i want to dual boot Linux and windows 7 (whats already installed )
i have 2 hdd one with windows 7 installed on(c drive) and drivers etc . and on my second one i have my media .
so my question is if i make a partition on my c drive and install Linux as well will i still be able to access my media on the second hard disk if i boot Linux or windows 7 .
dual booting windows 7 home premium x64 with linux fedora 14 on dual independantly dedicated drives. i am a college student with moderate computer (windows) knowledge but am doing software development and would like to play around with some linux for a class. i have no prior experience with linux and have minimal knowledge of operation. i am currently running windows 7 and would like to keep it as my primary os. i do not wish to share media files across drives or os's, windows does that just fine as is and i dont want to get into a third drive. my current drive is a 1tb wd black caviar hdd. it is also currently 2/3rds full and the desktop is about 6 months old so i would rather not partition the drive for a dual boot. i would think that there are some other advantages for the os's operating independantly off their own drives other than if one hdd dies i should still have the other with its os still ok. i have read some topics about RAID configs with dual boot setups with dual drives like this but am not very familiar with RAID. is there a RAID config that would be beneficial in this situation? i currently do not have a RAID card. my tower internals are not very accessible and i dont like the idea of disconnecting drives depending on which os i want to operate.
View 5 Replies View RelatedI would like to learn some linux and for that i need a secondary OS, I want to keep my Internal as my Windows 7 drive and that has boot priority but i want the linux to run from partition 2 (or 1) on an external HDD
View 4 Replies View RelatedI want to install linux along with windows 7 on my Dell studio 15. For this as i have read on the threads that C: drive needs to be shrunk as it is the active partition . And for linux at least 10 GB should be kept as unallocated space . But when i tried to shrink my C: drive then the available space for shrinking is shown to be just 39 MB which is highly insufficient. how to increase this size and install linux on my PC .
View 1 Replies View Relatedhow to do dual boot with windows 7 and linux
View 2 Replies View RelatedI have been using Linux Mint, which is based on Ubuntu, since the last time I visited the forums but now I want to dual boot with Windows 7. So, I have just Mint 8 (based on Ubuntu 9.10) installed on my laptop (nothing else), and I if I wanted to dual boot with Windows 7, how would I do it? I know I could use VirtualBox to run Windows 7 but I want to dual-boot.
View 9 Replies View RelatedI've Linux Debian installed at my workstation. We are not allowed to remove it. But I would like to make the system dual-boot. Debian Lenny is already installed, How can I safely install Win7RC along with the Debian without losing any of the files/system/partition etc.
View 2 Replies View Relatedi tried to instal in vmware in that linux installation taking more time around 4 hours?
View 1 Replies View RelatedI'm using multiple hard drives to install both fedora and Windows 7. I've followed this online tutorial exactly: Dual-booting Fedora 14 and Windows 7 on a computer with 2 hard drives
The problem I seem to be facing is on the "Add a new Entry Step". His secondary OS partition has a drive letter assigned to it and I do not. I've gone into computer management and have tried to assign a drive letter to either of my secondary OS's hard drive partitions and it will not let me.
All I need is the boot loader to link to my second hard drive when the second option (OS) is chosen.
About 6 months ago I set up a new machine dual boot using GParted with the following configuration:
/dev/sda1 ntfs (Windows 7 system reserved) 100 MB
/dev/sda2 ntfs (Windows7 C: drive) 99 GB (includes 4 GB of preloaded page file space)
/dev/sda3 ntfs (Shared drive - Windows7 E: Drive / Ubuntu sda3) 801 GB
/dev/sda4 extended partition 32 GB
/dev/sda5 ext4 (Linux Root) 30 GB
/dev/sda6 linux-swap 2 GB
I set it up so that I could access my E: drive from either the windows or ubuntu operating system. It has worked perfectly so far (about 6 months). But, here is the problem:For some reason as the share drive (my E: drive / sda3) grows Windows thinks that the windows system drive (sda2/c:drive) is also growing. So that now I have a low storage warning stating that there is only 8.76 GB of free space left on my 99 GB C: drive. When, in reality, there should be about 77 GB of free space. I've made hidden files/folders viewable and downloaded treesizefree so I know what should be on the drive. The Treesizefree output shows the expected 22 GB of space but also shows only 9 GB of free space. So, the missing space is nearly exactly the size of my shared drive (sda3/E:drive). So somehow, I think the windows OS is double counting my shared E: drive against my C: drive.
