How to install Windows 7/Vista as 2nd OS and retain predesktop environment (service partition)

Question

This is a step-by-step instruction how to install Windows Vista or Windows 7 as a second OS on a Lenovo Thinkpad that originally shipped with Windows XP AND how to retain the access to the Lenovo Service Partition.
I have been searching the internet for instructions like these but could not find anything useful. So I am posting it
here. Maybe this helps other users.
I have tested the procedure below with installation of Windows Vista Ultimate (64bit) and Windows 7 Ultimate (64bit). I believe that the procedure will also work with the 32bit versions of these OSs. I am not totally convinced that this works when the OS to install is Windows XP (64bit or 32bit). XP has a completely different boot sequence compared to Vista or 7. The basic steps would remain the same, but the XP setup is less forgiving when it finds an unknown partition. If somebody wants to try it out, please post your results as a reply to this forum entry.
Never never never try to install an older OS (like Windows 2000 or NT) as a second OS when XP is already installed! This is doomed to fail.
The procedure below does NOT work for Linux installations. I am not a Linux wizard, but any Linux bootmanager I know about is incompatible with the Lenovo Service Partition.
The procedure was tested on a Thinkpad R61 model 8918-B9G. It should work similar on other models.
You definitely need a service partition with Rescue&Recovery version 4. It will NOT work with older versions of R&R or if the service partition is not a type12 partition (see below how to find out about that).
I assume that the harddisk partitions are unmodified, i.e. still have factory settings. This is likely the case if you
never attempted any OS install or recovery action. If this is not the case, the procedure may or may not work.
You also need a bootable CD with a tool that can change the size of your current system partition. I was using gparted live version 0.5.2-9. ( http://gparted.sourceforge.net/ )
Everything you do is at your own risk. I am in no way related to Lenovo, other than being a customer using their
products.
Step 1) Make a full backup of your harddisk. Get yourself recovery CDs for your Thinkpad model if you don't have any. The changes we are about to make can completely screw up your harddrive. A typo is sufficient for that to happen.
Step 2) Power on the system. Check that you can boot into the Service Partition by pressing the Thinkvantage button when the startup screen appears. (Older systems may have a differently named button.) If there is a problem booting the service partition now, it is likely that the rest of this procedure will not fix it.
Step 3) From the service partition choose 'Warmstart' to reboot the system. Reboot Windows XP, logon.
Open a command prompt. CD to the following directory:
\Program Files\Common Files\Lenovo\BMGR
On a german language system (like mine) it is
\Programme\Gemeinsame Dateien\Lenovo\BMGR
If you have an older IBM system the directory may be named
\Program Files\Common Files\IBM\BMGR
or something like that. Maybe you need to search around.
In the following, I will call this the "BMGR dir".
Enter the following command:
bmgr32 /info /v
You should get an output similar to this:
C:\Programme\Gemeinsame Dateien\Lenovo\BMGR>bmgr32 /info /v
It's a Lenovo  MBR
Opened Master Boot Record to see whose MBR it is.
It's a Lenovo MBR
Opened drive for reading
Partition 0 the SP? no, type 0x07 is not correct
Partition 1 the SP? (512)  Label is SERVICEV
Using version 2.05 of Lenovo Boot Manager
Reading: \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE0
        MBR Sector 1 Index: 1   Checksum: 00    Disabled
        MBR Sector 2 Index: 4   Checksum: 03    Passed
        MBR Sector 3 Index: 5   Checksum: FD    Passed
        MBR Sector 4 Index: 6   Checksum: 58    Passed
        MBR Sector 5 Index: 7   Checksum: 96    Passed
        MBR Sector 6 Index: 8   Checksum: 7F    Passed
        Data Sector  Index: 3   Checksum: F1    Passed
        Original MBR Index: 2   Checksum: BD    Passed
        No Patch Sectors
        Checksum Byte: 00
        Think Flag: 1
        WinPE Partition (0-3): 1        Alt Boot Partition (0-3): 1
        Boot Config: 2 (Service Partition containing two Service OS's)
        Boot State: 0                   Alt Boot Flag: 0
        (Normal booting operation, will boot to Customer OS)
        RRU: 00000000 00000000          Prev Active Part: 255
        Previous Partition Type: FF     Patch IN: 0     OUT: 0
        CIRT Disabled
        TOC: 0000000000000000           Lock: 0
        Show Error: 0                   Halt on Error: 0
        CIRT Load Return: 0
        CIRT Execute Return: 0
        Pause Duration: 10              Scan Code: 0085
        F11 Msg: To boot to the Rescue and Recovery Environment, Press F11
        Check Msg: There has been a signature failure
 #  active  type      start CHS      end CHS      startLBA       size
 0   0x80   0x07      1   1   0   239 255 255           63    301296177
 1   0x00   0x12      0 193 255   239 255 255    301296240     11279520
 2   0x00   0x00      0   0   0     0   0   0            0            0
 3   0x00   0x00      0   0   0     0   0   0            0            0
C:\Programme\Gemeinsame Dateien\Lenovo\BMGR>
The important thing to look for is the 0x12 partition type in the partition table at the bottom. This is the service
partition. If you do not have a 0x12 partition, then you can stop here because the rest of the procedure will not work
for you.
