If I remove the boot drive from my old Windows 7 computer and put it into my new Windows 8 computer, how can I set up the new computer to allow dual boot at start-up?
View 1 RepliesFirst, some context: I have a Dell Inspiron 15R SE that came with Windows 8.
I've managed to get a working dual-boot system with Ubuntu 12.10. I can't remember exactly how I done that, but I remember that I had to disable secure boot. I think that the boot configuration those days was:
Secure boot: DisabledLoad legacy option rom: EnabledBoot list option: Legacy
This "configuration" worked perfectly for 6-7 months.
Then, one day (last week, can't remember the exact day), when I was using Windows 8 the computer crashed. I hard-rebooted and got this screen:
After executed boot-repair from a Ubuntu LiveCD dozens of times I've decided to eliminate Ubuntu temporarily and focus to get a system with Windows 8 working nice.
Then I used my recovery DVDs to recover the system. Yup, Windows has booted. But when I restarted first time I got the same error. Then I, digging a solution, pressed F12 after a reboot and got here:
The highlighted option allows me to boot into Windows 8. So I went to boot options (F2) and changed the following configuration:
Load legacy option rom: DisabledBoot list option: UEFI
Now I can boot directly to Windows without need to press F12.
But my objective isn't complete. I want to erase all Ubuntu entries from the seconds image and restore the legacy boot from the first imagem (because they worked before).
I did two things:
I erased all partitions related to Ubuntu (root partition and home partition).I created a Windows recovery disk (not a system recovery disk).
I used the recovery disk to run the automatic recovery procedure (I forgot the exactly name). I've runned it at least 10 times with no success. Then I went to command prompt to try the famous triad: bootrec /fixmbr, bootrec /fixboot and bootrec /rebuildbcd. Still, no solution.
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.
View 2 Replies View RelatedI had ubuntu within my windows 7 earlier. Later when i installed windows 8, i formatted the partition ( E: ) in which ubuntu was installed, since the wubi uninstaller was not working. Still when i start my system, it shows ubuntu listed in the boot list. I tried to load it once. It gave an error. There is no error when i select the default windows 8.
Now i checked the boot option in the msconfig as per the thread, but only windows 8 is listed there, no ubuntu. But still it is listed in the boot menu. I tried the disk manager, the only partition without NTFS file system is the one with status "healthy (OEM partition)". I dont know whether its a ubuntu partition. And there is no option to delete it also. No other ubuntu partition. I want to remove the ubuntu boot option from my os list. How to do it?
I had a computer with windows 7 home premium x64. A while ago I decided that I wanted to up grade to windows 8 and so I partitioned my os drive and installed (OEM) windows 8 Pro on the new partition. During the set up I was able to set up a duel boot system with windows 8 and windows 7. When I look at the drive structure I noticed that there isn't a system recovery partition for windows 7 or windows 8.
I would like to generate a system recovery partition for windows 8 and remove windows 7 but I am not sure how to go about doing this.
not sure if this has been posted but download this update from the Ms site if your watermark with this message doesn't disappear after you've activated your Windows 8.1 installation.
Download Update for Windows 8.1 for x64-based Systems (KB2902864) from Official Microsoft Download Center
I got the message after updating an HP sleekbook 4 laptop to Windows 8.1 enterprise (TechNet version from ISO) from the Windows 8 pro that was pre-installed with the laptop (plus all the other zillion bits of bloat /ad / crapware).-- I disabled protected boot -- more trouble than it's worth - especially if you are testing OS'es -- but KEPT the UEFI .
Recently I was trying to upgrade my Windows 8 Pro computer to Windows 8.1 Pro. But I had no working USB sticks so I thought I could make a NTFS partition into my hard drive and extract the Windows 8.1 Pro installation setup files on there. So when I restarted my computer, it booted up into the Windows 8.1 Pro installing setup but said that I needed to boot up into Windows and put the installation media back in. But I could not and just kept booting into the installation.
So I thought that if I delete the partition I could go back to Windows. So I did with DISK PART. Now when I restarted it, it now gives me "DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER". I'm guessing that when I deleted that partition, there is unallocated space left and my computer is trying to read off that but not the Windows partition.
I have a Compaq computer ...
Windows 8, 64-bit.