I would like to install Linux Ubuntu on my laptop alongside Windows using dual boot. However, people keep telling me that it is not a good idea this to be done on a laptop because of driver comparability and stuff like that. So is it OK if dual boot Ubuntu and Windows on a laptop or it is a terrible idea?
View 5 Replies View RelatedI'm going to make a clean install of windows 7 and therefor have some question
1)As I want to make a dual boot install with a Linux distribution I thinking about the Partitioning. I want to make following Partitions: [code] Windows 7 also always creates this small 100MB system restore partition. So what would be the best way to prepare these Partions. I would use GParted Live CD to create the Partition in advance, that everything is the way I like it. But I'm not sure if this works without problems for the 100 MB system restore partition (lasts time I got 2 100 MB partitions)
2) I want to move the Users data to a separate partition and found this guides: User Profiles - Create and Move During Windows 7 Installation [2]=User%20Accounts User Folders - Change Default Location(Don't know which one I chose to do so till now) But I see in Windows 7 there are much more useless directories in the users home directory:I've already learned the new Library system, but I still want to use the Users directory. But there is a great mess. Is there a useful/possible way to prevent the directory to mess up with all the sub directories, often created by some apps, don't really using the directory. Or are you just ignore the users home directory? Usually I got about 5 to 8 sub-directories in each Directory for a tidy system to find everything and have a good ordered system.
I bought each of my twin sons a Dell Inspiron 15R. As teenage boys do, they really mucked them up with every kind of virus and x-ware out there. After not being completely successful cleaning them up with various anti-what-ever programs, I decided to reformat and do a clean install. Problem is, Dell no longer furnishes a hard copy of the OS that was installed at factory. Apparently, they have partitioned the hard drive and installed all original software in that partition, and provided a PC Restore program that will access all software and re-set-up the computer to the state is was when purchased. After doing this, everything worked fine as it claimed it would. Personally, I find it to be the best thing that Dell has done with MS in years.
My question is this...Can I dual boot this set-up with Linux (which I use exclusively, and my son wants to learn), or will this partition that Dell is now using cause me real problems in the case that I may need to perform a future PC Restore?
I had windows 7 originally Installed on my Laptop. I then Installed Ubuntu 9.10 Desktop version, and it installed the grub boot loader
(All on 1 single HD, each OS is on its own partition.)
This boot loader was used to dual boot between windows and Linux. However now the grub boot loader is broken, and I was talking to some people how knew about Ubuntu, and they said to just delete its partition, which I did.
Now when I boot from my HD I just get a broken grub boot loader, and can’t get even get into my Win 7. Now I just want to get ride of this Grub boot loader, and get Windows 7 MBR back. I have booted from my windows 7 recovery disc, and have done:
Startup Repair – It found no problems, but HD still only boots to broken grub boot loader
System Restore – I restored to before I was having this problem, but HD still only boots to broken grub boot loader
I am trying to figure out what commands to enter in the command prompt to repair the MBR, or maybe just view what partitions are in my computer, and then completely delete the one with Grub on it.
If I type bcdedit I get this:
Windows Boot Manager
Identifier:{bootmgr}
Device:partition = C:
Description:Windows Boot Manager
Inherit:{globalsettings}
Default:{default}
Displayorder:{default}
Windows Boot Loader
Identifier:{default}
Device:partition = D:
Path:Windowssystem32winload.exe
Description:Windows 7
Inherit:{bootsequencesettings]
Recoveryenabled: yes
Osdevice:partition = D:
Systemroot: windows
Nx:OptIn
According to this everything looks fine, The C partition is that 100MB system reserved boot partition that windows 7 creates, and the D partition is a 100GB partition that I created on the HardDrive that windows 7 was installed to. I don’t understand why the windows boot loader will not boot, somehow the grub boot loader is still over riding it, even though I deleted the partition that ubuntu was installed on, and where the grub should have been installed as well.
From the command prompt, if I use diskpart, there are only 2 partitions, a 100MB one, and a 100GB one. Those are C and D respectively, so I am not sure how the grub is still loading unless it installed itself to a NTFS partition if that is even possible.
Does anyone know what commands I can try to repair or recreate the MBR so that windows 7 will load, or maybe commands to delete this Grub boot loader?
i have a copy of windows 7 ulitmate and cant get it to boot up, its all activated on the disk
View 9 Replies View RelatedHow do i uninstall any linux distro after successfully installing both windows and linux.i dont want to lose my MBR. [or] will it (Windows) rewrite it again.i am a bit scared to do it myself as i was going to do a secure deletion of the partition.
