I have just upgraded to 8 using my 7 settings on a couple of my machines. Is it possible to put back the original 7 SSD drive - clone it to a spare drive and then create the VM set up on that cloned drive using the upgraded drive? I would of course remove the original 7 drive and just use the clone.
I'll just get an OEM 8 to install if what I have cannot be done.
I am running Windows 8.1 and it appears that my hard drive needs to be replaced. When the machine is turned on, frequently there is a slight screech and I feel it's best to replace the hard drive.
How do I make an exact bootable copy of the hard drive on a new hard drive and simply replace the drive with the new drive without having to reinstall Windows 8.1 or other programs and without affecting any of the files currently on the machine? If cloning software is required, are there any free programs I can download?
I have 2 identical HP i5 desktops running 8.1 which was updated from 8. I want to put a cloned drive from computer A in the other computer B so they will appear identical with all the apps etc. I am told that I will get a configuration error in computer B because the product key in BIOS won't match. Will the computer even run with this error to allow me to fix it? I am told to get a toolkit called the Microsoft toolkit which allows extraction and insertion of keys. I think that approach would let me make computer B product key be the same as A. But in doing this I would lose the valid key in computer B. I would like to change the product key in the cloned drive to be correct for computer B.
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 had Hyper-V and Ubuntu running on Windows 8 no problem. I've since done a fresh install to 8.1, and I can no longer create an External Virtual Switch. The button for "Create Virtual Switch" is grayed out when I select "External". I can create Internal and Private switches, but not External. There's no error or message so I'm having difficulty troubleshooting. All of the tutorials I've seen don't talk about any configuration I would need to do before creating an external switch. I have the default Windows 8.1 firewall and antivirus stuff.
Update:
I tried creating the Virtual Switch in PowerShell with the following commands
Code: PS C:WINDOWSsystem32> Get-NetAdapterName InterfaceDescription ifIndex Status MacAddress LinkSpeed Ethernet Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller 3 Up B8-97-5A-13-7C-E6 1 Gbps
[Code] ....
I'm not really sure why it couldn't find my physical network adapter, since it shows up with the Get-NetAdapter command.
hyper-v - error in creating external virtual switch
I got an error in creating external virtual switch at hyper-v on windows 8 pro x64.
I have one xp vm and tried to make an network connection, but I coul not success.
How to make creating external virtual switch at hyper-v.
Goal: run both windows 7 and windows 8.1 native from VHDX (currently only success with Windows 8.1 on vhdx and win7 vhd)
I have a windows 8.1 installed in the system and rebooted into a command prompt, created a vhdx image, converted to GPT, and then install windows 7 on this vhdx (both with and without KB982018 integrated). The install went through (copying files etc) and it then rebooted itself and finish off the reset of the installation. After it rebooted it the boot menu is the old style black and white (which is fine), and choose win7 vhdx to finish off the installation. However an error comes up - An unexpected error has occurred.
Having no luck therefore instead of installing to a VHDX I now boot up with the win7SP1 USB and install onto a VHD instead. Everything went well and booted into windows 7 (expected). I then install KB980218 and then it rebooted itself, again everything is ok. I then booted back into windows 8, converted the windows 7 from VHD to VHDX and set the sector size to 4096 as per How to Convert a VHD File into VHDX. Boot entry has also been updated to vhdx instead of vhd.
I now try to boot to this new win7 vhdx, and instead of getting an unexpected error, it booted into a graphical screen and ask for repairing the window. (which means it's unsuccessful).
For XP users who want to keep using their XP system why not run VMWARE VMPLAYER -- FREE in UNITY MODE.
You don't need even to run Windows as your Host --how to create a Portable system that runs Windows Virtual machines and totally boots from an external HDD / USB stick (even if there's no HDD in the main computer !!).
Using Unity mode simply gives you access to all your Windows XP programs (and runs them) directly from the Host without you needing to enter the VM at all -- Power up your VM and simply click the Unity mode on the vm menu.
