Delete a hard disk partition

You must be logged on as an administrator to perform these steps.

When you delete a hard disk partition or volume (the terms partition and volume are often used interchangeably), you create empty space that you can use to create new partitions.

If your hard disk is currently set up as a single partition, then you cannot delete it. You also cannot delete the system partition, boot partition, or any partition that contains the virtual memory paging file, because Windows needs this information to start correctly.

Warning

1. Click to open Computer Management.‌  If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

2. In the Navigation pane, under Storage, click Disk Management.

3. Right-click the volume, such as a partition or logical drive, that you want to delete, and then click Delete Volume.

4. Click Yes to delete the volume.

The resulting empty space is called unallocated space if you deleted a primary partition, or free space if you deleted a logical drive within an extended partition. You can now use the empty space to create additional volumes.

This is in the help section of my Vista Home Premium...works just fine.