i was wondering if it is possible to boot my computer from a vhd and add it to the boot menu. I do not want to dual boot, I am trying to use the vhd like a dual boot. I am running Windows 7 Ultimate x64.
View 5 RepliesHow to Create a Windows 7 VHD at Boot to Start with from Boot ?
View 0 Replies View RelatedIs it necessary to defrag a virtual hard drive?
View 4 Replies View RelatedI recently had much trouble with my computer and was reinstalling OS many times! XP and windows 7. When I was installing windows 7 there were 3 virtual drives one about 400 mb named windows reserved and 2 others each (300gb) the 3d one was backup. I formatted first 2 deleted partitions, made 1 partition formatted again and then installed windows. The 3d virtual hard drive backup disappeared with all my stuff. Now I just have Local disc C: which is 300 gb and nothing else. So I am missing 300gb virtual hard drive with my stuff, where did it go?
Computer is Inter (R) Core(TM) i3 CPU 530@2.93GHz
MSI Motherboard H55M-E33
Hard drive WDC WD6400AAKS-00E4A0 ATA Device
I have 4 physical hard drives, 2 of them are 150GB and 2 of them are 1000GB. Both are mirrored at the pre O/S level in order to provide redundancy. On the 150GB mirror I installed the host operating system (Win Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V) and the 1000GB mirror is just a Data drive. I've created my Virtual server in Hyper-V and allocated it 500GB from the 1000GB mirror. When I start up the virtual Server in order to install the o/s I will be asked whether to partition this "Virtual hard drive" i.e., have a C: drive for the virtual o/s and a d: drive for the virtual data. Of course they would be on the same physical disk anyway so should I bother partitioning the Virtual 500GB drive.
View 1 Replies View RelatedI'm trying to install 7 on a VHD using the command prompt. Now it does work but the problem is that it installs 7 Basic when I do it like this. I have Professional. Now I can use the Anytime Upgrade and use my product key to get Pro activated but because I'm in basic, 7 won't work on the VHD at boot. When it asks for my product key upon first time setup, it doesn't work since it's looking for a Basic product key.
Is there a way to get 7 Pro on the VHD through the CMD?
XP: Physical to Virtual & Share Drive w Host? Disk2VHD vs VMWare P2V? Physical-to-Virtual - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia My Thinkpad X61T with recent 8GB DDR2 Upgrade:I have an XP Pro 3 instance on a HDD able to use 2.99 GB RAM. I can backup bunch of data files to make size smaller.I have a Win 7 x64 instance on another HDD that can use most of the 8GB RAM. Now, I'd like to do two things:
1. Virtualize the XP instance and create a Virtual Disk/ Virtual Machine, with all of the Programs & Settings intact.
2. Run this XP on top of Win 7 x64 Host and "Slowly" Migrate Files/ Settings/ MetaData etc. from GUEST XP to HOST machine.I'd prefer to be able to SHARE "the C: or Boot Drive" between the GUEST & HOST machines (as it is mounted/ running) and be able to COPY some Specific Files/Folders using ROBOCOPY/ RICHCOPY to maintain attributes that could/ easily get lost with any other copy method.Thoughts/ suggestions, experiences, comparative reviews on using Software/ Tools out of the above listed page and how could go about doing both the things.do let me know UPDATE: Some advise/ suggestions I got on another forum was. Quote: If it were me, I'd use DISK2VHD on the XP hard drive, copy it to the Windows 7 machine, install XP Mode, and fire it up like that.An alternative, in some ways better, would be to use VMWare's P2V converter on the XP machine, install VMWare Player on the 7 machine, and load the virtual machine on there.If you're just worried about docs / settings / etc, I'd suggest skipping virtualization and just use Windows Easy Transfer to make a clean break. I've used VMWare and Virtual PC a LOT in the past, but not used in a long time. I know some functionality for items 1 & 2 exist but wanted to get a comparative idea between the various options LISTED in the Link. I guess I was a little out of touch when I realized so many products existed just to do P to V. I remember only VMWare had that for a while.For me the ability to "share" & "copy" these files is critical. PS: Also, I may or may not have enough storage on the Win 7 x64 drive so I'll have to run the guest VM from a USB 2.0 HDD. Would that work okay? For now, if the suggestion give by someone from the other forum still holds. What are the pros vs cons of Disk2VHD vs VMWare? (Given the specifics of my scenario?)Esp Sharing Drive & Copying using RoboCopy/ Richcopy (To maintain Modified/ Created Dates .. Wish there was way to keep Accessed Date)
How to Boot from a CD or DVD in a Windows Virtual PC ?
