how to make a partition for windows 7 on Windows Vista Sp1

[robinb]

I want to beta test Windows 7.
I have Vista Premium sp1 on a 160gig hd (no partition)
I would like to keep the vista premium but be able to partition the hd and
be able to install Windows 7 onto the other partition and dual boot them?
How can I do this?
thanks
robin

 

[ray]

I want to beta test Windows 7.
I have Vista Premium sp1 on a 160gig hd (no partition) I would like to
keep the vista premium but be able to partition the hd and be able to
install Windows 7 onto the other partition and dual boot them? How can I
do this?
thanks
robin

One way would be to boot a Linux Live CD and use gparted. I advise against
trying to resize a mounted partition.

 

[John Barnett MVP]

You need to create a new partition but, as your C: drive is taking up all of
your hard drive space this will need to be shrunk. In other words you need
to shrink your C: drive to give you enough free space to create a second
partition.

While Vista 'can' shrink a partition it isn't very successful at doing it,
for this reason it is better to shrink the partition using third party
software such a Acronis Disk Director or something similar.

Once you have shrunk your C: drive, then create a new partition in the
available free space; I usually allocate around 60GB for Win 7. Again you
can create the new partition using Acronis Disk Director (or use Vista own
Disk Management tools, if you wish).

Once the new partition has been created ensure it has a drive letter and it
is best to 'name' the partition so that you don't get confused when
installing Win 7. For simplicity I would name the partition 'Win 7.'

All that is left to do is to slip the Win 7 DVD into your CD/DVD (making
sure that the CD/DVD is the first boot option in the BIOS - if your machine
is 3 years or less in age the CD/DVD should be the first boot option by
default anyway.)

Once the DVD is in the drive reboot your machine. You will see a screen
which says 'press any key to boot from CD/DVD; just press the space bar or
Enter key for the installation to start. Installing Win 7 isn't any
different from installing any other version of Windows, only slightly
faster. Just make sure you install Win 7 to your 'Win 7' named partition (or
whatever name you have called the partition.)

After Win 7 has been installed and you reboot your computer a menu will
appear asking you which version of Windows you wish to boot to. Just select
either Vista or Windows 7 and the relevant window version will load.

--
John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://www.winuser.co.uk
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org
Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

 

[Steve Thackery]

The safest thing by far would be to buy and fit a second hard disk. They
are very cheap. You can even unplug your existing hard drive whilst playing
with W7, thus avoiding any risk of mishap.

I always do that.

SteveT

 

[Thomas Wendell]

You need to create a new partition but, as your C: drive is taking up all
of your hard drive space this will need to be shrunk. In other words you
need to shrink your C: drive to give you enough free space to create a
second partition.

While Vista 'can' shrink a partition it isn't very successful at doing it,
for this reason it is better to shrink the partition using third party
software such a Acronis Disk Director or something similar.

Once you have shrunk your C: drive, then create a new partition in the
available free space; I usually allocate around 60GB for Win 7. Again you
can create the new partition using Acronis Disk Director (or use Vista own
Disk Management tools, if you wish).

Once the new partition has been created ensure it has a drive letter and
it is best to 'name' the partition so that you don't get confused when
installing Win 7. For simplicity I would name the partition 'Win 7.'

All that is left to do is to slip the Win 7 DVD into your CD/DVD (making
sure that the CD/DVD is the first boot option in the BIOS - if your
machine is 3 years or less in age the CD/DVD should be the first boot
option by default anyway.)

Once the DVD is in the drive reboot your machine. You will see a screen
which says 'press any key to boot from CD/DVD; just press the space bar or
Enter key for the installation to start. Installing Win 7 isn't any
different from installing any other version of Windows, only slightly
faster. Just make sure you install Win 7 to your 'Win 7' named partition
(or whatever name you have called the partition.)

After Win 7 has been installed and you reboot your computer a menu will
appear asking you which version of Windows you wish to boot to. Just
select either Vista or Windows 7 and the relevant window version will
load.

And if I want to remove the Win7 beta and go back to Vista alone?

 

[robinb]

I happen to have a extra 80gig sata hd (this machine only takes sata
drives)
if I loaded up this drive, how can I install windows 7 so that I can keep
both of them without unplugging the first hd that has vista on it?

robin

 

[robinb]

also how would the computer see either OS?
and when the beta's have expired, by removing the drive will Vista re boot
up via the main drive again?
robin

 

[Earle Horton]

SATA drives are easy to unplug, and there is always the chance of "mishap"
with any new operating system, especially in beta. If you must, just
install the second drive and install Windows 7 there. It "should" present a
dual boot menu after you are done, with Vista as one of the alternatives.

