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View Full Version : How Can I Undo WIN8 Dual Boot on 2 HDDs



windows
09-05-2010, 06:31 PM
I recently installed Windows 8 Professional 32 bit on my PC. It has two internal hard disk drives, HDD 0 and HDD 1. Before Windows 8, I had Windows XP OS on HDD 0. I moved my WINXP OS to HDD 1, and installed a bran new empty HDD 0. Then I booted my Windows 8 Professional full version DVD and did a clean install to the bran new HDD 0. The install went OK, but unbeknown to me and without any prior warning, the Windows 8 install created a dual boot system. When I boot Windows 8 from HDD 0, I now get a black and white Windows Boot Manager screen with choices of “Earlier Version of Windows” or the highlighted default of “Windows 8”. The Windows 8 install also changed the boot area on my WINXP HDD 1. When I go into the BIOS boot screen and boot from my WINXP OS HDD 1, I get the same Windows Boot Manager screen with the same two choices. Is there any way to undo the dual boot Windows Boot Manager? I would like to get the boot area on my WINXP HDD 1 back to the way it was before the Windows 8 install and have a normal boot area on the Windows 8 HDD 0. I don’t want to remove or uninstall WINXP or Windows 8, I just want to be able to boot from either one via the BIOS normally (without Windows Boot Manager) like the way I could before the Windows 8 install.

HongMay
06-30-2011, 05:22 PM
Smart to boot two OS HD's via BIOS so they can come and go as you please. Unfortunately you didn't know that Windows 8 will configure a multi-boot if installed while another OS is plugged in.

Can you please post back a screenshot of your full Disk Management drive map and listings, using Snipping Tool in Start Menu? There may be something unmentioned about your setup that needs to be taken into account before we can give you failsafe steps.