Step 4) Shutdown and boot gparted from CD. Shrink the system partition to the desired size. Do NOT touch the service partition! Do NOT attempt to create another partition! Leave the new white space on the disk untouched! Apply changes and restart the system.
Step 5) Reboot XP. gparted has set the NTFS dirty bit. This will cause XP to run a full CHKDSK. Depending on how much files there are on the partition this may take considerable time. Let CHKDSK run to completion. When CHKDSK finishes, the system will automatically reboot.
Step 6) XP reboots now. Logon. When loading the desktop, XP will show a popup window, stating that system settings have been changed and new devices been discovered and that the system should be rebooted. This is ok. XP actually recognized the shrunk system partition and applied the necessary changes to its own system parameters. Click YES to reboot the system.
Step 7) XP reboots. Logon. Open a command prompt, CD to the BMGR dir and enter:
bmgr32 /info /v
The output you get should be similar to the output you have seen in step 3, except that the partition 0 size column
shows a smaller value.
Step 8) Shutdown, restart. Check that you can still access the service partition by pressing the blue Thinkvantage button when the system startup screen appears.
Step 9) From the predesktop environment choose warmstart. Reboot XP. Logon, logoff, shutdown.
DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP!!! If you start the Windows Vista/7 install right after shutting down from the predesktop
environment, the Win Vista/7 setup program will screw up your harddisk! The Lenovo MBR bootmgr reboot takes two steps for completion. The first step is the shutdown and the second step is executed when booting from harddisk. A boot from the Windows CD will skip this second step and disaster finds its way...
Step 10) Insert the Windows Vista/7 DVD and boot it. Start the setup. Choose "Custom (advanced)" install. It will show the partitions on the disk. Select the white space (unallocated). Click on "disk options (advanced)". Click on "New" to create a new partition in the white space. Keep the default size, click "Apply". Click "Format". A popup window appears stating that the partition may hold OEM data. Continue. Click "Next". Installation starts.
Continued in the second post...

Answer 1

Step 11) Win Vista/XP will reboot several times during installation. You will always see the Windows bootmanager with an entry for "Earlier Windows version" and "Windows Vista/7". DO NOT DARE to touch the blue Thinkvantage button on any reboot or press any function keys!
Step 12) When the installation is finished, check that you can successfully reboot Win Vista/7 by selecting it from the Windows bootmanager.
Step 13) Reboot XP by choosing "Earlier Windows version" from the Windows bootmanager. Open a command prompt. CD to the BMGR dir. Enter the following command:
bmgr32 /info /v
The output will now look like this:
C:\Programme\Gemeinsame Dateien\Lenovo\BMGR>bmgr32 /info /v
Opened Master Boot Record to see whose MBR it is.
Opened drive for reading
Partition 0 the SP? no, type 0x07 is not correct
Partition 1 the SP? no, type 0x07 is not correct
Partition 2 the SP? (512)  Label is SERVICEV
 #  active  type      start CHS      end CHS      startLBA       size
 0   0x80   0x07      1   1   0   254 255 255           63    109675692
 1   0x00   0x07    239 255 255   239 255 255    109676544    191619072
 2   0x00   0x12    239 255 255   239 255 255    301296240     11279520
 3   0x00   0x00      0   0   0     0   0   0            0            0
C:\Programme\Gemeinsame Dateien\Lenovo\BMGR>
startLBA and size will of course differ, depending on the actual partition sizes you have set. Note that Windows setup moved the service partition to entry 2 of the partition table. If you do not see the 0x12 partition then stop here.
