Dual Boot - Win 7 and Windows 10TP | HDD Prep and layout help

Hi,
This is my first time actually submitting a question in the forum. I've spent so much of my time on here reading for solutions but now hope for some help of my own.
My first attempt at installing Windows 10 Tech Preview (as an additional OS), rather than a 7<10 upgrade went ok until I completed the first platform update.
After that update, neither OS would load and using a Windows 7 recovery CD/start-up repair. It advised the MBR was corrupt.
I attempted many "fixed" found on this site, such as; CMD - MBR[repair,rebuild] etc. System restore was not an option due to the fact that when the RE booted, it could not load drivers for the HDD..possibly? Also, could not locate any existing
Windows installs.
I am now attempting to start again from square one.
I have since learnt the boot/volume table partitioning is different for each OS, MBR/MBT as opposed to GPT(GUID). Could this have caused corruption on the System boot volume (small vol, 600Mb approx).
Should I,
A. Perhaps create a VHD using disk manangment - if so, will the PC boot giving both OS options as previously?
Or B:
Someone please give me a better option :)
>
>
Many thanks in advance.
James

Hi, whatever you decide to do, It's best to install the oldest OS first, in your case, Windows 7. When you boot from your Windows 7 DVD, select advanced installation, from there you can setup your disk partitions for Windows 7 and another partition for
Windows 10. While your at it you can setup additional partitions for your data if so desired. Once you have your Windows 7 installed, you will need to boot from your Windows 10 DVD and select advanced setup so you can tell Windows 10 which other partition
to install into as not to wipe out your Windows 7 installation. Doing this will give you the multi-boot configuration and Windows 10 will install it's own Boot Manager. Hopefully you won't have the problem with the Boot Manager bug Windows 10 has. The
bright side is there is a work-a-round to that problem. Having a Multi-Boot setup gives each OS direct access to your hardware resources. A VHD setup is good for testing software and to see what an OS will be like to use, but suffers from
performance issues for some applications as it is an emulation. The up side of a VHD install, is your system is isolated from any problems you may have with a guest OS plus you can easily delete it if you do not like it or have problems with it. If run
into similar problems in a multi-boot scenario, you actually have to re-format and/or delete partitions and do a re-install to fix problems.

Similar Messages

Dual booting win 7 and arch: cannot install grub to partition

I have read the arch wiki page on dual booting and several other sources on line, but I am still struggling to get this to work.
I am trying to dual boot arch and windows 7 on my lenovo ideapad s205. the machine comes with windows 7 pre-installed.
I shrank the win 7 partition and added an extended partition with 3 logical partions for /boot, swap, and /.
I am able to install and run arch by installing grub to the mbr. when I do this, though, I cannot boot windows. (the windows section of grub menu.lst is uncommented and points toward hda0,0. I have tried hda 0,1 as well).
I have also tried to use the windows boot loader to load arch, as described in the arch wiki page on dual booting. The problem here is that, taking this approach, I should install grub to my /boot partition, but when I try to do this, the installer only allows me to install grub to sda or sdb (the usb stick).
I have read that grub should be able to boot linux from a logical partition. Is this so?
Is there something wrong with the arch installer that it is not giving me the option of installing to a partition rather than the mbr, or is this a problem with my partition scheme, or something else?
I am tempted to remove lenovo's recovery system, but on the other hand, I have already needed to use it several times while monkeying around with installing arch.
Thanks for any help.
UPDATE:
I now have the laptop dual-booting win 7 and arch. My solution ( adapted from here: http://helms-deep.cable.nu/~rwh/blog/?p=177) was to:
1. installed arch on the partitions I had created for it, but skipped the "install bootloader" stage.
2. in win 7, I downloaded and installed EasyBCD and made an entry for arch in it. I checked the option to "Use EasyBCD's copy of GRUB"
3. When I restarted, I got a grub error because the entry in grub's menu.lst was pointing at the wrong partitions for the kernel and root.
4. So I went back into the arch live disk, mounted the boot partition and edited menu.lst.
Now when I start the laptop, the windows boot loader starts and I can choose between win 7 and arch. when I select arch, grub4dos starts and gives me the option to start arch. this is not particularly elegant (nor is it fast), so I think this solution is less than ideal, but it does work.
I'd be interestd in any thoughts about what went wrong and what a better solution would be.
thanks.
Last edited by ratchet (2011-10-10 19:09:16)

