So I'm using linux on my hp laptop where was previously windows 8. I have made backup of Windows 8 with HP recovery manager on a dvd and completely formated hdd. Now I want to install windows 8 but only on external hdd. I have tried using official windows 8 iso but it says that my key cannot be used to install retail version of Windows 8.
View 2 RepliesI'm trying to get my existing installation of windows to boot as an external hard drive. I had it installed on an internal drive, then removed the hard drive and put it in an external enclosure. Then trying to boot off the drive results in windows loading the recovery screen and giving me a bunch of options. The only thing I can do is restart the computer with all the other options (refresh, reinstall) saying that the drive is locked. Putting the drive back into the computer will allow me to boot normally from it, but I want to be able to boot from it via USB 3.
What can I do to either create a fresh install of windows on this drive that can be booted by usb or migrate/modify my existing installation to work.
Can i install windows 7 or 8 to an external hard drive so i can take it to another computer, select it from the boot menu and it will boot up?
View 7 Replies View RelatedOK, my company has a licensing agreement with MS with Software Assurance, so i downloaded the US English Win 8.1 Pro ISO.
Details on the ISO below:
MD5 (SW_DVD5_Win_Pro_8.1_64BIT_English_MLF_X18-96634.ISO) = ae933ae02925d6ece7f325ca93dcb118
First I tried installing on a late 2013 27" iMac running Mavericks. I ran the Boot Camp Assistant and tried installing multiple times, both options: 1) with a DVD (which was verified when burned) and USB drive for the Apple drivers, & 2) with a USB drive only, that Apple extracts the ISO to and loads its drivers on. Each time I got the following message:
RECOVERY
Your PC needs to be repaired
The operating system couldn't be loaded because a critical system driver is missing or contains errors.
File:windowsSystem32DriversNtfs.sys
You'll need to use the recovery tools on your installation media. If you don't have any installation media (like a disc or USB device), contact your system administrator or PC manufacturer.
Press Enter to try again
Press F8 for Startup Settings
If I simply power off the iMac and boot it back up, it goes straight into OS X. If I run Boot Camp Assistant again, it prompts me to remove Windows & resizes the disk back to all OS X.
So I decided to try on an old DELL that uses a BIOS and is already running Windows 8.1 Pro. It fails if I try to run setup.exe from within Windows, & if I boot with the DVD I get the exact same message I get on the iMac.
I have a brand new system with an OEM version of Windows 8 installed (Core not Pro)
ASUS CM 6870
2 TB HD
16 TB RAM
ASUS P8H77-M Pro Motherboard
The new system works well but I have also purchased an OCZ Vector 256GB SSD and intend to install it as my primary hard drive.
ASUS didn't and will not supply a recovery disk.
ASUS provides an activation key for a downloadable version of Acronis True image. I tried that but their version is not compatible with Windows 8. I managed to get a newer version but it didn't recognize that the SSD was installed.
Next, I used Win 8 to make a recovery drive USB drive thinking that I would be able to do a clean install of Win with it. I had the 2TB HD disconnected and the SSD installed but the recovery drive refused to install Win 8. I either got the message "The drive where windows is installed is locked. Unlock and try again." or "The drive is too small to format" (the wording on the last may not be exact)
I was able to "find" a Windows 8 ISO file. I burned it to a DVD and was able to install Win 8 but it was not a UEFI installation. There were only 2 SSD HD partitions: 1. System Reserved - 350 MB NTFS. 2. 238.13 GB NTFS Healthy.
I then deleted these volumes and followed the UEFI installation instructions in the thread:
UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 8 with
Windows installed but it was not a UEFI installation. I got the same partitions as above. At step 6, I only saw the 2 partitions. I tried this process twice with the same results.
The USB stick was prepared using the instructions in this thread:
UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows
I think that the USB drive should have had 4 partitions on it but it only has one:
7.47 GB FAT32 Healthy.
I built up a new PC featuring a brand new SSD (i.e fully unallocated). Then, I made a clean install of Windows 8.1 pro (64bits) using an ISO DVD. Using Windows disk management tool after the install, I can see that only two partitions have been created: one System partition in NTFS (350MB) and the remaining of the SSD is the C: partition while I was expecting a third one : a recovery partition. Of course, I do not remember a prompt during the install to ask whether I want a recovery parttion or not.
Is it normal ? Is a recovery partition useful knowing I have the install DVD ? If the recovery partition has some advantages, is there a way to create it after the install is completed ?
How to make a clean install on my Samsung Series 5 550P5C, but I hear from here to there that when I do it I will delete my Recovery Partition (which I would like to have on the disc in some radical case). However I saw a thread when someone performed a clean install and didn't lost the recovery partition. Additionally I think it should not be able to remove it installing Windows on C partition, as this is another partition on the disc - than Recovery part.