View 5 Replies View RelatedI posted here a little less than a week ago asking how to reclaim the free space from the linux partition I deleted. Today I restarted my computer for the first time and it won't recognize win7 on my computer. Was I supposed to do something after I deleted linux? I tried using my win7 cd to see if I could boot like that, but it just wants to reinstall windows, which I would rather not do.
View 2 Replies View RelatedI installed Win 7 on a triple boot with Vista and Linux and meant to keep Linux and Win 7, expecting Vista to be overwritten. Unforeseen Vista remained installed.
Using a special boot cdrom, I get entries for all 3 OS, but Vista boots into my Lenovo laptop's rescue software and proposes to "rescue" the Vista and I can't get passed that. I expect it means deleting the other OS?
I imagine I could uninstall Vista in some way placed in the folder Windows_Old or maybe being able to boot it, as I would be able to get some registration keys off software as well as using some software that doesn't work on Windows 7. How can I now uninstall Vista safely?
I expect a partition manager like in Linux could recover the partitions for new data.
Does anyone have some comments on this?
Windows 7 64 turns off the monitor 1 signal after startup. At login, it powers off monitor 1 and powers on monitor 2. Windows 7 behaves as though dual display is working even though monitor 1 does not display. It's the same for single display, the monitor will not work on cable 1 except at startup.Both 'Extend these displays' in Windows Screen Resolution and 'Extend' in the Nvidia Control Panel is selected. And changing which one is primary does not turn on monitor 1. Nor does switching the position of display 1 in either (ex.left/right/top/bottom).GeForce 8400 GS; Dual Monitor Solution 59 pin (DMS-59) to 2 VGA adapter -tried two of these adapter cables.atest Driver: 306.23 - installed a clean reset install of the latest Nvidia driver released last week.Same Resolution: 2 of the 4 monitors I have tried have the exact same 'recommended' resolution (1280X 1024), both 60Hz, and even chose 16 bit color for both instead of 32 to reduce resources.
Linux worked: Dual display worked immediately when I tried it in Ubuntu 10. So, it's not the hardware. It works in Ubuntu 12 too but not properly -it won't transfer windows across displays. My Windows 7 64 is an upgrade from Vista 64. One person in another forum with the same problem resolved theirs by reinstalling Windows 7. But another got the same problem only after a fresh clean install of Windows 7 64 with the same GeForce 8400 GS and DMS-59 when it had previously worked in Vista. Dual Monitors - Only One Works at a Time
My OS of choice back then was MS Windows, however after Windows XP I moved to OSX. About two years ago I knew I needed to get back involved with Windows and bought my Lenovo Laptop running Windows 7 Home Premium. I then installed Windows 8 Consumer Preview on a different partition and upgraded to Windows 8 Pro when it became available. I am now looking to install a distro of Linux and can't seem to find any information of doing so. I don't know which Windows partition it would be best to install it on 7 or 8. Also I understand that Ubuntu have a Windows Installer wubi, but I have heard horror stories after the installation. My main fear is losing Windows 7 or 8 and if the entire process is too risky I'll just leave it altogether. So I guess my question is has anyone installed a Linux distro on a PC which originally came pre installed with Windows 7 and then added Windows 8 to a partition?
View 3 Replies View Relatedi had two os win 7 and backtrack5 in separate partitions and today i reinstalled win 7 but now it does ask me to choose between the two even i can't see boot screen to choose ,it automaticaly loads win 7 without asking me to choose , i waant see the boot screen with where i can choose which os should be loaded.
View 1 Replies View RelatedI used MSconfig to set my computer to always boot in safe mode, but booting in safe mode results in a BSOD. Now I have no way of accessing MSconfig to change it back.
I have a puppy linux live cd that I am using to view my windows files, but I don't know what to edit since windows doesn't use a boot.ini file.
i have a new work laptop with xp sp3 on it. I want to install w7 64 bit as a dual boot, but only have 1 physical drive. i cannot remove my current installation as it is pre-build from work, but can partition the drive etc. However on trying to install w7 64 bit I get a message saying cannot install windows 7 on efi drive with mbr, not gpt. Can I do what I want without screwing up my xp installation?