Used to run Win 7 on our main drive, and used a second one for storage (mainly games), however something happened, making us unable to boot. So we decided to upgrade to Windows 8, which we put on our secondary drive, and that's now the main one (boots from here, is Disk 0). When I turn on the PC, it asks me whether to run on Windows 7 or 8 (8 is the default). C: contains Windows 8, D: Contains Win 7.
MAIN PROBLEM: Since we're going to use the old main drive as storage (the one with Windows 7), I wanted to format it, but it won't let me because, I suppose, of the System files still on it (System, Active). Picture of Disk Management below. How do I format it?
Installed Windows 8 first, then installed Win XP to a second partition on the same disk.
In windows 8, the XP partition is seen as D:
If I boot to XP, XP sees itself as I:
it sees the windows 8 partition as C: and that is what I want, is C: being win 8 and XP being D:
Is there anyway to change the lettering on the XP partition?
Re-install windows 8 with new motherboard and CPU
I ended up managed to be able to boot into windows after i swapped out my motherboard and CPU to the new ones and everything seems to be working as it should, windows automatically installed the intel drivers and all my old programs and settings are there perfectly.
I can only boot into windows if i select my backup drive as #1 boot device in the BIOS, the SSD isnt even on the list.
The thing I don't understand lies in that, if i select my SSD as priority, where the directory of windows is installed, i get a bootmgr missing error - I've tried the various methods of recovering this using the cmd and a windows installation disc.
This isn't a huge issue but it's really tripping me out as to why this is occurring? I initially had some issues getting windows to boot so i installed a clean windows8 on this backup drive, i didnt change any settings at all. was only making sure that the SSD was being recognized and i hadn't corrupted it somehow. is it possible that the backup drive boot manager is directing it to the SSD.
I am planning on building a new computer, and I want to put a 250GB SSD (Samsung 840 EVO) in it to use with 8.1 Pro. However, most of the programs and data I need are still on the old computer's boot drive, specifically all of my STEAM games (none of which I have the DVDs for.)
My question is if I can create symlinks to the old boot drive without losing data on it. This will most likely be a temporary measure, as the drive's a fairly slow 5900RPM Barracuda, and I want something faster, but I can't afford a better one just yet...
I'm trying to install windows 8.1 on a sony vaio E series laptop which had windows 8 preloaded on it. I made a bootable usb thumb drive with Windows USB CD/DVD Download tool. When i try to boot through the pdrive it doesn't boot. I selected the option to boot from external device and selected the boot mode as UEFI. But it doesnot go into the windows 8.1 setup.
Then i selected the legacy mode and started the setup but it booted into the 8.1 setup. I formatted the C: Drive and selected that partition to install windows 8.1 on it but it showed mean an error showing that the partition is of GPT style and windows cannot install. I was doomed...
it happens because it is not booted in the UEFI mode and then i tried again but it doesnot go into the windows setup and shows a black screen with the notification that no operating system was found.
I built a large desktop system a few years back and it's been upgraded with various bits and pieces including an SSD boot drive. I'm looking at putting together a much smaller system in a Shuttle XH61V and I want to use my existing 2.5" SSD. Can I just put the SSD in and clean install Win 8 from the original system builder disk I bought or will something go wrong because there's already an installation on the drive?
View 7 Replies View RelatedFor some reason, Windows 8.1. downloader package refuses to see my 8GB SanDisk flash drive as a target for creating bootable Windows 8.1 installer USB media. A 16GB Patriot drive is detected and processed properly, but 8GB SanDisk is ignored. The same is true for the Windows 7 USB/DVD tool.
What could be causing this?
When I create the media on the 16GB drive, only 3+GB is used, which means that 8GB drive should be sufficiently large.
UPDATE: It appears that the SanDisk drive is not detected as "removable", so neither Windows 8 downloader nor Windows 7 USB/DVD tool see it as a valid target. There are quite a few reports of that issue on the Net. So, how do I create a bootable Windows 8.1 install media from that SanDisk drive?
I have a Dell Inspiron 7720 Win 8 x64 PC which includes UEFI (described in Microsoft link below). However, UEFI is accessed on Win 8 from Settings Charm > "Change PC Settings". This requires that you have booted the system already. In case of a main disk crash, you need to boot from another drive, like a thumb drive.
During restart my Dell PC displays "F12 Boot Options" in lower right of screen during restart, but multiple presses of F12 during startup are ignored. Likewise when I try F1 or F2 during startup. So I have no way to specify an alternate boot drive.