View 0 Replies View RelatedGot a new Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit machine, found that it did not come with virtual PC. Downloaded the critical patch Windows6.1-KB958559-x64-RefreshPkg.msu and installed it. Windows Virtual PC shows up in my Start Menu. Good so far. I go through the steps to create a virtual machine and use the option to 'use an existing vhd file' and when I click 'Create' I get the above pop-up message "Cannot attach the virtual hard disk to the virtual machine. Check values and try again". A factual message but completely useless as with all error messages from Microsoft. I have tried the following:1. When I attach that vhd using Disk Management, it mounts in drive E:, I can see the files and browse the dirs in E:. In the Disk Management View, the drive shows up as 127 Gigs but 107 is unallocated space. The physical size of the vhd is only 25 Gigs2. Others in my company were able to create the virtual machine with the same vhd, checked the byte size and timing, so nothing is wrong with the vhd file itself.
3. Tried to create after shutting down all virus protection including the Micorsoft antimalware protection service. No luck4. Tried Vhd resize to resize the vhd to a smaller size (since it showed up in disk management as 127 Gigs, I thought maybe it was that size), but VHDResizer could not open the input file, gave an errors "Can only load fixed or dynamic drives"
This pops up following the DELL logo.Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A07 COPYRIGHT 1985-1988 Phoenix Technologies Ltd DELL DXP051 Series BIOS version A07 [URL]
Drive 0 not found: serial ATA, SATA-0
Drive 1 not found: serial ATA, SATA-1
Drive 2 not found: serial ATA, SATA-2
Drive 3 not found: serial ATA, SATA-3
Strike the F1 key to contihue, F2 to sun set-up utility Hitting F1, all is good. But why does this appear and how do I eliminate this process?
After I got sick of some programs crashing, I decided to install windows xp. i shrinked 1 partition and created a new partition called XP mistakenly under drive A. I shutdown and put in xp disc, selected the newly created partition and chose install there and said not to format as it did when i partitioned. It copied the files and reboted, I took out the disk. The fist screen of my bios now says flopy disks fail (40) or something like that. When I normally go to select an OS, it says hard disk could not be read. I put in my win 7 upgrade disk to try to restore, but there is no restore on an upgrade disk. When in the windows 7 install screen(looking for restore) I deleted the newly created partition. How can I get the computer to boot from hard disk again?
View 3 Replies View RelatedI have two hard drives in my machine and want to choose which one boots when I power up. One has win 7 64 bit (default load) the other Win 7 32 bit. The 64 bit does not play my games right while the 32 bit is perfect. I do want to keep the 64 bit for my other applications.
View 10 Replies View RelatedMy Old HDD crashed, it had windows 7 on a D: logical drive with an extended partition (Not sure why/how I ended up with a D: logical drive and an extended partition, it probably happened when I upgraded my windows xp to windows 7 32 bit OR when I upgraded my windows7 from 32 bit to 64 bit, anyways.....). My old HDD also had two other primary partitions which probably had some system files etc,. I do not have a backup of these two primary partitions, however, I do have a paragon backup of my logical drive D: extended partition alongwith a backup of first track (not sure what that means). My old drive is bad. I got me a new HDD, created a new NTFS primary partition with a drive letter C:. I then restoed the paragon backup of my windows D: drive on to this new primary C: partition. Now, I am not able to boot windows 7. Seems like I need to make this new partition bootable and/or make it a system partition. Not sure how to do this. I dont want to install windows 7 from scratch and then load all the software programs.
View 8 Replies View Relatedand i signed up because Microsoft support rips you off (says they don't know the answer, so they charge you to open a case, which is 1 fee until solved, then 10 seconds later they're like "okay, so this is what you do"). Recently because my computer was getting extremely slow, i bought a new 2 TB 7200 RPM seagate hard drive. I installed it, put windows on it, and for some time it was booting fine, but then i decided i was satisfied and ready to wipe the old OS hard drive to reclaim the space on it, so i did so, then when i rebooted the computer i got an error saying something like "unable to find system files, reboot and select correct device". I then decided i'd try to reinstall or repair windows, but i get this error code when it tries to expand files: 0x80070017. Now when trying to boot from any of my 3 hard drives it says "bootmgr missing" I'm quite sure there were no viruses on the machine, though it had been a couple days since i last scanned.
