Dual Booting Pre-installed Windows 8.1 and Windows 7

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armenh7

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Hello, today I am trying to dual boot my Pre-Installed Windows 8.1 Pro with Windows 7. I have chosen "Shrink Volume" in Disk Management and I have created a new partition for Windows 7. Whenever I try to install windows 7 on the selected partition, I get the error that the hard disk is GPT type. I cannot convert it to MBR.
I open DISKPART
I write LISTDISK
I only see "Disk 0"
I write "select Disk 0"
Then I write "List Partition"
My hard drive has 7 partitions. My windows 7 partition is 5
I write "select partition 5"
Now, my question is, if I write clean, will it clean that specific partition or my entire hard drive?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba
    CPU
    I-3
    Memory
    4.00 GB
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Malwarebytes
armenh7 said:
Whenever I try to install windows 7 on the selected partition, I get the error that the hard disk is GPT type.
Click to expand...

Boot from the Windows installation media in UEFI Boot Mode, so you can use GPT (GUID Partition Table).

Quote from this post: UEFI Boot Mode (installing using the GPT partition style) and Legacy BIOS Boot Mode (installing using the MBR partition style). -> link

Tip   Tip
Error message when you boot from the Windows installation media in Legacy BIOS Boot Mode:

Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style. (see screenshot below)

That is because Windows can only be installed to MBR disk in Legacy BIOS Boot Mode, but you plan to install Windows on a GPT disk.

- Boot from the Windows installation media in UEFI Boot Mode, so you can use GPT (GUID Partition Table).
- But if you want to use MBR (Master Boot Record) partition table, then delete all partitions on the disk.

Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style.png

Error message when you boot from the Windows installation media in UEFI Boot Mode:

Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI systems, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks. (see screenshot below)

That is because Windows can only be installed to GPT disk in UEFI Boot Mode, but you plan to install Windows on an MBR disk.

- Delete all partitions on the disk, so you can use GPT (GUID Partition Table).
- But if you want to use MBR (Master Boot Record) partition table, then boot from the Windows installation media in Legacy BIOS Boot Mode.

Windows cannot be installed on this disk. The selected disk has an MBR partition table.png
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo G580
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-3230M
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD Graphics 4000
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, standard user account
    Other Info
    UEFI firmware (BIOS) embedded Windows 8 product key.
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