ratchet wrote:II am able to install and run arch by installing grub to the mbr. when I do this, though, I cannot boot windows. (the windows section of grub menu.lst is uncommented and points toward hda0,0. I have tried hda 0,1 as well).
Is this a typo in your post or how it was in menu.lst? Surely it should be hd0,0 and not hda0,0? The entry I have in my menu.lst is as follows:
# (2) Windows
title Windows
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1
What was yours?
Last edited by JHeaton (2011-10-10 20:18:22)

Thinkpad t520 dual boot win 7 and arch + optimus issue

--today I got my first laptop and first thinkpad..... thinkpad t520 with the following specifications:-
intel i5 2520M - HD+ AG display (1600*900) - 4 gigs of ram - nvidia optimus -Hard disk 500Gigs 7200rpm - windows 7 and some other windows applications unfortunately a friend bought it for me so he bought it with alot of applications
--the problem is that I've been using arch linux for a year now, and I love it, no experience with laptops, and I intend to keep windows because I purchased for it and I want dual boot with arch so what is the right disk partitioning to install linux and keep windows untouched............ in my old desktop it was only arch and it was like that:
128 mb ext2 boot
2048 swap
50000 mb / ext4 and the rest of the disk for home folder, now with dual boot what is the right partitoning?
the second question Does bumblebee work fine with archlinux?
how to access bios?
Is there any thread to help to install arch on thinkpad t520 in details ?
Do I leave the battery always installed or what?
Last edited by big mac (2012-02-04 13:46:40)

the Arch partition should take some space from the windows7_os partition. You should keep the Lenovo_Recovery partition if you don't have a Windows installation DVD, or if you think you may want to reset your hard drive to its original state someday. In my laptop I have completely removed it.
I have a dual boot of Archlinux/Windows7, and I use the following partitioning
/dev/sda1 ntfs 60.0GiB /media/C (for windows os)
/dev/sda2 (extended partition)
/dev/sda3 swap 4.0GiB swap
/dev/sda4 ext4 30.0GiB root
/dev/sda5 ext4 30.0GiB home
/dev/sda6 ntfs 376GiB /media/D
I use the last partition as a shared partition between Arch and Windows, for storing music and videos... I use it also for installing games, so that I can play them either from windows or from Arch by using wine.
I'm not saying this is the best way to do it, but this has been working for me, also I don't use a separate /boot partition, I used to have it when I had multiple Linux distros, but with Arch alone I don't find it necessary.

Thinkpad x130e dual boot Win 7 and 8

So, I bought a new Seagate SSD Hybrid drive with the intention of dual booting Windows 7 and Windows 8. However, upon using my restore DVD's to reinstall Windows 7 on the new drive I hit a snag when trying to install Windows 8. The Win8 intall says that the drive needs to be GPT and it is currently MBR. So after removing the partitions and changing the drive to GPT I re-restore the Win7 OS. Then to my dismay I find that the drive has gone back to MBR during the restore proceedure.
Is there a way to edit the restore proceedure so that it doesn't change the drive over to an MBR drive?
Thanks,
Matt

the Arch partition should take some space from the windows7_os partition. You should keep the Lenovo_Recovery partition if you don't have a Windows installation DVD, or if you think you may want to reset your hard drive to its original state someday. In my laptop I have completely removed it.
I have a dual boot of Archlinux/Windows7, and I use the following partitioning
/dev/sda1 ntfs 60.0GiB /media/C (for windows os)
/dev/sda2 (extended partition)
/dev/sda3 swap 4.0GiB swap
/dev/sda4 ext4 30.0GiB root
/dev/sda5 ext4 30.0GiB home
/dev/sda6 ntfs 376GiB /media/D
I use the last partition as a shared partition between Arch and Windows, for storing music and videos... I use it also for installing games, so that I can play them either from windows or from Arch by using wine.
I'm not saying this is the best way to do it, but this has been working for me, also I don't use a separate /boot partition, I used to have it when I had multiple Linux distros, but with Arch alone I don't find it necessary.