View 5 Replies View RelatedWindows 8 creates its own hidden recovery partition during the install. In my case, it's 450MB.
I know not to touch this partition, and I'd like to know what's in that partition and how it's used.
These are the steps I've taken-- OS Win 8, pre-installed by Acer.
1) Make recovery USB using the Acer recovery wizard, with the laptop in stock configuration.
2) Install msata as secondary drive
3) Go to Computer management and initialize the msata and format with GPT style. Format the drive, assign a drive letter. (I only see 1 partition). I did this as NTFS/default allocation size. Is this where I went wrong?
4) Remove the factory HDD (listed as HDD0 in BIOS)
5) Boot to BIOS
5a) in BIOS, disable secure boot.
5b) Go to legacy mode
5c) Set msata (HDD1 in BIOS) as #1 in boot order
6) boot to USB recovery drive, follow steps to restore from USB (clean install, make partitions as it wants)
7) remove USB, reboot.
Error message-- no bootable device. I can basically load the USB again or the BIOS.
When I run setup I get this message:
"Something happened, We can't tell if your PC is ready to continue installing windows 8. Try restarting setup"
What can I do?
My system:
Brand new Asus CM6870 desktop
2 TB HD
16 GB RAM
Win 8 Core (originally installed by Asus)
Motherboard; Asus P8H77-M Pro (AMI BIOS 0606)
Asus did not supply and will not supply original Win 8 media
I also purchased an OCZ SSD with the intention of moving Win 8 to the SSD. The exisiting HD is installed as a UEFI device and I wanted to install Win 8 on the SSD as an UEFI device too.
I installed the SSD on port 1 of the SATA III (AHCI). In every win install attempt I had the HD disconnected. When reconnected, it was on SATA III port 2 (AHCI).
After MANY, MANY attempts, I have Win 8 installed on the SSD and the original Windows 8 remains on the HD. I was unable to to a UEFI install, so I gave up and did an MBR traditional install. When I boot to the SSD, Windows works but I can't see the HD. When I boot to the HD, Windows works but I can't see the SSD.
To make a VERY long saga, less long, I attempted the following.....- created a recovery drive to use to do a clean install on the SSD - didn't work
- "found" original Win 8 Core media and used it to install on the SSD. (It worked but it was a MBR install. I tried this many times using both a DVD and a UEFI formatted USB drive using instructions found on this forum)
Up to this point, any time that Win 8 was installed on the SSD, I could see the HD as a secondary drive. If I booted to the HD, I could see the SSD as a secondary drive.- I then tried to clone the system using Paragaon - it couldn't see the SSD
- I then tried to clone the system using Mini Tool Partition Wizard (as recommended by OCZ) - it proceeded but failed and I got the "Starting Automatic Repair" message that froze the system. After unplugging the SSD, it booted to the HD.
- Based on posts here and other forums, I read that you could use the Windows 8 Pro upgrade to do a clean install. I bought it and upgraded my HD.
- The upgrade would not install on the SSD. It would only upgrade so I re-installed Win 8 Core on the SSD and then upgraded to Pro. (I had to add a PID.txt file with my upgrade licence to the upgrade disk.) After I did this, I could no longer see the secondary drive regardless of whether I booted to the HD or the SSD.- Then I re-installed Win 8 Core on the SSD to see if the Pro upgrade was the issue. - no change I looked in Device Manager and I don't see any errors but I don't see the secondary drive.
I'll attach jpgs of the Device Manager from both the SSD and the HD Win installation"
The SSD appears as unallocated on the HD Disk Manager even though Win 8 is working on that drive! The HD does not appear on the SSD Disk Manager.
I've worked on so many alternatives over the past week that I feel like I'm going around in circles.
I'll settle for a Win 8 MBR installation on the SSD with access to the secondard HD.
I am trying to install a new OS and I want to boot from the CD on Windows 8?
How would I do that?
i cannot boot my asus n82jv with a UEFI usb win7 64bit. It only says:
Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix this prob:
1 insert your win installation disc and restart your computer.
2 choose your language settings and then clck next
3 click repair your computer
Status 0xc0000225
Info an unexpected error has occured.
If you have a recovery drive - that includes the recovery partition - made on one computer, but have a toshiba laptop with a bad drive (but the recovery partition is ok), can you replace/copy the partition on the recovery drive with the recovery partition from the bad laptop HD?
My friend's laptop would not boot, and would not factory recover, reset, or refresh. I tried to clone the hard drive before I started messing with the disc. It would not clone, but I was able to copy the recovery partition to a USB drive.