If you use Linux as a host it saves you having to purchase a new version of windows (Linux is FREE). Simply convert your XP system to a VM and then you can keep running XP for as long as you like without worrying about having to upgrade Windows.
I'm in the process of moving to an SSD and need to create a backup drive in order to repair the BIOS after transferring everything. However, when I try to create one - the create a recovery drive program won't recognize the flash drive I have connected as a flash drive.
I first tried with a SanDisk Cruzer which apparently had a quirk in that it shows up as a hard drive instead of removable flash drive. That seems to be well documented on forums all over the place and there is no fix.
So, I purchased a cheap 8 GB stick (no brand) and Windows (I'm running 8.1 x64) recognizes it as a removable disk. However, the create a backup utility still won't recognize it. I've found some random fixes that have worked for some (such as plugging it into a different USB port) but nothing has worked for me so far. I've tried doing it with the "copy the recovery partition" option both checked and unchecked.
If there's no solution to this wonderful "quirk" of Windows, then is there something else I can do to repair BIOS? Seems like there's not a fix to my problem out there...
EDIT So as of right now, I tried using HPs recovery software which seems to do the same thing as copying over your entire recovery partition. That didn't work either. However..when I had both USB sticks plugged in the Windows supplied utility recognized the SanDisk Cruzer when I checked the "copy the partition" thing
I got Hyper V setup (I think). The GUI client starts and I can go to the server. I could not get the continuous page after page setup to work unless I first set up a virtual hard drive. I think there was an option to install the OS if I set up the Vm and the VHd at the same time. I am now starting the VM and connecting to it and trying to install the OS using my original OS disk in the CD/DVD drive. It went to drive/DVD and I got the usual promtp: what do you want to do, including "run setup" which is what I selected.
When I do that it takes a long time to setup/copy files and when it gets tot he screen as to what partition to install to, it only shows the system reserved, my boot partition, my data partition (which has the VHDX) and my MBR (BootIt Bare Metal main boot record) partitions. At this point I stopped the OS installation by powering down as while I had these all imaged/backed up I did not want to overwrite any of them. it did not show the VHDX as an option to which to install.
as for other options like install over a network, my network adapter doesn't show and even if I made an ISO image of my OS disk, i don't know how I would get access to it.
In setting up Hyper V I ran the following in a supershell:
enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Hyper-V -All
I tried to run the following in a command prompt:
Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Hyper-V All
but got an error that it did not recognize " -all "
I then ran it without the dash or maybe with a slash in front of it (I can't remember).
I don't even know what this command does and whether it could have an effect on installing an OS to a VHD.
I am running Win 8.1 Pro on an x220 with 8Gb RAM and a 500Gb SSD. I am trying to install Win 7 Ultimate on the VHD. How to install the OS to a virtual hard drive.
I'm at the point of no return with Hyper V. I have finally gotten access to the Internet. For the next step, where I can find Step-by-Step instructions to gain access to a Host Hard Drive from the VM. I have the MS Windows 8 Inside Out and it is of no luck. For some reason accessing a Hard Drive wasn't important.
View 1 Replies View RelatedI've created a "Powered on machine" virtual installation of my Windows 8 on VMware VCentre Convertor to run in VMware Player, the size of the Hard drive was about 130GB, in the virtual machine I've deleted all my media files and uninstalled the large programs. The size of the C: drive is now 40GB which is more manageable for a Virtual Install which will be used to tweaking experimentation before I do it to my real Windows 8 installation.
How do I shrink the Virtual Hard drive from 130GB to say 45GB, I have installed the VM Tools and reading on the VMware website it saying you go to the VM Tools in the ghost install by right clicking it in the system tray or going to control panel on the ghost install and click on shrink. I have the icon in the system tray but the only right click options are about and there is nothing in control panel.
I have tried the "compact" option in the virtual machine settings by right click my Windows 8 virtual machine from the VMware player but it doesn't shrink the volume, it wirred away for an hour but the hard drive stayed the same size.
