Setup Installation :: Multiple HDs - NO Screen To Allow Booting From Another Drive
Sep 15, 2014
After sorting out my problem installing multiple Hard Drives and getting past that I am now faced with another problem, which is that no screen is displayed on start-up to allow selecting other drives to boot from.
I can select other drives to boot from if I boot up into the default drive and select "Change PC Settings" but that is very slow and allows mistakes if one is tired.
I think the reason for the problem is because I installed all the drives on their own separately (took out the other drives) and they are now all installed properly except for this problem.
I only need to boot from the default drive when I need to do something with that particular drive or to boot from "Windows 7 Ultimate" I tried to fix the problem with Drive Freshen (I think its called) but that didn't work.
Is there a way to fix this problem and have the screen that offers to allow booting from another drive added to the default drive, without doing a total re-install?
On a multi boot system it is the first screen to display before booting the OS, and shows all the installed Drives in boxes with their names (labels) on, so that you can choose which Drive to boot from..
Computer specs, GeForce GTX 760 and i5-4670k CPU. MSI Z97-G45 Gaming Series motherboard. bought this from somebody with no windows installed on it. computer came with no cd's. bought a new copy of windows 8.1. i have the computer hooked up to a 720p hdtv with an hdmi cord. everytime i am hitting enter to boot from the device options it just keeps blinking but it wont boot from device. i think since i am using a tv and not a monitor it may be cutting off some other options on the screen on the bottom that i cant see? or is there something wrong with the computer. i believe the person used the computer before me for about 6 months or so and deleted what ever operating system he had on it before giving it to me. read some stuff about possible uefi bios legacy boot but not sure?
As Windows to Go is only available for ENTERPRISE versions and booting from a VHD requires there to be an OS already installed on the physical machine I was wondering if we could "Borrow" a trick from Linux.
Is it possible to install a Mini GRUB boot loader on a partition on an external HDD and on a second partition boot a Windows system.
Note here -- I want a RUNNING WINDOWS SYSTEM -- not an install / recovery / "Win PE" type system -- but a full Windows system that will work even if there is NO usable INTERNAL HDD drive in the computer.
Googling shows quite a few ways of either creating an INSTALL disk (HDD) or booting a VHD neither of which are what I want.
Using GRUB and booting an external HDD in theory should work -- and this should "almost replicate" a Windows to Go system.
(I've had an external USB Linux system with VMware player installed -- that method works but the Windows system is quite slow even on an external USB3 drive -- running a Windows system natively should be a lot better).
I've actually got a spare SSD which I want to use for this -- I replace a 128 GB drive with a new Samsung 256 GB drive as I got a great bargain on it -- 99 GBP LESS 20% VAT which I got back at customs at the airport.
I'll use the SATA==>USB3 connector for connecting to the PC.
(Another possibility might be to get the Linux boot loader to load a Windows VHD from the external drive as well -- but I want the Windows system to work even if there is NO INTERNAL HDD in the computer).
I got an old computer, and my sister still is using it, it had XP but since support ended I decided to go for another system, unfortunetly there were no drivers for Vista and up, so I went for a USB boot - Linux Mint Maya 13 installation. The PC ended up being even slower and a friend just recently showed me how to install the drivers for Windows 8. I decided to go with a USB installation but when I restart and boot from the USB to install Windows 8 Pro, it says: Disk Read Error. I tested the USB on my new PC that I use and it did boot, but it won't boot from the old one.
I have a Sony vaio VGX-TP20E. I put the win 8 disk into the computer and setup up the startup to boot from optical drive. But it skips it and starts up win 7 like it normally does. How can I install windows 8?
The first time I did that win7 had some kind of virus in it so I went to the recovery partition and restored the computer to factory settings.
So my other question is if I do somehow get it to work, do I have to delete the recovery partition or do I leave it alone. Logically it would only be able to recover for windows 7 right?