He never make recovery discs, so could not re-install, but I can borrow the recovery drive that my aunt made for her laptop.
Anyways, my machine is running win7 HP with the drive bitlockered, can i just go install Windows 8 straightaway or do i have to decrypt and disable bitlocker first?
View 3 Replies View RelatedI already bought and installed Windows 8. I have a i7 laptop with 64bit proccessor but somewhat the company decided to pull it out with win7 32 bit OS. When I upgraded to Windows 8 I wanted to switch to 64bit but didn't find the option for that during the installation proccess. Can I do it now? switching from 32 to 64 (I understand that I will need to reinstall the windows again, I just don't wanna pay again for that).
View 9 Replies View RelatedI have a Windows 8 / Vista dual boot - Windows 8 on SSD on C: and Vista on HDD on D: (data only on E: ) I have not used Vista since installing Windows 8 and now want to remove to free up some space and remove dual boot
Is there an option to keep my files on the drive but simply remove the Vista OS folder and remove the dual boot option? Or do I need to follow process here and "delete volume" and then copy all the files across again from backup?
If I do need to "delete volume" my first issue is that this option is greyed out and cannot be selected for D: drive? How can I sort this? also what do I do with 11GB recovery partition and 3.54GB OEM partition?
pic attached (hopefully)
I bought an upgrade version of 8.1 Pro from my university, so I need to have an os installed before upgrading. However, I want to install it on my new PC, which means I have to install Win7 before upgrading. I wanted to know if I can install win7 and immediately install the upgrade, or is it better to go to windows update and install all the updates before upgrading?
View 3 Replies View Relatedhave Acronis 2013 Plus. What I am trying to do is image the disk of a Windows 7 machine (source) to a machine that had Windows 8 pre-installed (target - Gateway SX2110G).
I connected the Windows 7 drive to the new machine (USB data cable), disabled Secure Boot, and enabled Legacy. Booted to True Image and started the cloning of the drive. Everything seemed to go ok, but as soon as it starts to boot Windows 7, it gives a 7D BSOD. (the same BSOD it gives when I simply plug the source hard drive into the target and try to boot from it).
The source HDD (win 7) boots fine in its original machine.
*I tried the startup repair that's included with the image.. does it matter if I use the one from a disc instead?
I am having problems installing UEFI & a Error 0x80004005 with Windows 8.1 OEM saying it can't create partitions for UEFI then creating 2 partitions for MBR installation instead. This using a 400 TB, hard drive, setup with a GPT system & nothing else & ready for Windows 8.1 to create the partitions.
The first time it happened I used MiniTool Partition Wizard Professional, to delete the partitions created by Windows 8.1 & convert the MBR to GPT, then used Wipe Disk function to erase all data and set all the bits to a 1.
The only thing that I can think is upsetting the installation is that I have left the other drives in the system including 1x3 TB drive, 1x2 TB drive and a second 4 TB drive.
The 2 TB drive has "Win 7 Ultimate" installed using MBR, the 3 TB drive is empty but ready to install Windows 8.1 setup with GPT, and the other 4 TB drive has a UEFI Windows 8.1 installed but broken.
I have also tried to install UEFI Win 8.1 on the 3 TB drive but it failed with the same error code as above.
This UEFI takes a lot to get ones head around dose't it, and me being much older than I once was makes it even harder. I have tried this installation at least 3 to 4 times now and doing these "Wipe Disk Functions" every time has so far lost me 3 whole days just in wasted time.
I want to upgrade from Windows 7 64 bit Home edition - To Windows 8 64 bit Home Edition.
I currently have my windows 7 installation on drive C (64GB SSD)
My user profiles, Data and programmes are stored on Drive E ( 1TB HDD )
If i use the windows 8 upgrade option - What will happen?.
I use a Gateway NE56R49u Windows 8 laptop, which I sometimes use to connect to a Dell computer monitor via VGA and an external keyboard and mouse using USB. I want to be able to use the monitor with the ext. mouse and keyboard while the lid of the laptop is closed, however, everytime I close the lid the system goes to sleep and won't turn back on even if I move the mouse or press a key on the keyboard. I've tried going to Device Manager and enabling the mouse and keyboard to wake my Windows 8 laptop but that seems to have no effect on what happens when I try to wake my laptop when the lid is closed. I am able to do this on a Windows 7 laptop (HP Pavilion g6), but how can I configure my windows 8 laptop so I can do the same on my Windows 8 laptop?
View 4 Replies View RelatedIs it possible not to have the partition "recovery"?
Because if you look at the two tutorials:
- UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with - Windows 7 Forums
- UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 8 with
In the tutorial to install Windows 7 in UEFI, there is not that damn partition recovery, while in the tutorial for Windows 8, we can see it.
