Multiple installs of Vista, how do i remove old ones?

charltonfan1 · 2 Aug 2007 at 16:54

To cut a long story short, i had loads of problems installing Vista last night and nearly lost all my data, however i think i'm now operational again.

I now have 3 copies of Vista installed on my machine, 2 in the same partition (for some reason it wouldn't write over the 1st copy, instead it moved it to "Windows old" directory) and one in another partition that i want to keep and use.

I have deleted the "Windows old" directory and am going to get rid of the 2nd install but i was unsure whether deleting the windows folder is sufficient?

Hope this makes some sense......

Cheers

charltonfan1 · 3 Aug 2007 at 14:58

Zap said:
The above won't work for vista, you have to use bcdedit (or http://www.vistabootpro.org/) if you prefer a gui

That helped remove them from the boot menu, thanks!

I've tried deleting the "windows" folder for the install i no longer need and it says its protected?

charltonfan1 · 6 Aug 2007 at 17:59

sWiZzLe said:
Even in safemode?

yes just tried safemode and get the same error message

charltonfan1 · 7 Aug 2007 at 01:53

modo77 said:
Can you right click the windows folder, properties, security, edit and take full control. Then try deleting it?

When i try to take full control is says "An error occurred when applying security information to:

D:\Windows

Access is denied

Final8y said:
You need to turn off UAC to delete some system files/folders

Done that. Thanks for all your suggestions guys. I'm not sure how i can get any more permissions! im the administrator and only user, perhaps i need to get Bill to do it himself

charltonfan1 · 7 Aug 2007 at 02:27

modo77 said:
Odd, try Sure Delete

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/downloads/index.cfm?categoryID=1503&itemID=22393

It has 3 ways to try remove files/folders, give them all a go

thanks for your continued help. Gave all 3 a go and each had an error saying:

Run time error '75'
Path/file access error

charltonfan1 · 7 Aug 2007 at 12:00

some files and folders within the windows folder can be removed but the majority cannot.

I've ordered an external drive so ill backup my stuff then wipe that partition and start again.

thanks again