Just reinstalled Windows 8.1 and can't figure out what the deal is. I have a four monitor setup, and all of this worked perfectly before I reinstalled. I actually remember dealing with this issue before, but I couldn't remember how I fixed it.
Basically, with two monitors, everything works perfectly. The minute I connect my third monitor, it's like all the screen flicker, and then I get logged out and back to the start screen.
I've tried updating nvidia drivers but it doesn't work.
attempting to setup a dual boot with Win 8.1 and Win XP.
Just a quick break down of my current setup:
a) Win 8.1 x64 is currently installed on my SSD on C: drive partition b) On a different SATA hdd I have an old Win 7 x64 installation that I'm not using any more on one partition
I simply want to replace my old Win 7 x64 installation with Win XP. Why do I want to install Win XP you may ask ? The answer is simple, I want to play some older games that aren't fully compatible with Win 8.1 x64 and neither run good in a virtual machine environment on Win 8.1.
The only thing that is stopping me from attempting this is, has to do with the Win 8.1 bootloader. I simply don't want to lose my bootloader, and I'm afraid that when I install Win XP it might overwrite my Win 8.1 bootloader which will most likely leave me without gaining access to Win 8.1. At the moment the Win 8.1 bootloader lists along with Win 8.1 my old Win 7 x64 installation.
Given my setup of hdd's up top, what would be the easiest way for me to load Win XP on my old Win 7 partition that will still allow me to have the Win 8.1 bootloader with a Win XP boot option on the bootloader menu ?
Should I disconnect my SSD and then proceed to install Win XP on the Win 7 partition and then afterward reconnect my SSD and then using EasyBCD add an entry for Win XP to the bootloader? Or will I run into an issue along the way?
I wanted to ask a couple of things about installing Windows XP Home SP2 Upgrade (not full) on a partition (I'll get a cheap old Windows copy for the upgrade to work), with a pre-installed Windows 8 in the other partition.
1) How to do it, found how to install XP on Windows 7. Is it the same procedure?
2) I have heard that installing an XP Upgrade will wipe/reformat an entire HD, both partitions as if they were not partitioned/united. Is that true?
i have purchased windows8 to upgrade windows 7, install helper confirmed virtually all was ok to do it , windows 8 would not install over windows7 so after talking to microsoft i made a partition and dual booted to see if windows 8 worked, it does. Now i would like to upgrade my existing 7 or migrate all the emails programmes etc to windows8. what is the way to do this do i just try and upgrade windows 7 with 8 or is there a better way.
I created USB Drive by Rufus to install UEFI Win 8 x64 Pro, but when I boot by USB, I have this error PC need to be repaired. My mainboard is Gigabyte B75 D3H
Seen as my Windows 8.1 installation may be completely useless, I am going to booting up from BIOS. I have been putting Windows 7 (32-bit) on my USB drive and when I boot it with my laptop it shows up and says "Reboot and select proper device or insert boot media and press key". I have some important exams coming up and I need to do some revision - plus this is my only laptop!
I have upgraded my windows 7 ultimate to windows 8 pro a month ago and activated accordingly.
3 Days ago I tried to install Linux OS on XP partition ( earlier I had a XP+ Windows 7 dual boot and I upgraded windows 7 to Windows 8 Pro).
Unfortunately installation of linux failed and Windows 8 Pro is not booting now
How can I restore/re install windows 8 pro??
I tried by inserting repair DVD , but getting message of " repair could not possible".
Actually windows 8 Pro partition is not formatted, only the partition of XP got formatted ( earlier I had a XP+ Windows 7 dual boot and I upgraded on windows 7) .
Right now PC showing some message regarding Intel/processor/..etc.. on a black screen.
Actually I am least bothered about my personal files.
My ultimate concern is regarding activation of windows 8 pro with same product key.
Is there could be any problem with activation of windows 8 PRO?? and what procedure I have to follow?