When I install Windows 7 (MBR mode), I avoid this partition "recovery" by creating a partition with a name before installation. I install the OS on it and everything is fine, no partition "recovery" But here, since one must delete all partitions, If I create a GPT disk with a partitioning tool before installing, is that it might be appropriate?
I had a version of Windows 8 installed on a secondary hard drive for testing purposes. When I no longer needed it, I uninstalled it and formatted the hard drive. What's odd is that the Bootloader for Windows 8 is still there, and throws up an error screen saying it can't find critical system files.
Ive tried restoring the MBR using my Win7 disc, but to no avail.
I'm trying to install windows 8.1 to an external hard disk (solid state drive 128 gb usb3).
I've tried easyUFEY WinToUS creator and AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard(Windows to go) with no luck.
My bios has UEFI option only(no legacy). On my old laptop it works just fine(I had the legacy option) but now, I cannot do that anymore.
I'm pretty sure it's a bios boot issue and I don't know how to fix it. I've tried using GPT partition instead MBR, Still nothing.
The laptop is a sony vaio duo 13 and I have no legacy option in bios
I installed Windows on my friends MacBook Air using Bootcamp a few months ago. At that time I made a Windows Image to an external hard drive, not really sure if it was even feasible to restore it. How to do a restore in a situation like this, or if it is possible?
View 3 Replies View RelatedI just got a new laptop, a Lenovo X230, for which I paid extra to have the OS on it as Windows 8 Pro.
So--now I have it, and Win 8 Pro 64 is installed and activated on it. I am a legal owner of Win 8 Pro.
However, I would like to do a clean install of Win 8 on the computer, to have it free of bloatware, etc. (In fact, I would like to set up a multi-boot with Win 7, and perhaps even triple boot with Xp as well. (I have installation media and my product keys for XP and 7 though, so those are not really a problem.)
The computer came with no discs at all. There is a procedure to make recovery disks. I may do that, but I think those will be to restore the computer to how it came from the factory, and therefore not usable for a clean install.
I don't see my product key for Win 8 anywhere. Not on the computer, not on any kind of card that came with it, etc.
I looked at the tutorial here for clean install of Windows 8, but it requires an install disc and product key. I have neither, although I am a legal owner of Windows 8.
Is there a way I can create (from my installed Windows 8) a win 8 install disk, that can be used for a clean install? Or a link to download one? Is there a way I can get my product key?
My Asus laptop does not give me an option to make recovery CD's it only shows USB as the only option. The laptop has no built in CD-DVD but I have external drive..... Can I make recovery CD's.... I did make a recovery USB but would like CD'S also,
View 9 Replies View RelatedWhen i try to install 2. OS on my PC , I deleted to win 8 and recovery partitions. How can i install new win 8 ?
I couldn't install because serial problem happen. Although i have a serial i can't enter. Win 8 use embedded serial and so I can't enter another serial. What can I do ?
I recently picked up an Asus laptop, a SDD to replace the the laptop's HDD, and a HDD caddy to hold the HDD in place of the CD/DVD drive. After a fresh Win 8.1 install on the SDD, I made system images of both the SDD and the HDD with the Win 8 OEM install (both stored on external drive). I also created a USB recovery drive and then formatted the HDD.
Fast forward a few weeks... It's last Friday. I'm about to leave for a business trip. I boot up my laptop and a screen comes up telling me to "reboot and select proper boot device". I pull the SDD out, hook it up to my desktop, and see that the drive shows up, but it's blank. A little googling turned up a few reviews from other people with the same issue. On rare occasion, it will wipe itself. Using the USB recovery drive and the Win 8.1 system image, I got things up and running again.
Now for my question, instead of constantly carrying around the 2 USB drives holding the recovery and system image, can I create a recovery partition on my HDD that I can boot too if my SDD wipes again? (Could I copy or clone my Recovery USB to a partition on my HDD?) Then I could just keep the SSD system image on the HDD in case I need to restore it, right?
Disk 0: SDD disk that wiped itself
Disk 1: HDD that I'd like to have a recovery partition and system image on
I also have: Win 8 OEM system imageWin 8.1 system imageRecovery USB drive (8.1)Win 8.1 USB Install drive
I bought a new PC the other day, and it has Windows 8. It advised me to make recovery disks, so I started the Setup Wizard. However, when it tried to actually burn the first disk there was an error, and it didn't complete.
Now, when I try to do the recovery disks again, right after it has prepared the files, the following error comes up: "Unhandled Exception: cannot create a file when that file already exists.".
So i'm a bit stuck. Is there a way to get my recovery disks done?