Windows 10: Boot failure after removal of Win 7 HDD

I recently upgraded to Win 10 by installing it on a new SSD, leaving my previous Win 7 SSD intact. I also didn't remove the Win 7 SSD as I planned on formatting it and using it for storage.


It all worked and it even recognized the Win 7 disk and gave me a dual boot option on startup.


Now I want to remove the Win 7 disk entirely, as I don't need the storage after all. Problem is, after removal, windows won't boot. I get the message "DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER"


I've tried the following:

- confirmed in bios that the Win 10 disk is the one booting

- plugged the Win 10 disk into its original SATA channel (as opposed to the channel for the removed Win 7 disk)

- ran startup diagnostic using the Win 10 disk - no errors found


So I don't know why it's giving an error. I should only need the Win 10 disk, as far as I know. In any case, plugging the Win 7 drive back in makes it boot as normal.


I wondered about formatting the Win 7 disk and booting that way, to maybe get windows used to not having two operating systems, but this might cause the same problem?


I want to avoid re-installing Windows with only the Win 10 disk installed in order to get around this. However, if that's the way it must go, another question: I wondered about getting a M.2 disk instead of the 2.5" SATA one in order to use it on a future Motherboard, and for now to use it with a SATA adapter. Is there any disadvantage to this, or will it perform similar to a regular SATA drive?


Thanks in advance!

:)

 

Help on triple boot: Ubuntu, Win 7, XP.

• [/quote] then run it Code: sudo gparted[/quote]
• And you should see that the Windows 7 partition has a flag indicating that it is a boot partition, remove that flag;
• Reinstall Windows XP on sda2 (now XP should install its loader on sda2 too);
• Test if XP boots from GRUB;
• After this restore the boot flag on the 7 partition and test all OSs;

I remember doing something like this long time ago (Longhorn/Vista early days), but it was with two different HDDs so it was "kinda" easier.
Good luck. Click to expand... I did exactly what you said and came up with the same results. It doesn't really matter, though. It's just a slight inconvenience that I can overlook. However, I will remember the steps and commands your provided me for future reference. I appreciate your time and effort in helping me with this matter. One last question. Is it possible to have the following OS'es: Windows XP, Windows 7, and Windows Home Server, all without conflicts?

 

Help on triple boot: Ubuntu, Win 7, XP.

It errors at "missing NTLDR" because Windows XP boot loader wasn't installed on the partition with XP itself, so it relies on the Windows 7 loader. You might wanna do this:

• Boot Ubuntu;
• Run Code: sudo apt-get install gparted[/quote] then run it Code: sudo gparted[/quote]
• And you should see that the Windows 7 partition has a flag indicating that it is a boot partition, remove that flag;
• Reinstall Windows XP on sda2 (now XP should install its loader on sda2 too);
• Test if XP boots from GRUB;
• After this restore the boot flag on the 7 partition and test all OSs;

I remember doing something like this long time ago (Longhorn/Vista early days), but it was with two different HDDs so it was "kinda" easier.
Good luck.

 

Dual Boot Over 2 Hard drives Advice Please.

Steps
1>Disconnect HDD and install Win 8.1 to SSD
2>Disconnect SSD and install Win 7 to HDD
3>Connect both drives, go to BIOS and select the SSD as primary boot device
4>You should be able to boot to Win 8.1
5>Download Easy BCD and add the Win 7 entry by selecting the proper partition of the HDD.

Should be a piece of cake. *Wink