G780: dual boot Win 7 and Linux

I have a G780 with win7 pre-installed. When I tried to get GNU/Linux Mint Dual-booting, the wifi-driver didn't work and most importantly, I wasn't able to make a new partition because there were already four: the boot-partition, the windows-partition, one labeled "Lenovo" and one "Lenovo2" (or something like this). The hard-disk is formatted in a way so that only four partitions are allowed.
Does anyone have an idea how to solve those problems?
Moderator note: off-topic post moved to its own thread. Subject edited to match content. Was: Re: Dual booting pre-installed Windows 8 and Linux?

Hi Zoltan.
You'll need to operate on the partitions with gparted. It uses its own partition table type, gpt, instead of the DOS partition type, which limits the number of primary partions to four.
I believe that Mint comes with gparted, but you can boot gparted from a live cd or usb. With it you can shrink the Windoze partition to create root, swap and home partitions.
Regards,
KD

HOW TO DUAL BOOT W540 with windows 8.1 / 7

I got my W540 recently with windows 8.1 pro on it. but as all engineers worst nightmare windows 8 has hard time with engineering softwares (for my case TIA Portal for PLC programming software which only support windows 7). so i need to have a windows 7. i prefer to keep my windows 8 and have dual boot system with windows 7 added. But i can't install windows 7. initially due to disk type (GPT), then i changed it to MBR without losing my files (which only was possible if i had deleted the recovery partition- now my recovery is on my flash drive). But there are already 4 partitions on the system (1 for C: drive and 3 for recovery and system files which came originally with the product) , how can i install a windows 7? i can't add another partition because that makes my disk a Dynamic disk (which i don't really know what is). all in all, i really need windows 7 on my system ASAP. If anyone know how to fix this please reply. Thanks guys.
Solved!
Go to Solution.

You are limited to four PRIMARY partitions on an MBR disk.
But other than the "active" partition (i.e. the small 100MB "system reserved" partition where Boot Manager is placed from doing a cold Windows install on an empty drive, or the 1.4GB equivalent Boot Manager partition that Lenovo provides along with other tools and utilities), all other partitions on the drive can be "logical". They are not required to be PRIMARY, although Lenovo delivers its partitions that way. But you can change that.
You can have up to 120 LOGICAL partitions on a drive (all of which live inside an originally PRIMARY partition which gets converted to an "extended partition" which houses all of the logical partitions. So if you have at least one logical partition (and thus have to give up one primary partition in order to build that required "extended partitions"), that means you can have up to three remaining primary partitions and up to 120 logical partitions... all on an MBR disk. No "dynamic", and no GPT.
Yes, that means even the Windows system partition itself (i.e. "C") can be on a LOGICAL partition. It's only that one "active" partition (where the BIOS goes to find Boot Manager and its menu, and kick off the rest of the system boot process) which truly must be PRIMARY. That's the only requirement.
So, if you want to use MiniTool's Partition Wizard to carve out sufficient free space for your second Windows 7 partition (by shrinking your existing Win8 partition), you can create one or more logical partitions inside that new free space, and do the Win7 install to one of those empty logical partitions. You can then use a second logical partition in that same free space for "data", if you want.
Note that Partition Wizard can even convert one of your existing primary partitions to logical (i.e. convert it to an "extended partition", inside of which will be then be the original primary partition now converted to logical). You can then shrink or move/resize the partitions on the drive (both primary and logical) however you want, to perhaps make room for additional "logical" partitions inside of that now present "extended partition" which can hold up to 120. You can even convert ALL of your primary partitions except for the one "active" partition (which MUST BE PRIMARY) to logical partitions, which gives you maximum flexibility in having even more than just two bootable OS's along with one or more data partitions, etc., up to 120 logical partitions... plus the one "active" primary Boot Manager "system reserved" partition which must be kept.

