to format the
>> other drive.
>>
>>
>> "Irv" <Irv@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:0E7A5D5C-5096-46BB-AD55-3724A3DBC1E4@microsoft.com...
>> >I installed C:\Vista and D:\WinXP as a dual boot setup using two SATA
>> >drives
>> > and EasyBCD 1.52. Everything was fine and I continued to use them both
>> > until
>> > I felt everything was stable. I decided it was time to remove the
>> > training
>> > wheels (XP dual boot) using EasyBCD 1.52. I rebooted and everything was
>> > fine.
>> > Now I wanted to format D:\. Right clicking on the drive and selected
>> > Format
>> > it would not allow me to do it. I then proceeded to delete everything
>> > on
>> > the
>> > drive. I can delete everything, but Boot and Bootmgr. It tells me that
>> > they
>> > are in use. To prove this I unplugged the D:\ drive and the system
>> > would
>> > not
>> > boot.
>> > This is what is showing in EasyBCD:
>> > http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k180/irvdk/Boot.jpg
>> > Can someone tell me what is wrong and how to fix it?
>> >
>>
>>

The BIOS passes control to the MBR (in an MBR system) which locates the
proper volume boot record (active partition) to find the boot files. BCD
for Vista ntldr for NT systems.

"Irv" <Irv@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:CC0FCEE7-78EE-4AD8-89D5-D4C772E4BEAD@microsoft.com...
> Hard for me to believe that there is not a way to tell windows that the
> boot
> records is not on the correct drive. Surely you could go into the
> Registry
> and make a change???
> Irv
> PS..I am running the latest available Bios
>
>
> "John Barnett MVP" wrote:
>
>> The boot records have been placed on your second hard drive. I had a
>> similar
>> problem (but not with SATA) I have two hard drives, on drive 0 i dual
>> boot
>> XP and Vista, on drive 1 i have a backup partition and other backup
>> images.
>>
>> While XP and Vista dual boot on drive 0 everything is fine. However, i
>> reformatted drive 0 and installed Vista on its own. Vista, in its
>> infinite
>> wisdom, created a 10GB partition on my second hard drive (drive 1) and
>> installed all the boot records. When i dual booted with XP and Vista all
>> boot records were stored on the XP partition on drive 0.
>>
>> I believe it is a BIOS problem so check to see if your BIOS had an update
>> (mine doesn't, even though the machine is only 2 years old). If there is
>> no
>> BIOS update then the only option is to stay as you are with the boot
>> records
>> on your second hard drive. Although you should only have a 10GB partition
>> for these files, the rest of the drive should be okay for formatting.
>>
>> --
>> John Barnett MVP
>> Associate Expert
>> Windows - Shell/User
>>
>> Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
>> Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org
>>
>> The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
>> kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
>> reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable
>> for
>> any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of
>> the
>> use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
>> mail/post..
>>
>> "Irv" <Irv@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:0E7A5D5C-5096-46BB-AD55-3724A3DBC1E4@microsoft.com...
>> >I installed C:\Vista and D:\WinXP as a dual boot setup using two SATA
>> >drives
>> > and EasyBCD 1.52. Everything was fine and I continued to use them both
>> > until
>> > I felt everything was stable. I decided it was time to remove the
>> > training
>> > wheels (XP dual boot) using EasyBCD 1.52. I rebooted and everything was
>> > fine.
>> > Now I wanted to format D:\. Right clicking on the drive and selected
>> > Format
>> > it would not allow me to do it. I then proceeded to delete everything
>> > on
>> > the
>> > drive. I can delete everything, but Boot and Bootmgr. It tells me that
>> > they
>> > are in use. To prove this I unplugged the D:\ drive and the system
>> > would
>> > not
>> > boot.
>> > This is what is showing in EasyBCD:
>> > http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k180/irvdk/Boot.jpg
>> > Can someone tell me what is wrong and how to fix it?
>> >
>>
>>

I thought I might not have been clear enough to you so I did this to help.
Have have tried doing that, but then it does not see the windows Vista
installation and wants to reinstall.
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1.../CompMgrmt.jpg

Thanks for taking the time to help me.
Irv

"John Barnes" wrote:

