Accidentally installed Windows on the wrong partition

[zee3b]

Hey,
I have around 5 partitions and 2 hd's my windows vista installation went bad so I decided to install it again, but I accidentally ended up installing it on a different partition, the partition with windows 7(the one I use all the time). So windows vista got installed on my windows 7 partition and now all the content of windows 7 has been moved to a windows.old folder. I know the content is still saved, but I need to access that windows, and I want to stick to it.
I googled and found out it's possible, but didn't really come across a case with windows vista and windows 7. where i want to use windows.old(windows 7) and not use windows vista. I don't need vista on this partition.
Can someone please help me, I really need to get this done as soon as possible.

thanks

 

[Mark56]

I would think the easiest approach would be to first save the windows.old folder to DVD, another partition or external hard drive and then reinstall Windows 7, this should wipe off Vista. You can then put all your old files back on Windows 7.

Then, reinstalll the Vista installation making sure, you select the correct partition.

 

[zee3b]

hey thanks for the reply.
will that restore all my programs too?

 

[superty12]

The files, yes, but you should reinstall them for the registry entries.

 

[zee3b]

thats exactly what i dont want, having to reeinstall everything and get all my settings back.

So what if i copy all the windows old and save it on a different partition then install windows again, from the same DVD on that partition. And install vista on a different partition, boot to vista go to that drive for instance D: and copy paste all the windows.old folder into the current windows folder. Aren't all the registry values saved in the whindows folder?

 

[zee3b]

so im guessing there's no way to boot back to that windows

I found this link

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933168

this shows how to move back to windows old if u installed vista, im sure there's a way out there for vista and windows 7 too! had to be.

 

[Mark56]

I guess you have nothing to loose by following that microsoft guide. Unfortunately the guide is for Vista and you want Windows 7 on that partition in place of the Vista you installed by mistake. This is the same guide for Windows 7.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971760

This guide would be much better as it relates directly to what you are trying to do.

http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-reinstall-windows-7-easily-step-by-step-guide/

First you will have to save that .old folder and then format the partition and reinstall Windows 7. Then you can follow the guide to put your old files back into the installation, Unfortunately you will still have to reinstall all software that you wish to run under Windows 7, there is no other way to do this. This is why many people keep image back ups of their hard drives so if something goes wrong the whole system can be replaced with a mirror image and no need to reinstall all the software.

I would reinstall the Vista installation that you were originally trying to repair or replace first and then when you do the Windows 7 install the dual boot will still work.