I am thinking maybe my PC is defective, but also maybe I'm missing something. What is UEFI? - Microsoft Windows Support
I was wondering if it's possible to take windows 7 from my first computer and install it to my new one that has windows 8 on it (windows 8 has problems with its wifi where windows 7 worked perfectly).
View 6 Replies View RelatedIf you select a keyboard layout and there's no language pack available you cannot remove that keyboard again.
I made a mistake and got this (Igbo whatever that is)
Now I've got a redundant keyboard entry that I can't get rid of.
(Running Windows 8.1 Enterprise RTM - TechNet x-64). Note you can only add language packs etc for PRO and above versions.
I am trying to setup a new Windows 8 computer that is going to be a gift. I need to go through the setup procedure so I can install some software which is also part of the gift. How can I do this without having to use a Microsoft account, or at least with leaving the least amount of account remnants for the new user?
View 2 Replies View RelatedAfter creating a UEFI bootable USB thumb drive with Rufus (using Windows 8.1 Enterprise ISO x64), for a Dell Optiplex 3010 (configured as UEFI only, no CSM, latest firmware version, Windows 8 installed), I didn't see a USB boot option, so I tried to add one manually. Unfortunately I erased the existing boot option (boot manager) by mistake. Although there were two boot options for PXE booting, the machine will not start anymore, even when there is an active WDS server on the network.
I also see Led's 2 and 3 lighting up, meaning according to the manual 'hardware ok but bios possibly damaged/corrupt'.
I understand I cannot start the machine from a bios boot disk because of GPT partitioning, and the UEFI USB boot disk I made might be corrupt (as it didn't show up as a boot option), however I don't understand why it won't boot from the PXE network card, as these boot options are still there.
My PC started off on Win 8 and I upgraded to Win 8.1 .
I want to do a completely fresh installation. I do not mind going back to Win 8 and redownloading Win 8.1 afterwards.
My problem is that when I go to PC Settings > "Remove everything and reinstall Windows", I get the error: "Insert media. Some files are missing. Your Windows installation or recovery media will provide these files."
I have a partition on my computer "HP_RECOVERY (F:)". It states 1.24 GB free of 10.6 GB. When I open it, it contains a folder called "Recovery" and "HP_WSD.dat" -- the .dat file is 1 KB. When I open the folder, it says that it is empty (hidden folders and files are set to be shown). If I look at the folder properties, it states that it contains 1 file, 2 folders. The size is 69 bytes.
I have not touched this recovery partition ever since I got this PC. I have, however, run a partition software before because I split my (C:) into (C: and D:). I do not know if this may have somehow corrupted my recovery partition.
What is the best way for me to quickly and cleanly format my PC without losing my registration key? I do not have a copy of Win 8 or Win 8.1 on a CD or USB.
I opened up cmd as admin and typed in "reagentc /info" and it output this:
Code: C:WINDOWSsystem32>reagentc /info Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) and system reset configurationInformation: Windows RE status: Enabled Windows RE location: ?GLOBALROOTdeviceharddisk0partition3RecoveryWindowsRE Boot Configuration Data (BCD) identifier: 8fc8db37-7d80-11e3-91ec-faa553f3f5b4 Recovery image location: Recovery image index: 0 Custom image location: Custom image index: 0REAGENTC.EXE: Operation Successful.
I bought a new laptop which came with Windows 8 pre-installed. The standard version - not the PRO and therefore not downgradable :-( I bought a Windows 7 CD and tried to install it, but the installation failed. Frozen screen - don't ask me the details: I am useless. Now when I power up the laptop, just after the boot begins, I get a screen asking me to chose between "Setup" and Windows 8, with "Setup" being highlighted and which launches automatically if I don't manually change to Windows 8, which systematically leads to the frozen screen and I have to power off manually. If I choose Windows 8, then it finishes the boot and launches normally. Since, I have discovered Start8 and it works for me, so I am happy to keep Windows 8, but I'd like to get rid of the partial Windows 7 installation and the boot problem it causes.
View 1 Replies View RelatedI've had Win 7 Pro on my laptop for over a year. I installed a 2nd hard drive to it recently and today I installed Windows 8 Pro on the 2nd hard drive. It's been a roller coaster of good & bad luck.