View 2 Replies View RelatedFirst my motherboard is a gigabyte x58a-ud3r. It has a i7-930 in it, not over clocked at the stock settings. It has 6gb of ram (right now, it should have 12 but I have taken out 3 sticks cause I thought that might have been the issue) Recently my hard drive which was a hitachi deskstar crashed on me, it wont boot, even a clean format makes it keep restarting or giving me the bootmgr missing error which even after i use the windows disc to do repair it still is in a restart loop. I put in my windows 7 install dvd and it formatted the drive and installed windows 7 just fine. Then I was doing updates and it did it, it was like 66 updates or something as far as I remember and it had to restart. Right here when it restarted is when the trouble began. It now is just restarting non stop, goign to the verfying dmi data and restarting. I cant get it to boot in safe mode, not while using the windows 7 install dvd.
View 9 Replies View RelatedI currently have a system running XP with two IDE hard drives and 3 partitions.
I have taken Windows 7 as a chance to get myself some much needed extra space! and purchased a new 1tb SATA drive.
I really dont want to lose the exisitng data I have so my original plan was to take my main IDE harddrive with most of my data stick it in an external USB carrier and then start fresh in the system with the 1tb and Windows 7.
What would be cooler would be if I could add the 1tb to the exisiting system and install Windows 7 on that (ideally with that as C and either then have much quicker access to transfer data to the new drive or even dual boot with XP at first incase I have any issues with Windows 7. Can anyone advice me on how easy/risky this is? And what they would suggest to someone trying to maximise the uptime of their PC?
I just installed a new WD 500 GB hard drive into my DELL computer. I am trying to install windows 7 from a dvd but it will not boot. Does anyone know what the problem is.
View 8 Replies View RelatedI had XP installed on a single hard drive. I bought a second hard drive and installed Windows 7 on it. After formatting the old XP drive, I could not boot. I tried bootrec and the built in startup repair, neither worked. I ended up having to install windows 7 again on my old drive. Now when the OS choice pops up, my original 7 install is considered "recovered". How do I make it so I can format my extra drive and still boot?
I can't just wipe them both and start over because I would lose all my music, documents, etc.
So I just purchased a SSD and put Win 7 on it. All is fine and dandy, but I still like to visit my Vista instance on the old hard drive. It appears that the only way to switch between which hard drive & OS to boot to is to go into the BIOS, rearrange the boot sequence, and then reboot. This is rather clumsy and time consuming IMO. Is there a faster way to choose which hard drive to boot from? I've looked into "dual booting" which will prompt the user with a simple menu to choose which OS to boot into. This is exactly what I want. The problem is that it appears this is only available when both OS's are on one hard drive, which is not my situation.
View 3 Replies View Relatedgot bootmanager corrupted error message the pc will now not boot up at all, and will not accept any recovery disks, I'm running win 7,
View 1 Replies View RelatedAfter removing a virus with malwarebytes the next day the computer (Dell studio xps running Windows 7 64 bit 8Gb) will post but then goes to black screen with blinking cursor and continuous beep. Removed and reset memory, CMOS battery, etc. BIOS sees the SATA drive. Booted from Win 7 disk - recognized the hd but disk repair did not work - was able to restore to a restore point, but after reboot, same thing. Finally took out hard drive and placed in another Dell computer to see if it was the drive or something else - it's the hard drive - computer sees it, but after post goes to black screen. Attached to my Mac and was able to back up files, but would really like to be able to repair windows to keep programs
View 2 Replies View RelatedI recently bought a new hard drive with windows 7 home premium 32 bit installed. When tried to install it in my pc it would not boot up, I am assuming its because everything is new to it. I bought a windows 7 recovery disc but it has not worked. I did not get an install disc with the new hard drive.