Earle

 

[Peter Foldes]

Robin

It is too early and it just got out of Alpha . The 1st Beta is for official testers
and that is for a reason. Wait until it becomes public and then give it a whirl

The best advice that I can give you at present is not to install any Beta that just
came out of the Alpha stage on a machine that you use everyday. It is asking for
problems.

If you really want to try it and work with it at this stage get another machine and
use it as a test machine only with the present Windows7 Beta alone.

 

[Bo]

Robin

It is too early and it just got out of Alpha . The 1st Beta is for official testers
and that is for a reason. Wait until it becomes public and then give it a whirl

Like, tomorrow (Friday)??

Gotta be fast: downloads to the general public will be capped at 2.5
million.

 

[robinb]

Peter,
I was not going to test it yet till it it is set for beta 2 and released to
the public to test
this way most of the bugs or at least some of the first bugs are out.
I just want to understand how to do it this way first
robin

 

[robinb]

so you say I should unplug the first drive before I try to install it on the
second drive?
if I do this and put back the first drive how will it know which one to go
to since it will think the second drive is now the master?
the second drive would be the slave not the master?
when it boots will it show both OS's and for me to pick which one to load
into?
thanks
robin

 

[Thomas Wendell]

so you say I should unplug the first drive before I try to install it on
the second drive?
if I do this and put back the first drive how will it know which one to go
to since it will think the second drive is now the master?
the second drive would be the slave not the master?
when it boots will it show both OS's and for me to pick which one to load
into?
thanks
robin

No, he means, install the second HD in your machine, then install Win7, and
when asked for where to install, tell it to go there. It _should_ create the
boot menu .

You CAN of course unplug the existing drive, install the spare one, then
install Win7 and reconnect the existing disk. But if you do so,
a) you wont get a bootmenu asking whick OS to load, you HAVE to choose the
disk to boot from in BIOS (boot priority settings)
b) you'll run into trouble with disk addressing (Master or Slave, jumpering,
disk partition (disk(0)part(1) or disk(1)part(0) etc..

 

[Steve Thackery]

You CAN of course unplug the existing drive, install the spare one, then

install Win7 and reconnect the existing disk. But if you do so,
a) you wont get a bootmenu asking whick OS to load, you HAVE to choose the
disk to boot from in BIOS (boot priority settings)
b) you'll run into trouble with disk addressing (Master or Slave,
jumpering, disk partition (disk(0)part(1) or disk(1)part(0) etc..

It is easier if the OP has SATA drives, as I do. Then you install the
second hard drive, and literally just unplug the lead to your original hard
drive.

When you switch on the PC, the BIOS searches through the SATA ports until it
finds your new hard drive, finds it has no OS on it, and stops at that
point, asking for a boot disk, exactly like a brand new PC.

At that point you insert your W7 disk and away you go.

When you want to stop playing and go back to Vista, switch off, plug the
original disk back in and unplug the W7 drive.

It sounds like a drag, but it is the work of moments to unplug or replug a
SATA drive.

I STRONGLY recommend that your original Vista hard disk remains unplugged
whenever you are experimenting with W7. That way your original Vista
installation and data remain untouchable no matter what goes wrong.

Only when you are really confident should you plug your Vista drive in at
the same time as your W7 drive. Usually you will find your machine boots
off the original (Vista) drive, and the W7 drive appears as just another
data drive in Explorer.

If the OP still has the older parallel ATA drives, then the new hard disk
should be set to the same 'master' or 'slave' as the original. In this
case, unplug the lead from the original (Vista) disk and plug it into the
new one.

When you are confident enough to have both hard disks up and running at the
same time, move the new hard disk over to the second ATA port, and set it to
'master' or 'slave' as required.

My method does not give you the convenience of having a boot menu from which
you can choose whether to boot to Vista or W7. But it is much more safe and
secure.

I've used this technique for years, each time a new version of Windows comes
out. And I eat my own dog food - this afternoon, Microsoft willing, I'll be
doing exactly what I've described above.

SteveT

 

[cqui3]

SATA drives are easy to unplug, and there is always the chance of "mishap"
with any new operating system, especially in beta. If you must, just
install the second drive and install Windows 7 there. It "should" present
a dual boot menu after you are done, with Vista as one of the
alternatives.

Earle

Won't Vista automatically create a dual boot system ?

 

[robinb]

Personally, I have 7 installed in VPC under Vista. No problems this way.

I do not have enough memory to put 7 on VPC, I have 1gig for Vista and
Windows 7 will require you to allocate 1gig.
I do have drives and I really do not want to go out and purchase more memory
just to install windows 7 beta

robin