IF has Win 8 Pro 64bit in Wmware Player could they look to see if the shrink option is there on the Virtual install of Win 8 by right clicking VM tools in the system tray and clicking settings or options.
I just cloned my HDD which had windows 8 pre installed on it to a new HDD. The cloning process went great the only problem i am having is that the newly cloned HDD can not boot on its own. I would like to know If there is anything I can do to change the new HDD to be the boot drive.
View 9 Replies View RelatedMy hard disk was always full (itunes/picasa filling it with multiple backups etc); so decided to upgrade to a whopping 1tb. I bought the HDD and a cradle; and have created a clone of all my files and settings onto the new monster using an application. I want to copy all my settings across - Virtual DJ takes best part of a day to configure for example.
Downside is, the new disk is not bootable; and I cannot make it bootable however I try.
I have made the partition active using "diskmanger"
I have gone to the drive and typed in admin mode in command prompt:
g:
cd/boot
bootsect g:
I have also tried:
Bcdedit /import C:BootBCD.
This hasn't worked, so tried this:
Bcdedit /set {bootmgr} device partition=G:
TBH - don't really understand the commends, just trying everything I can!
so one of my computers entered a boot loop and I'm pretty sure the only way to fix it is using a recovery drive. Only problem is the only other windows 8 PC in the house doesnt let me create it. I go through the steps outlined in this thread: Recovery Drive - Create with USB Flash Drive in Windows 8 but i get stuck on step 6. When I insert a USB drive the create recovery drive setup doesnt seem to recognize it. It just refreshes (which shows that it detects a usb being inserted) but nothing shows up. Oddly enough, I can access the usb drive through my computer and copying/moving etc files still works. How can I make it so it appears?
View 9 Replies View RelatedI would like to make a flash drive bootable and I have looked at the utility that HP has called USB Disk Storage Format Tool and every place I have looked to find how to install and use it, the instructions that I have seen do not show up for me when I run the program. Where I can get some good instructions on how to create the flash drive.
View 3 Replies View RelatedI just bought Asus UX31A-R4005H (with Windows 8). Unfortunately Asus doesn't provide any application to restore Windows 8 back to factory conditions. So i need to recovery whole hard drive partitions back to factory settings.
Firstly i need to create a set of OEM factory recovery discs/usb flash.
1. I'm planning to create a system recovery drive (usb flash) with Windows 8 but i wonder if this usb flash will recover whole hdd back to factory conditions? If yes is it enough to use Windows 8 "create a recovery drive" option?
2. How could i create an original OEM factory recovery usb flash with 3rd party application?
When I first got this PC, I made the Recovery DVDs as instructed. Now, I want to make a Recovery Flash Drive, but HP only allows creation of one Recovery item. Is there a way to create a Recovery flash drive after I've already made DVDs?
View 9 Replies View RelatedI recently bought a Dell Windows 8 desktop. I upgraded the desktop to Windows 8.1. I want to create a recovery drive using a DVD rather than a flash drive. (I understand Microsoft wants you to create recovery onto a flash drive rather than a DVD. Not sure why.)
I found several places on the net which discuss just how create recover onto a DVD. They suggest that I do a search on "Windows 7 file" and this will display an option to click on "Windows 7 File Recovery" ... and that will lead me through the steps to create my recovery onto a DVD.
Problem is "Windows 7 File" is not found. How do I get this onto my Windows 8.1 system?
I want to know how to create bootable flashdrive with multiple O.S???,so that when I want to install O.S i choose which one I will install, I only know how to create bootable one O.S in flashdrive.
View 8 Replies View RelatedI have a number of different drives that I use for different purposes but I only use two of them frequently.I would like for the others to enter sleep mode when not in use, but never my main two. Is there any way to edit power saving settings for individual drives?
View 3 Replies View RelatedPartition wizard - seems no way to create a USB bootable media -- if your PC doesn't have a physical DVD drive even the PAID PRO version doesn't show the create bootable media option. Machine doesn't have bootable CD.