Error with dual boot Win 8/OL6 R3

Hello,
I am hoping to discuss this with someone who has experience with this configuration. My goal is to get Oracle Linux dual booting on my windows 8 machine.
I have installed OL but I am having trouble getting it to dual boot win8/OL using the windows boot menu. Whereas windows 8 boots as expected, the Oracle Linux option gives me the error:
"+Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause...contact you system administrator or computer manufacturer for assistance+
+File:+ \NST\nst_linux.mbr
+Status: 0xc000007b+
+Info: The selected application or operating system couldn't be loaded because a required file is missing or contains errors.+"
Here are some details of the scenario:
- Documentation followed: Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux-6-Installation_Guide-en-US.pdf
- Hardware: Dell Precision M4700 64 bit UEFI
- OEM installed/Default OS: Windows 8 Pro 64 bit
- Installation source: OracleLinux-R6-U3-Server-x86_64-dvd.iso (written to DVD)
These are the broad steps I followed:
In windows 8
I:
- downloaded the Linux ISO software. The checksum on the download matched
- wrote the ISO to a bootable installation disk
- created a new 344gb partition for Linux using the DOS DISKPART command - partition 7
Linux Install
- I booted using the Linux installation DVD and started the installation
- When Installing Linux partition 7 became a 500mb system partition and partition 8 became the 343 gb Linux partition
- I manually created the boot partition as ext3 (because the pdf I was following said "+If your 64-bit x86 system uses UEFI instead of BIOS, you will need to manually create a /boot partition. This partition must have an ext3 file system. If you choose to partition automatically, your system will not boot.+"
- I installed the boot loader on sda7. I selected “First sector of boot partition - /dev/sda7”. I assume this installs separate GRUB boot loader on the Linux partition (7) – which will then be 'chain loaded' from the windows boot menu. Put another way, it will boot with the windows boot manager, which will give me an option to chain load the Grub boot loader, which will then run Linux...
- I chose the desktop installation
- The installation reported that it completed successfully
I successfully booted back into windows:
- I used easybcd to edit the microsoft bcd and successfully created a boot menu for Oracle Linux. I used the legacy grub because the Linux documentation says "+Note that the version of GRUB in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 is an old and stable version now known as "GRUB Legacy" since upstream development moved to GRUB 2.3 Red Hat remains committed to maintaining the version of GRUB that we ship with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, just as we do with all packages that we ship.+".
- After installing Linux and updating the BCD, the BCD now looks like this:
Windows Boot Manager
identifier {bootmgr}
path \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
integrityservices Enable
default {current}
resumeobject {2b56acdd-8bbe-11e2-9ba6-b8ca3ad88679}
displayorder {current}
{524cc0d3-8bce-11e2-935f-b8ca3ad88679}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 30
Windows Boot Loader
identifier {current}
device partition=C:
path \Windows\system32\winload.efi
description Windows 8
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
recoverysequence {524cc0d1-8bce-11e2-935f-b8ca3ad88679}
integrityservices Enable
recoveryenabled Yes
isolatedcontext Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {2b56acdd-8bbe-11e2-9ba6-b8ca3ad88679}
nx OptIn
bootmenupolicy Standard
Real-mode Boot Sector
identifier {524cc0d3-8bce-11e2-935f-b8ca3ad88679}
device partition=C:
path \NST\nst_linux.mbr
description OracleLinux
I'm not sure the BCD entry is correct. I assume that this entry should be pointing to the nst_linux.mbr on the Linux boot partition. However I have verified that this file exists in windows 8:
C:\NST\nst_linux.mbr
I haven't been able to exactly confirm how the boot process should work i.e. whether this file should actually be in the Linux boot partition (as opposed to the windows c drive) and whether the BCD should also point to the Linux boot partition when referring to this partition.
As I mentioned above, I now have the windows boot menu with Windows 8 (which boots successfully) and Oracle Linux (which gives me the error see below for complete wording**). Is the Real-mode Boot sector wrong? Should it point to the Linux boot partition? Is it a problem with my UEFI disk? I don't think it should be because this version of Oracle Linux supports UEFI and my hardware is UEFI.
Has anyone carried out a similar win8/OL dual boot?
2001
** Complete wording of the Linux boot option in the windows boot manager:
Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:
1. Insert your Windows installation disk and restart the computer.
2. Choose your language settings, and then click "next".
3. Click "Repair your computer".
If you do not have this disk, contact you system administrator or computer manufacturer for assistance
File: \NST\nst_linux.mbr
Status: 0xc000007b
Info: The selected application or operating system couldn’t be loaded because a required file is missing or contains errors.
Edited by: 2001 on Apr 1, 2013 4:27 PM
Edited by: 2001 on Apr 17, 2013 5:17 PM