I am trying to dual boot Kali with Windows 8.1 and I keep getting three errors at the installation menu. I also carefully checked that I have followed the installation instructions correctly and I have. Here are the three errors:
1.) "Empty Security Header" 2.) "error:/live/vmlinuz has invalid signature" (I double checked other sources and the grub.cfg file I have saved was/is written correctly) 3.) "error: you need to load the kernel first"
I have a big problem since 9/9 and I just can`t fix it.
I have a dual boot system and use Windows 8 as my main OS and on the other ssd I have ubuntu 12.10 installed.
My issue started because I completely forgot that I had ubuntu installed on the other ssd (didn`t use it anyway) and tried to raid the ssd...so now I can`t boot anything and I do need to restore my Windows 8.
I have a usb recovery disk which allows me to use cmd but I don`t know how to use to recover my Windows 8 so that`s why I am here.
I ran diskpart on cmd it it shows both disks and both are ONLINE.
Ran chkdsk /f but i keep getting an error and chkdsk does not run
I have asus P8Z77-V LX UEFI Mobo Intel rapid Smart technology (RST), Intel Smart Connect Technoly is disabled. CSM is ENABLED ( it was AUTO) and boot device control to UEFI and LEGACY OpROM.
Secure Boot is disabled and I changed the OS type to OTHER OS and also tried WINDOWS UEFI MODE. The setup mode is EZ MODE.
Currently I have a machine with Windows 8 pre-installed already. But now I don't like Windows 8 as much because certain programs I want to use requires Windows 7. Though I would still like to keep Windows 8 because it's licensed. I have an extra hard drive lying around with Windows 7 loaded in it already. Now I would like to dual boot between these two drives. Do I have to turn off Secure Boot and change the boot orders around to boot the Windows 7 hard drive?
i installed windows 8.1 using pendrive after shuting down that laptop is not starting. During boot it is not showing anything.Nothing is happening even after i press f2 or f10 or f12.my laptop is lenovo g570
Everytime I boot my pc I get a MULTIPLE IRP_COMPLETE_REQUESTS BSOD on Windows 8.1. Upon rebooting (which takes quite a bit longer than the original boot) things work fine. From what I understand the causes of this BSOD vary quite a bit.
I have just bought an AIO Asus desktop with 1 Tb of storage. The c: (Windows)drive is allocated 100gb and the d: drive 931gb. I just want to transfer all the data from my old computer. This was pretty much all in the folder c:>Users>Myname, but when I try to transfer it all into the same folder on the new computer, obviously with 100gb there is not enough space.
I just purchased an Asus R510CC notebook with windows 8 and I bought a SSD drive to replace the current one.
I used Recovery Drive in Windows to create an USB boot drive with the recovery partition on it. I then installed the SSD and booted from the USB. When I get to the option to reset my computer I encounter an error with the following message: "Unable to reset PC. A required drive partition is missing". I already did a bit of research and BIOS tweaking but I can't install Windows onto my SSD.
When Windows 8 menu appears on start and I choose W7 - instead of loading W7directly , the computer is new-starting again and only than starts w7. That's a funny "behaviour"....
Also, after starting the computer, the menu is not directly shown up, first is this turning wi8 circle (like in the setup) and only about 30 sec. later comes the menu. I am using windows 8 enterprise, test version.
I have a few questions about dual booting windows 7 and windows 8 preinstalled (UEFI) on my Dell laptop.
1. Can I install a non-UEFI version of Windows 7 on my laptop, if so how? 2. Will installing a non-UEFI version of Windows 7 on my laptop break it? 3. Can I use EasyBCD for UEFI? 4. How do I create a UEFI windows 7?
My girlfriend has recently got a new laptop and unfortunately she doesn't like it, despite me loving Windows 8.1.
She would like to try Windows 8 but is going back to Uni soon so would like Windows 7 as a back-up dual booted.
I've shrunk the partition and created a simple partition for Windows 7 but really unsure about Installing Windows 7 on a Windows 8 Laptop, it's an ASUS X550CA-XX417H. I've checked power shell with SecureBootUEFI and result is True.