View 5 Replies View RelatedI have a PC with 2 hard drives- the first hard drive has a single partition and windows 7 64-bit is installed on this hard disk.Now I wish to install CentOS 6 on the first partition of the second hard disk.I have created the dvd for installing Cent OS also.How do I configure the boot loader in Windows? If I install Linux on second hard disk, will this overwrite the Windows Boot Loader? How do I create a dual boot system so that the windows boot loader correctly shows linux as an option, so that I am able to load either Windows 7 (existing) or Linux(on second hard disk- not yet installed)
View 2 Replies View RelatedAs currently configured, XP is on drive C:, Win 7 was added to drive E:, and the system is currently run as a dual boot. Attempting to boot without the XP drive present will yield a "NTLDR is missing" error very early in the boot process.
I have already tried the following:
(1) I moved the hidden Windows Boot Manager files (bootmgr as well as the associated Boot folder) from the XP drive root to the Win 7 drive root.
(2) After physically removing the XP drive, I rebooted to the Win 7 installation DVD, and used the "Repair Your Computer" option to pull up the "Recovery Tools". Then, using the command prompt utility, ...
(3) I attempted to write a new boot sector to the Windows 7 disk using the command: Bootrec /fixboot, - that yields an error though. The Bootrec /fixmbr claimed success, but ultimately did not make Win 7 drive bootable.
I had to reconnect drive C: just to boot into Win 7 again to write this. I do have files backed up, but to format and reinstall files would take many hours beyond just the time to transfer 400 GB of data, since I have dozens of purchased applications that need to be freshly reinstalled and validated as well. Basically I want my E: drive now to be my boot drive while the C: drive is reformatted and used for general storage.
Any idea how to make my Win 7 drive bootable? Do I need a partition program that is more adept at creating a viable boot sector, or is that even the problem?
I have Win XP 32 bit on my old drive. I buy Win 7 full retail and a new HD. I set bios to boot from cd etc. Win 7 starts up. It shows the 2 drives, so I select new drive...no problems. It starts install. I leave it to do its stuff.When I come back its up and all ok.I dint get any option to boot from XP. The drive was listed as "SYSTEM" but not old Windows or anything.
Also ASUS chipset drivers dont work and they were listed as 7 drivers.I tried Vista drivers but it normally shuts down and restarts. Nothing.
I downloaded and installed Ubuntu and sectioned off a part of my hard drive for it. I intended to have it set up to run both windows 7 and linux together and let me choose which boot disk I wanted to use at start up. Ubuntu took over and so I read through some forums online. I can now get to the Windows 7 loading screen but it freezes there. I have my install disc and was hoping someone could assist me with getting windows 7 back. I do not care if I loose Ubuntu. I am currently sitting with the Administrator: X:windowssystem32cmd.exe from the System Recovery Options Menu with my Windows 7 Disc in the tray.
View 2 Replies View RelatedI installed Windows 7 on a partitioned harddrive with vista on the other half. After the installation i have my boot menu with:Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows vista still works but when i try and load windows 7 i get a boot error message
View 9 Replies View RelatedI have XP (x86) installed on one partition.
Last night I installed Windows 7 (x64) on a separate partition.
Anytime I had tried this in the past, using Vista, it always detected the Windows XP partition, and gave me a boot menu with "Earlier Version of Windows" option to boot to.
This is not so with Windows 7.
How can I get the boot menu to show both options, to boot to XP or to Windows 7?
I have dual boot with Xp and windows 7.when i log into my Xp all the restore points being deleted from windows 7.when i check the disk management information in 7 it shows windows 7 create a logical drive with my Xp primary drive.even i am hide the drive from both windows means Xp drive from windows 7 and vice verse.So i like to unmount or remove the drive partition of windows 7 from Xp and Xp primary from windows 7.So that they dont affect each others system files with being deleted the partitions.
View 1 Replies View RelatedI installed opensuse 12.1 on dual boot along with my other windows 7 installation. Installation of opensuse is successful and i can use it. But when I tried to use windows 7 on grub, it says bootmgr is missing. I've already encountered this problem a long time ago so i tried to use bootrec /fixmbr, bootrec /rebuildbcd and bootrec /fixboot in the recovery console in the windows 7 DVD. Rebuildbcd and fixboot did not work and it said something like it cannot find my windows installation. I also tried bootrec /scanos, it returned a windows installation on D:\Windows but my windows is in drive C. I think this has something to do with me messing up the active partition in disk management a month ago but i already fixed it by setting the active partition to the system reserved partition. Only fixmbr is successful, but now i can't boot on any OS because it says: Missing operating system.I also tried bcdboot C:\Windows but it failed with a message that goes like: Failure when attempting to copy boot information..
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