> Try unplugging the non Vista drive and do your startup repair. Leave the
> drive unplugged until you boot, or at least try a couple more times. Let us
> know any error messages you get when you try to reboot after the repair
> completes if it doesn't boot. (you can always plug it back in if it still
> continues to fail)
>
> "Irv" <Irv@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> newsC4AE54B-9667-4861-AC01-C0D08664B3A0@microsoft.com...
> > Tried it four or five times to no avail. It will not take it. It keeps
> > showing that the Vista installation is on the D:\ Partition of the C:\
> > drive.
> > No matter what I do it will not change.
> > Irv
> >
> > "John Barnes" wrote:
> >
> >> Go into your BIOS and change the boot order to have the Vista drive first
> >> in
> >> boot priority (after the DVD player). You may have to do this in two
> >> places, one to put the HD in the proper boot order and another to place
> >> the
> >> Vista drive at the top of the HD priority.
> >> Then insert the Vista DVD and start the install until you get to the
> >> place
> >> where you have the repair options. Do a repair start or startup or
> >> whatever
> >> it's called and you will be okay. Prior versions in test required as
> >> many
> >> as 3 tries before it worked, so don't give up if the first and second
> >> tries
> >> fail. Do the startup repair, reboot and you should be okay to format the
> >> other drive.
> >>
> >>
> >> "Irv" <Irv@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> news:0E7A5D5C-5096-46BB-AD55-3724A3DBC1E4@microsoft.com...
> >> >I installed C:\Vista and D:\WinXP as a dual boot setup using two SATA
> >> >drives
> >> > and EasyBCD 1.52. Everything was fine and I continued to use them both
> >> > until
> >> > I felt everything was stable. I decided it was time to remove the
> >> > training
> >> > wheels (XP dual boot) using EasyBCD 1.52. I rebooted and everything was
> >> > fine.
> >> > Now I wanted to format D:\. Right clicking on the drive and selected
> >> > Format
> >> > it would not allow me to do it. I then proceeded to delete everything
> >> > on
> >> > the
> >> > drive. I can delete everything, but Boot and Bootmgr. It tells me that
> >> > they
> >> > are in use. To prove this I unplugged the D:\ drive and the system
> >> > would
> >> > not
> >> > boot.
> >> > This is what is showing in EasyBCD:
> >> > http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k180/irvdk/Boot.jpg
> >> > Can someone tell me what is wrong and how to fix it?
> >> >
> >>
> >>
>
>

Make sure to make the C partition active before trying these steps. In Disk
Management, right click and select mark the partition as active.


"Irv" <Irv@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A6579CA1-8D7B-42E6-894B-7D84744797C2@microsoft.com...
>I thought I might not have been clear enough to you so I did this to help.
> Have have tried doing that, but then it does not see the windows Vista
> installation and wants to reinstall.
> http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1.../CompMgrmt.jpg
>
> Thanks for taking the time to help me.
> Irv
>
> "John Barnes" wrote:
>
>> Try unplugging the non Vista drive and do your startup repair. Leave the
>> drive unplugged until you boot, or at least try a couple more times. Let
>> us
>> know any error messages you get when you try to reboot after the repair
>> completes if it doesn't boot. (you can always plug it back in if it
>> still
>> continues to fail)
>>
>> "Irv" <Irv@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> newsC4AE54B-9667-4861-AC01-C0D08664B3A0@microsoft.com...
>> > Tried it four or five times to no avail. It will not take it. It
>> > keeps
>> > showing that the Vista installation is on the D:\ Partition of the C:\
>> > drive.
>> > No matter what I do it will not change.
>> > Irv
>> >
>> > "John Barnes" wrote:
>> >
>> >> Go into your BIOS and change the boot order to have the Vista drive
>> >> first
>> >> in
>> >> boot priority (after the DVD player). You may have to do this in two
>> >> places, one to put the HD in the proper boot order and another to
>> >> place
>> >> the
>> >> Vista drive at the top of the HD priority.
>> >> Then insert the Vista DVD and start the install until you get to the
>> >> place
>> >> where you have the repair options. Do a repair start or startup or
>> >> whatever
>> >> it's called and you will be okay. Prior versions in test required as
>> >> many
>> >> as 3 tries before it worked, so don't give up if the first and second
>> >> tries
>> >> fail. Do the startup repair, reboot and you should be okay to format
>> >> the
>> >> other drive.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> "Irv" <Irv@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> >> news:0E7A5D5C-5096-46BB-AD55-3724A3DBC1E4@microsoft.com...
>> >> >I installed C:\Vista and D:\WinXP as a dual boot setup using two SATA
>> >> >drives
>> >> > and EasyBCD 1.52. Everything was fine and I continued to use them
>> >> > both
>> >> > until
>> >> > I felt everything was stable. I decided it was time to remove the
>> >> > training
>> >> > wheels (XP dual boot) using EasyBCD 1.52. I rebooted and everything
>> >> > was
>> >> > fine.
>> >> > Now I wanted to format D:\. Right clicking on the drive and selected
>> >> > Format
>> >> > it would not allow me to do it. I then proceeded to delete
>> >> > everything
>> >> > on
>> >> > the
>> >> > drive. I can delete everything, but Boot and Bootmgr. It tells me
>> >> > that
>> >> > they
>> >> > are in use. To prove this I unplugged the D:\ drive and the system
>> >> > would
>> >> > not
>> >> > boot.
>> >> > This is what is showing in EasyBCD:
>> >> > http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k180/irvdk/Boot.jpg
>> >> > Can someone tell me what is wrong and how to fix it?
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >>
>>
>>