Hi,
Here are my responses:
*[asmirnov]* Could you please confirm, I just want to see if I got it right the first time -
*[2001]* I'm happy to share my progress
Q1)
*[asmirnov]* You did create a partition (where you would install Linux) from Win8, correct?
*[2001]* Yes. I used diskmgmt.msc to create a separate partition. I didn't format the partition because the Linux install doesn't want that, it creates and formats the partitions in the unallocated partition
Q2)
*[asmirnov]* You use GRUB (not GRUB2)?
*[2001]* I'm not sure where you were asking about, so I hope my answer here covers all possibilities you may have meant.
I was using the windows 8 boot. I wanted to chain load to the boot loader in the Linux Partition. It is interesting what the Linux install did with my partition, it created 2 partitions in the unformatted partition. 1 was a bootable partition and the other was the Linux partition. The details were:
2 sda’s (a boot / ext4 and a VolGroup (vg_linuxlocalhost)/ physical volume (LVM) ). In the VolGroup it created 3 lv’s, lv_root, lv_home and lv_swap. I understand that this is all normal.
I followed the documentation note which said "To configure the Red Hat Enterprise Linux boot loader to chain load from a different boot loader, you must specify the boot drive manually. If you chose any of the automatic partitioning options, you must now select the Review and modify partitioning layout option before you click Next or you cannot specify the correct boot drive"
So there was also the note in the documentation that said "Note that the version of GRUB in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 is an old and stable version now known as "GRUB Legacy" since upstream development moved to GRUB 2.3 Red Hat remains committed to maintaining the version of GRUB that we ship with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, just as we do with all packages that we ship." I didn't install any bootloaders manually (either the windows 8 OOTB default that came with my machine or the Linux one), I just took the defaults. I'm wasn't sure how to access the Linux partitions once it is installed, so I can't confirm it was the legacy GRUB in the Linux boot partition, but I believe this note is saying that it OL6 does use the legacy grub. I believe GRUB Legacy is version .97.
Q3)
*[asmirnov]* Which version of Linux exactly did you use, was that Oracle Linux or you used one from RedHat directly? What is the kernal version?
*[2001]* I used "OracleLinux-R6-U3-Server-x86_64-dvd.iso.sha1sum" from the mirror site http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/oraclelinux/OL6/U3/x86_64/. According to the release notes at: https://oss.oracle.com/ol6/docs/RELEASE-NOTES-U3-en.html the kernel is
- Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 2 [kernel-uek-2.6.39-200.24.1.el6uek]. Installed and booted by default
- Red Hat compatible Kernel [kernel-2.6.32-279.el6]. Installed by default
Note: By default, both the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel and the Red Hat Compatible Kernel for the specific architecture (i386 or x86_64) are installed, and the system boots the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel by default. If needed, /etc/grub.conf and /etc/sysconfig/kernel can be modified to make the system boot with the Red Hat Compatible Kernel by default.
Regarding your follow-up point that "Microsoft blocks 3rd party chainloaders from the BCD menu for UEFI machines. We are researching workarounds, none have presented themselves as of yet.", I'm not sure it actually blocks it, but it certainly isn't a straight forward process.
I have actually abandoned my attempt to get the dual boot working. It is a real shame because I wanted to do it for my own satisfaction.
I am now using Oracle Virtual Box as suggested by others, include Dude earlier in this thread. This has given me confidence that I was doing all the right things because the install worked first time without any problems. The virtualization is much simpler and I have had no problems so far.
Fusion
As for your point about the fusion middleware and OL5. I am looking at Oracle SOA with is part of the Fusion brand. I think that the latest SOA components will work on OL6 - but I have yet to try it. Following the certification matrix can be a little difficult. So as I indicated above, my current thoughts are to use the Oracle Virtual Box with Linux r6 u3 and to install the SOA components on that when I get chance. The alternative is using the pre-built virtual machine it has Linux and SOA (it might cover your stack too, or there may be another one that suits you better on the site) http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/soasuite/learnmore/vmsoa-172279.html. Note that this is still on OL5.
I hope this helps.