View 5 Replies View RelatedI have a dell dimension 9100. I have two drives on it, a ~160gb drive that came with it with xp, and a 500gb drive with win7. I put the win7 in myself and had been using that. Finally, I decided to erase the old drive with xp on to install linux on it. After erasing the old drive, my computer won't start up. It says it cant find sata 1 or 3. I've tried switching the cables hooking up to it but that doesn't help. If I push continue after it tells me how it can't find them, it says 'loading pbr for descriptor 2...done' and stays there. I did not erase windows 7,
View 4 Replies View RelatedSo, I've added a second hard drive to my Windows machine and now it will not boot up. I added the new hard drive on SATA 3. The original is SATA 1, and my DVD is SATA 0. This is how it's always been; I've changed nothing else. I don't have any idea where to start fixing this. I have a dual boot with Ubuntu on the same SATA drive 1, and that boots just fine. I switched on the new hard drive in the BIOS, and flipped a few other options on and off to no avail.When the computer boots I choose the Win7 install. Then it will take me to a screen that asks me if I want to start windows normally, or do a disk repair. Starting normally gets you nowhere, it will just end up resetting the computer. Starting the disk check will do a scan for a few minutes and then ask me if I want to send an error report. Clicking yes or no doesn't seem to matter because after that the only option is to shutdown or reboot.When this first started I at one point had the option to do a system restore, but I didn't think it was necessary so I didn't. I no longer receive that option or I would try it at this point
View 2 Replies View RelatedI decided to built a new custom made computer and would like to know if I can just attached the old sata hard drive to the new motherboard?I read that I have to have the same motherboard for the hard drive to work or else it will reformat the hard drive, is this true?
View 2 Replies View RelatedI've got a Dell desktop that will not boot, gives the message Drive 0 Seek Failure.I was able to boot to a linux disk and copy files, so the drive is spinning. I ran the built in Dell hard drive diagnostics, the hard drive passed. I also ran the Hitachi Drive Fitness test, and it passed.I assume maybe it just needs some repair to the boot sector?
View 9 Replies View RelatedI have a Dell Inspiron 1440 laptop with Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit. Some of my older applications do not support this platform. My processor does not support Window Virtual PC and Windows XP mode so I was hoping to add XP as a dual boot. Is it possible to boot XP from an external harddrive or USB instead of having to partition the internal hard drive. Or do you have any suggestions on how I can load XP after Windows 7 is already loaded.
View 2 Replies View RelatedI found another old hard drive, a Seagate 250 GB, and when I plug it to the pc, Windows is stuck at the Windows 7 logo at the boot, and the logo itself lags. the hard drive is detected in the BIOS. (can it be a virus on this old hard drive?)
View 9 Replies View RelatedI wish to have a method to install windows 7 (Or any OS for that matter) from a hard drive that contains just the installation files. I am aware of creating system images, ghosting and that whole scene but it's such a long winded process compared to just burning the CD again (Original is in storage and no I don't want to go get it ).
Pretty certain this can be done with some kind of DOS program that is loaded from the drive: When it is selected as primary boot. However, I have no experience with programming DOS applications, or if this is even possible (Pretty sure it is given DOS boot rom's exist).
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I've recently purchased two 30GB SSDs which I have set up in a RAID 0 array and I have installed Windows onto these drives. I have a second, 2TB Seagate Barracuda Green HDD that I have used to put my user profiles and additional programs/games on as it wouldn't fit on the SSD.Everything was fine for a few days after installation. Then this morning I rebooted the computer and it just stalled on the flashing cursor (underscore) in the top left corner of the screen. I did the basic fixes (Windows repair, checking RAM) and nothing worked.Then I thought that I should try disconnecting all but the SSD with the OS on it. SUCCESS! It booted to Windows but couldn't find any programs/user data so it created a new "profile". I shutdown the computer and tried reconnecting just the data hard drive.I have two additional hard drives (used for backups) that don't affect anything at all when I plug them in.Does anybody know what could be the problem? I'm at a loss and I need the computer
View 3 Replies View RelatedI have a computer with two (IDE ribbon cable) hard drives. One had a bad windows XP installation on it. I installed Windows 7 on the other. I formatted the drive before installing Windows 7.Then, I decided I want to use the hard drive with the bad winXP installation on it, in another computer (I will format it). When I opened the computer side panel, I wasn't sure which hard drive was which, so I unplugged the power to one, and started the computer.The thing is, it won't boot Windows 7 with either of those hard drives alone, only when both are plugged in. With HD #1 disconnected, it says "Can't find BOOTMGR, press a key to reboot." With HD #2 connected, I get asked whether I want Windows 7 or an older OS, and when I choose Windows 7, I get an error message, something like "Windows 7 failed to start. To try and repair, insert install disc, or use recovery mode, etc" With both HDs, I get asked the same question, "Windows 7 or an older OS," but when I choose Windows 7, it works. In my computer, I have verified that Windows 7's files are on one disk, and corrupt winXP files on the other.
View 8 Replies View Related