Gone back to the FREE GPARTED program -- although it can take a lot longer to run when re-sizing / moving partitions.
(Another method -- a bit extreme though is to install Partition wizard on a Windows to Go system !!!)
The Partition wizard website is totally confusing too it shows a USB version but how to obtain it is unclear and the documentation is not good either.
I am facing several weird problems in my Windows 8.1 installation. My first problem is that when I try to copy/create a file to my C: drive it throws an access violation error.
But this not the case if I copy/create a file in any of sub directories in C:. For example I can copy/create files to system32 or program files with any such problems.
My second problem is that I no longer get a popup when I connect a external HDD to my system. It doesn't even show up in "My Computer" I have to open up disk management and then assign a drive letter to the external HDD then only will it show up in File Explorer.
Will there be issues if I try to create a Windows 8.1 USB Recovery Drive on a USB Flash Drive larger than 32GB? The Create a Recovery Drive actually formats the USB drive in FAT32 and makes it bootable. I plan to purchase a 64GB USB flash drive. Will the Recovery Drive Creator repartition the USB Flash Drive as a 32GB FAT32 partition? I tried the same on an external USB hard drive and it repartitioned the external hard drive as a 32GB FAT32 partition.
View 1 Replies View RelatedI need to install Hyper-V, to run Windows Phone 8 emulator on my machine. But I am(actually my system) not able to complete the installation process.
When I enable Hyper-V in the window, it asks for a restart. After restart, during logon screen, it shows Updating. At around 91-95%, system shows "We couldn't complete the features. Restarting." And system rolls back. I want to really use WP8 emulator.
Also my system meets all the necessary system requirements for Hyper-V, already checked via CoreInfo, and Virtualization is ON in BIOS.
I now have an Internet connection with my XP. The last challenge is USB. Not sure if I am missing something, but I do not see it in the Setup.
P.S. I started this new thread though I did mention USB in my last.
Okay I have created a virtual drive, switch and then created a new virtual machine.
I have downloaded a windows 98 iso (legally, I have a disk but its badly scratched).
I'm trying to install win98 on the VM but not sure how. I had the option when I was playing around with the first time and chose install later.
I deleted the VM and drive, created new ones but didn't get the option to install an OS.
If I start the vm I just get boot failure. I have mounted the win 98 iso in the virtual cd drive but nothing's happening!
I have a Hyper-V VM, and during the setup wizard I chose to install OS later.
I added DVD drive to it's hardware, and added the DVD drive to the boot order.
I put the retail Windows XP disc in the drive and start the VM, but it doesn't see the disk and eventually I get the error "Boot failed" for every boot device, and then finally "No operating system was Loaded. Press a key to retry the boot sequence...".
In setup for the VM, I see that I can "Specify the media to use with your virtual CD/DVD drive", which is an "image file". Does that mean it has to be an ISO, not a physical disk?
If so, any good way to make an ISO from my retail Windows XP Pro disk? It looks to me like Windows 8.1 File Explorer doesn't do it.
How to Get Windows XP Mode on Windows 8 I have Windows XP SP3 already listed in compatibility mode. I am running Windows 8 pro. I really don't understand what they are trying to tell you here. I have never had an older program to run with the compatibility mode anyway.
View 9 Replies View Relatedget a XP vhd up and running *except* I do not have Network or USB capabilities. Apparently I am suppose to get an option to install the drivers from the host computer (Windows 8.1); I do not see/get that option.
View 9 Replies View RelatedHere is an issue I have run into since I side graded to 8.1.Pro on one of my machines. I expect the other machine has the same issue but I mostly use 7 ATM. I have some XP virtual machines that were created by importing the image of XP into VMWare Player and now those VM refuse to run with the following error.
It is obvious the VM was based on the XP machine from Windows 7 Ultimate. How can I fix this as XP Mode does not install and Windows 7 is no longer on this machine so I can't point the program at the file on another OS drive?