Otherwise the following step will likely screw up you harddisk.
Enter the following command (case sensitive?):
bmgr32 /Fbootmgr.bin /m0 /IBM /v
The output will look like this:
C:\Programme\Gemeinsame Dateien\Lenovo\BMGR>bmgr32 /Fbootmgr.bin /m0 /IBM /v
installing MBR
finding free sectors
Sector 9 is free
Sector 10 is free
Sector 11 is free
Sector 12 is free
Sector 13 is free
Sector 14 is free
Sector 15 is free
Sector 16 is free
Opened Master Boot Record to see whose MBR it is.
It's a Lenovo MBR
Opened drive for reading
Partition 0 the SP? no, type 0x07 is not correct
Partition 1 the SP? no, type 0x07 is not correct
Partition 2 the SP? (512)  Label is SERVICEV
Setting Think bit
C:\Programme\Gemeinsame Dateien\Lenovo\BMGR>
This command reinstalled the Lenovo bootmanager in the MBR that was erased by the Win Vista/7 setup program.
Enter the following command:
bmgr32 /info /v
The output will now look like this:
C:\Programme\Gemeinsame Dateien\Lenovo\BMGR>bmgr32 /info /v
It's a Lenovo  MBR
Opened Master Boot Record to see whose MBR it is.
It's a Lenovo MBR
Opened drive for reading
Partition 0 the SP? no, type 0x07 is not correct
Partition 1 the SP? no, type 0x07 is not correct
Partition 2 the SP? (512)  Label is SERVICEV
Using version 2.05 of Lenovo Boot Manager
Reading: \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE0
        MBR Sector 1 Index: 1   Checksum: 00    Disabled
        MBR Sector 2 Index: 11  Checksum: 03    Passed
        MBR Sector 3 Index: 12  Checksum: FD    Passed
        MBR Sector 4 Index: 13  Checksum: 58    Passed
        MBR Sector 5 Index: 14  Checksum: 96    Passed
        MBR Sector 6 Index: 15  Checksum: 7F    Passed
        Data Sector  Index: 10  Checksum: 01    Passed
        Original MBR Index: 9   Checksum: 12    Passed
        No Patch Sectors
        Checksum Byte: 00
        Think Flag: 1
        WinPE Partition (0-3): 2        Alt Boot Partition (0-3): 2
        Boot Config: 0 (Service Partition containing one Service OS)
        Boot State: 0                   Alt Boot Flag: 0
        (Normal booting operation, will boot to Customer OS)
        RRU: 00000000 00000000          Prev Active Part: 255
        Previous Partition Type: FF     Patch IN: 0     OUT: 0
        CIRT Disabled
        TOC: 0000000000000000           Lock: 0
        Show Error: 0                   Halt on Error: 0
        CIRT Load Return: 0
        CIRT Execute Return: 0
        Pause Duration: 10              Scan Code: 0085
        F11 Msg: To boot to the Rescue and Recovery Environment, Press F11
        Check Msg: There has been a signature failure
 #  active  type      start CHS      end CHS      startLBA       size
 0   0x80   0x07      1   1   0   254 255 255           63    109675692
 1   0x00   0x07    239 255 255   239 255 255    109676544    191619072
 2   0x00   0x12    239 255 255   239 255 255    301296240     11279520
 3   0x00   0x00      0   0   0     0   0   0            0            0
C:\Programme\Gemeinsame Dateien\Lenovo\BMGR>
So you have actually regained the Lenovo bootmanager. But you are not done yet.
Step 14) Shutdown. Restart the system. DO NOT PRESS THE BLUE THINKVANTAGE BUTTON AT THE SYSTEM STARTUP SCREEN!!! IT DOES NOT WORK YET! When the system startup screen DISAPPEARS, quickly press F11 (maybe several times). The system should now boot the predesktop environment from the service partition.
Step 15) When the predesktop is there, choose "warmstart". When the system startup screen appears, press the blue Thinkvantage button. The system should again boot into the predesktop. The blue Thinkvantage button now works permanently.
Step 16) Check that you can boot Win XP and Win Vista/7 from the Windows bootmanager. You're done!