Can I dual boot Mac with Windows?

Hi all,
At the moment I have Windows 7 32 bit OS. I've always wanted either an iMac, or atleast the Mac OS. I've recently found out it's only £20.99, and i've always thought it was a lot more than that, which is a bargain! The only thing which is stopping me from buying it at the moment, is that certain programs which I use reguarlarly won't work on Mac, and I really need those programs. Is their anyway I could dual-boot it with Windows 7, so I give Windows 7 say only 8gb of my hard drive, and Mac the rest?
I will appreciate any answers, and thanks for tackling this for me!

ryanroks1 wrote:
Thanks for helping
Is an Intel Mac just an Intel Processor, with Mac OS?
Yes Macs changed to Intel Processors in about 2007. You can upgrade as far as Lion with a Core2Duel Processor or better. CoreDuos will only update as far as Snow Leopard.
Hope this helps
Pete

Dual Boot on Yoga11S (windows 8 + windows 7)

I'm trying to install Windows 7 as a dual boot with the Windows 8 preinstalled on a new Yoga 11S.. Has anyone succeeded at trying to accomplish this?

hi
You might want to follow this thread,
Yoga 11s was able to run Windows 7 but There is a screenshot of Unknown devices.
I also check the Lenovo Support site and no drivers yet for Windows 7.
You can follow neokenchi's guide there on how to parse and check the Hardware ID and then download the driver from the device Manufacturers.
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/IdeaPad-IdeaTab-Slate-Tablets/Yoga-11s-Windows-7-drivers/m-p/1180983#M23...
Regards
Solid Cruver
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Downgrade HP ENVY 15-u010dx to win 7, or duala boot win 7 and wind 8

i have brand new HP ENVY 15-u010dx with windows 8.1 installed.
Because of my needs (worrk related) i need win 7 installed.
Is it possible to install win 7 dual boot with win 8.1 ?
Does win 7 work on this machine, do you have drivers for win 7 x64
i'm asking this since i saw option in bios that has to be disabled to run win 7.
please help me..thanks in advance..

Hello @bigheadx,
I understand that your notebook computer takes a long time to reach the Windows log in screen after you power it on, and I would be happy to assist you in this matter!
To ensure there are no background programs or services that are slowing the booting process of your operating system, I recommend following the steps in this document on Windows 8 Safe Mode. I also suggest following this resource on Resolving slow system performance (Windows 8) to increase the speed and efficiency of your operating system.
Please re-post with the results of your troubleshooting, and I look forward to your reply!
Regards
MechPilot
I work on behalf of HP
Please click “Accept as Solution ” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.
Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the right to say “Thanks” for helping!

Unable to install windows 7 and fedora in a dual boot even with windows 8 and fedora also

Unable to install fedora in dual boot please help me to install, is my system supports windows 7 or not with fedora or windows 8.1 with fedora please help me i need very urgent installation of fedora

Hi @siddu007 ,
Thank you for visiting the HP Support Forums and Welcome. I have looked into your issue about your HP 15-r262tu Notebook and issues with Dual booting Fedora. Here is the support site for Linux for troubleshooting.
Here is a link to Microsoft on your Downgrade Rights. Some features will not be available in a different OS.
Thanks.
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Dual booting pre-installed Windows 8 and Linux?

I just bought a G780 with Windows 8 pre-installed. Ideally, I would also like to install some flavor of Linux. I've been searching but not finding much info on how difficult or time-consuming this would be, or if there are any special considerations or anything. I've found some guides on dual-booting Windows 8 and Linux but they were all for installing Windows straight from a disk, not anything where it's already pre-installed, and some indicated they thought it might be problematic to use a pre-installed version of Windows. Anyway I was hoping that if anybody has done this on the G780 or even a similar laptop that you could share how it went and any difficulties you encountered. I'm open to using any Linux distro if it'll be easy to install. I would appreciate any info you could share. Thanks.