The first install went fine, until I tried to install the Windows 8.1 upgrade from the Windows store, then things went bad and I had to go into Windows 7 and eventually delete the Windows 8 volume and change it from MBR to GPT because of UEFI (no secure boot enabled). What a stretch of error messages telling me I can't install Windows 8 on the blank hard drive because it was or wasn't MBR or GPT, or the automagically made partitions weren't in the right order.
After spending over 7 hours twice in a row installing Windows 8, I finally find out that there's no boot option for Windows 7 anymore.
The only clue I have is to use a Windows 7 repair disk and use diskpart.exe and make the Win 7 drive "active" but that's a little foreign to me at this point.
I'm looking in Computer Management / Disk Management from within Windows 8.
Disk 0: SYSTEM D: 438 MB NTFS (lengthened from 199 MB with EaseUS because Acronis 2014 thought it too small while crashing), Healthy (Active, Primary Partition); Win 7 E: 930.98 GB NTFS Healthy (Primary Partition); HP_TOOLS F: 102 MB FAT 32 Healthy (Primary Partition)
Disk 1: 300 MB Healthy (Recovery Partition) {no letter}; 100 MB Healthy (EFI System Partition) {no letter}; C: 931.00 GB NTFS Healthy (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition)
And several other external disks which don't deserve mention today.
I previously setup a DVP 11 pro tablet by logging in with my outlook.com email account.
Now I am about to setup an AIO desktop . So I am sure the same questions will be asked about logging in with email account and password when first powering up the computer.
My questions are:
a) Should I use the same outlook.com email and password for the second computer as the first ? Will Win 8 even accept this because one tablet is already setup using this same email address and pw . Even if it accepts what are the implications?
b) I would prefer not to sync the Tablet and the AIO computer . In this case should I setup another outlook.com account with separate email address and PW? I guess I can do this by clicking on setup a new account .
c) Actually I would prefer to setup the 2nd computer with local account . But from my experience with the DVP 11 Pro , this option is not available in the setup screens. ie I can't get pass the the first screen that asks for email and password. Since this is a purchased machine and not a clean install , I believe the only way to do this is to first setup with an email account then subsequently disconnect and setup local name and password.
I installed Ubuntu 14.04 a few weeks ago and I was happy about it, but I need to sell this PC and I need to install Windows in it. The problem here is that I erased the recovery partition by accident and I can't install Windows with a CD because my computer doesn't have a disk case, the model of my PC is Lenovo Yoga 11s.
I tried to make a booteable Windows 7 USB with Unetbootin, but the BIOS doesn't let me boot from the USB slot. My BIOS configuration was in Legacy Support and my USB was the priority to boot. My USB was formatted in NTFS. When I open the boot menu it take me to the Grub of Ubuntu.
I don't know what else to do... I just need to install Windows, it doesn't matter if is 7 or 8.
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?
View 1 Replies View RelatedI 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).
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.
I have installed Blue 8.1 on a separate drive in my system along side 8.0. When I restart the 8.0 boots unless I manually select the 8.1 drive in bios. How can I alter the Boot menu to add the option to boot from either OS?
View 3 Replies View RelatedLate last Fall I bought a new Desktop, an HP H81414, with Windows 8 installed with the intention of installing Windows 7 on an SSD. I migrated Window 8 to an SSD, removed that from the system, installed new SSD and put Windows 7 on it. Both worked fine. I wound up with 2 SSD's. capable of running on the EFI BIOS machine with Secure Boot turned off. I later bought a new laptop with Windows 8. I found the Win 8 with Classic Shell to be very acceptable.
What I would like to do now ,if possible, is to mount both SSD's in the HP case and switch to either one of them at boot.
My PC is a dual boot system which had Win XP on disk1 and Win 7 on disk2.
When I installed Windows 8 several months ago, I chose to install it on disk1 and completely remove Win XP.
Everything works fine but my log-in screen now contains 4 start-up tabs instead of just 2 (see below):
Windows 8
Windows XP
Windows 7 (volume 1)
Windows 7
The only tabs which are valid are Windows 8 and Windows 7 (volume 1), the other 2 are non functional. How can I edit this screen and remove these tabs?
I am trying to boot from the windows installation disc but after the window logo, for a split-second it says your pc ran into a problem, I didn't even notice the first time because it was so fast, then it just restarts. I already have indows 7 installed and i want to install windows 8 on my other hard drive.
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