How to Remove Windows 7 Beta Dual Boot

You must have the Windows 7 beta DVD to remove the dual boot screen.

Removing Windows 7 beta from a dual-boot configuration lets you free up hard drive space and install the Windows 7 retail installer in place of the beta. Seeing as the Windows 7 beta period ended on August 1, 2009 and the beta can no longer be used, it is important to remove the beta from your computer's dual boot configuration. Upon removing the dual boot capabilities of Windows 7 beta on your computer, you are no longer prompted to select an operating system after starting the computer. This saves time, as you need not wait for the operating system selection screen to load.

Things You'll Need

• Windows 7 beta installation
• Windows 7 beta DVD

Instructions

1. Boot the computer directly into the operating system that was originally installed on the computer, which is most likely Windows XP or Windows Vista if you are looking to uninstall the Windows 7 beta.

2. Slide the installer disc for the Windows 7 beta version into your computer's optical drive.

3. Hold down the "Shift" key after inserting the disc to stop the DVD loading screen from showing up. Once the disc begins spinning, you may let go of the "Shift" key.

4. Launch the Bootsect command from a command prompt window or by making use of the Run function. Press the "Windows" and "R" keys simultaneously to open the Run window.

5. Enter the following command in the field titled Open:

   D:\Boot\Bootsect.exe /nt52 ALL /force

   Replace the "D:" with the letter assigned to the DVD drive on your compute and click "OK."

6. Wait for a Command Prompt window to pop up briefly; this automated Command Prompt window instantly deletes the Windows Boot Manager system and other boot data related to Windows 7 beta.

7. Take the DVD out of the drive and restart the system by selecting "Restart" from the "Start" menu.

8. Restart the computer and verify that the system boots directly into the original version of Windows installed on your machine. You will also notice the bootloader, which lets you choose the version of Windows to boot the computer with, no longer appears.

9. Delete the files titled "Boot.BAK" and "Bootsect.BAK" in the root directory of your hard drive by navigating to the hard drive using My Computer. Click "Delete" again to confirm you want to delete the two system files.

References

• Tech Republic: Use Bootsect to Extract Vista or Windows 7 from a Dual-Boot Configuration
• Microsoft: Description of Windows 7 Beta and Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) Expiration Dates and Functionality