John i've tried all that on my own system and it didn't work. As soon as the
second drive was plugged in again i got a no operating system found error.
Did a repair and vista put the boot records on the second hard drive.

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows - Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

"John Barnes" <jbarnes@email.net> wrote in message
news:%23$X5jICZHHA.4988@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Try unplugging the non Vista drive and do your startup repair. Leave the
> drive unplugged until you boot, or at least try a couple more times. Let
> us know any error messages you get when you try to reboot after the repair
> completes if it doesn't boot. (you can always plug it back in if it still
> continues to fail)
>
> "Irv" <Irv@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> newsC4AE54B-9667-4861-AC01-C0D08664B3A0@microsoft.com...
>> Tried it four or five times to no avail. It will not take it. It keeps
>> showing that the Vista installation is on the D:\ Partition of the C:\
>> drive.
>> No matter what I do it will not change.
>> Irv
>>
>> "John Barnes" wrote:
>>
>>> Go into your BIOS and change the boot order to have the Vista drive
>>> first in
>>> boot priority (after the DVD player). You may have to do this in two
>>> places, one to put the HD in the proper boot order and another to place
>>> the
>>> Vista drive at the top of the HD priority.
>>> Then insert the Vista DVD and start the install until you get to the
>>> place
>>> where you have the repair options. Do a repair start or startup or
>>> whatever
>>> it's called and you will be okay. Prior versions in test required as
>>> many
>>> as 3 tries before it worked, so don't give up if the first and second
>>> tries
>>> fail. Do the startup repair, reboot and you should be okay to format
>>> the
>>> other drive.
>>>
>>>
>>> "Irv" <Irv@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>>> news:0E7A5D5C-5096-46BB-AD55-3724A3DBC1E4@microsoft.com...
>>> >I installed C:\Vista and D:\WinXP as a dual boot setup using two SATA
>>> >drives
>>> > and EasyBCD 1.52. Everything was fine and I continued to use them both
>>> > until
>>> > I felt everything was stable. I decided it was time to remove the
>>> > training
>>> > wheels (XP dual boot) using EasyBCD 1.52. I rebooted and everything
>>> > was
>>> > fine.
>>> > Now I wanted to format D:\. Right clicking on the drive and selected
>>> > Format
>>> > it would not allow me to do it. I then proceeded to delete everything
>>> > on
>>> > the
>>> > drive. I can delete everything, but Boot and Bootmgr. It tells me that
>>> > they
>>> > are in use. To prove this I unplugged the D:\ drive and the system
>>> > would
>>> > not
>>> > boot.
>>> > This is what is showing in EasyBCD:
>>> > http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k180/irvdk/Boot.jpg
>>> > Can someone tell me what is wrong and how to fix it?
>>> >
>>>
>>>
>