I had issues with Windows 8 as pre-installed on my G580, my employer at the time was using Windows 7 only and would not allow upgrades for security purposes. I deleted the entire drive (including hidden) knowing at some point I would re-install Windows 8 or later from retail disk when needed.
Linux can resize partitions during the install process, but be careful not to disturb the hidden partition or the windows boot loader in the process. Linux Mint is the best yet for this purpose, OpenSUSE and Fedora failed, CentOS failed and Ubuntu was not able to boot, but did not "hurt" the windows partitions.
Good luck.

I have a dual boot system. Windows xp and Windows 7. Photoshop elements 7 would not run on Windows 7, so I purchased Elements 13. Slow as christmas. Not worth using at the speed it takes to do work on photos

I have a dual boot system, xp pro and 7 pro. Photoshop elements 7 runs fine on xp, but would not run on windows 7. Bought elements 13, Very, Very slow. To slow to work on photographs. I have bought new ram and done every other optimize ideas I have found online.
Any ideas. Asus anthlon 64 x 2, 4g ram, m2n e motherboard, NVidia video card, 2+ g processor

Please post Photoshop Elements related queries over at
http://forums.adobe.com/community/photoshop_elements

Dual Boot Win 8.1 & Win 7

I've just taken delivery of a 15-p011na laptop.
This has Windows 8.1 & a 1TB HDD with 5 apparent partitions seen with AOMEI Partition assistant as follows:
*: WINRE NTFS 650.00MB capacity 421.48MB used
*: FAT32 260.00MB capacity 117.95MB used system
*: Other 128.00MB capacity 0.00MB used
C:Windows NTFS 908.78GB capacity 42.31GB used Boot
D:Recovery NFTS 21.71GB capacity 19.57GB used
I would like to create a dual boot with Windows 7 so that I can copy my Windows 7 (32 bit) drive from my old computer to another partition. I have tried shrinking the size of C partition and then installing Windows 7 32 bit on the unused partition. However, I get an error saying that the drive is GPT and I've read that the only way around this is to convert the whole drive to MBR which can be done on the fly with a utility like AOMEI Partition Assistant.
However, MBR will only recognise up to 4 partitions and I would require 6 with the shrunk C partition so can I get rid of the 3 small partitions or will this affect the drive? I have already made a copy of the restore software onto DVD's.
Failing that perhaps I can boot from my old Windows 7 drive as an external USB drive but any attempt to boot from it just crashes and I've tried using Paragon Adaptive resore but the USB drive isn't recognised.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
TIA.
Geoff.

Paul
Given what the cable does and what device manager looks like it is a driver issue. Their driver. Your best bet is to contact the developer BUT I do wonder if you have tried re-installing the driver in compatibility mode for win 7
To install in compatibility mode do the following:
Right click the installer>properties>compatibility>choose OS
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Make-older-programs-run-in-this-version-of-Windows?SignedIn=1
(works in vista, win 7, win 8, and win 10)
Wanikiya and Dyami--Team Zigzag

Dual Boot Win 7 & win 10 Problems?

I am dual booting this, (Win 10 on my 2TB HDD and Win 7 on my SSD.) and now when i try to boot back to Win 7 my mouse switches off. The thing works fine in 10, and had been workign for years on 7... Anyone else seen a problem like this?
I have tried reinstalling the mouse drivers and it isnt helping on Win 7. Unplugging and pluggung in, the mouse lights up for a split second, but then dies again. switch back to Win 10 and it works as usual. No problem at all...

Hi RobGamez,
Are you using USB mouse?
If so, how about another USB port?
If this is a USB mouse, I suggest you uninstall the USB controller in Windows 7 system and restart to check if you can get it work.
1.Open Device Manager.
2.Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.
3.Right-click every device under the Universal Serial Bus controllers node, and then click Uninstall to remove them one at a time.
4.Restart the computer, and then reinstall the USB controllers.
Alex Zhao
TechNet Community Support

Dual Boot - Win 7 and Windows 10TP | HDD Prep and layout help

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