I have a HP Envy 4 Ultrabook and I want to install Windows 8 from scratch, I put the installation files on a flash drive from a DVD of Win 8 I had, but when I go to install it, it says the "We couldn't find any drives". I have tried using DiskPart within the CMD as well, but it only finds my flash drive when I run list disk. Also, my drives are completely formatted, and I accidentally wiped the recovery partition. I tried with a USB of Win 8 Pro, and it was fine, showing all of my drives correctly, but that version is linked to another PC, so I can't install it. Also, I booted into a Linux Mint live CD and tried to install it, it sees my hard drive correctly, but the Windows install does not, I can't figure this out, never encountered it before. Is Linux my only option at this point?
I am trying to upgrade from windows 8 pro to windows 8.1 on a samsung laptop. The download completes and installation starts.
After a while the following message appears "you cant install windows on a usb flash drive with setup"
I am not actually trying to install to a flash drive. I contacted Microsoft and after 5 hours they said that I should connect to the internet with a cable and not by wireless in order to solve the problem (this didn't work of course and I had told them that it was an install problem and not a download problem).
My PC was working fine before today, until I used Ultra UXtheme patcher for Windows 8 x64 and then applied a custom VS for Windows 8.
After a restart, Windows Explorer was not launching, so I opened task manager and did a sfc /scannow. After a reboot, I get to the Windows 8 boot menu (I have a dual-boot on this HDD with win7), and then the screen just turns on and off every few seconds, with the numlock light flickering with the screen.
I tried using the automatic repair, both from the boot menu and from a backup USB, but it does not detect anything. and I still have the same issue.
I restored the backups of uxtheme.dll, uxinit.dll, and themeui.dll, but that didn't work either.
Attached is my ntbtlog.txt.
There is no BSOD, the HDD keeps on spinning a few minutes after boot, and the numlock keeps on flashing. Anything else I can do from my win7 install? I'm currently trying to delete the theme.
Deleting the theme doesn't work, safemode doesn't work either. It seems to be a driver issue, but there were no driver updates when it was working?
I have an external hard drive connected to my PC via hard drive dock on USB 3.0 port. Whenever I turn my PC on with the hard drive connected, my PC won't boot up because it is trying to boot up from the external hd where I have an image of both my Win 7 & Win 8 OS. How can I stop my PC from booting up from the external hd?
I have a windows 8 laptop and wanted to re install a whole new windows 8 on it. I'm going to use the generic product key than once installed use the one that i found with magic belly bean key finder. I am just worried that it might say something went wrong than have to buy windows 8 so could i partition the hard drive and than once i know the new windows 8 is good than delete the other?
Just purchased a new win 8.1 computer. As you know it only has the system, recovery partitions and a very large C drive containing the OS and whatever programs that came with the computer.
After cleaning up any unneeded programs, I would like to create 2 more partitions besides drive C:
Total HDD Capacity is 1TB
Is the free space on drive C: indicted in disk management an accurate reading?
Is 80G enough for OS and programs plus some spare space ?
I base the 80G on my older win7 computer where I allocated 78G and only used 44G after 4 years . I am sure I can get away with only 60G but I prefer some wiggle room .
I have a question. One related to hard drives, multiple windows os', and BIOS.
I have save data on my old hard drive (disk) that I need to retrieve that is in the Windows7 "My documents recognized by Windows 8.1 (Windows 8.1 is on my new SSD).
I am concerned that my plan to retrieve my data might cause an error in the bootloader if I perform this method
Reboot in Windows 8.1 When the computer gets to the BIOS splash screen, press F11 (boot options) Select old harddrive (disk drive with Windows 7) to boot into This will boot in Windows 7 Home Premium which is located on the disk drive Log in and go into file explorer retrieve data from documents menu copy/paste data from Disk Drive to new folder in SSD Reboot in Windows 7 When the computer gets to the BIOS splash screen, press F11 (boot options) Select SSD (with Windows 8.1) Move data to documents folder
(If computer auto reboots from SSD then skip steps 9 and 10)
