[Steve]

I have a dual-boot with Windows 10 and Windows 7. I left Win7 there when I installed 10, sort of as a security blanket. How can I get rid of the Win 7 option AND reclaim all the space that it uses? I know how to access System Configuration via msconfig, and I can delete the Win 7 boot, but I’m sure that leaves all sorts of mess.

[TeamKomando:John]

Hello 263659,

Thanks for using the forums’s, firstly you will want to be sure to have a backup or a clone of your existing storage, I recommend using Macrium Reflect Free to create an image you can restore from if there is any issue.

You can then follow the steps outlined here to remove Windows 7, after formatting the Windows 7 partition you can use disk manager to expand your Windows 10 partition to utilize the entire disk or continue using it as D:\ if you are fine with that.

Let us know how it goes!

[Steve]

John, thanks for that info. My Windows 7 installation is on partition “D” which also contains some various data folders. If all I do is delete the Win 7 boot in System Config, and delete the Windows folder on the “D” drive, am I going to run into trouble there? Can I also delete the Program Files and Program Files (x86) from within the “D” drive without Win 10 issues, since everything Win 10 lives on “C”?

[Steve]

Additional follow-up question – does the action of deleting the Win7 boot in System Config do the job of deleting the Windows folder on “D” and/or the Program Files folders on “D”? I just like to know what is going to happen before I click, y’know? Thanks.

[TeamKomando:John]

Steve,

Deleting the Win 7 boot in System Config will not have any effect on any of the data on your D:/ drive.
Deleting the Windows directory and both of the program files folders from D:/ will not cause any issues as Windows 10 would be on the c:/ to confirm this you can paste “%windir%” (without quotes) in a run dialogue box (winkey + r) or any file explorer to confirm where Windows 10 is running from.

Before proceeding I would still be sure to have a full backup of your Hard Disk Drive.

Let us know how it goes, if you have any issues deleting any of those directories you might want to take a look at this neat registry hack to provide a take ownership options in the right click sub context menu. You would not have to follow every step, you can also use the .reg files in the URL at the bottom of the article.

[Author]

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