Win8/7 Dual Boot Gone Wrong

[hjintx]

I was wanting to dual boot a Dell pc inspiron 600 with win 8. I thought I will breeze through it like I used to circa WXP/Vista/W7 and didn't research what changes there might be with Win8. I have focused my attention more on Android and I really should have done that research.

I hadn't backed up externally docs that I needed to save - so I will remove the drive and copy the contents to my laptop to be on the safer side. So the first wrong move has led to missteps.

I downloaded Easus and created a blank disk space before the current active partition instead of behind it. I thought I needed to have win 7 in the first partition. Before rebooting I also installed a popular freeware boot selection manager (I totally forget the name but I know some most will know the one I am referring to EDIT: ***EasyBCD*** ). It gave me a warning that no bootable system was selected. I kept editing to point it to current win8 but nothing changed. It also warned me that my pc might not boot. I thought I will fix it to a bootable drive with my old discs-Ultimate boot cd, CPM, etc. Easus performed creation of the new partition and then trouble started. It refused to boot.

None of my discs are working as they did before Win8. on UBCD Fdisk cannot find any partition it can make active. I decided not to write an new MBR before seeking advice. My windows 7 install CD is giving me the "Windows cannot be installed to Disk 0 Partition X" details ->"The selected disk is of the GPT partition style." What is this and how do I fix it?

Here are the partitions

My questions are:
At this point I don't mind to have only windows 7 installed or if this situation is salvageable a dual boot then I don't have to remove the drive to copy the docs. I can just boot into 7 (which is what I mainly want to use) and just have access to win8 partition from there to access my docs. I would prefer not to pull the drive out if I can avoid it but only if I know for sure what I am doing.

Second question : I believe partition 3: 489GB is the newly created one and Part 4 OS would be the Wind 8 partition. How can I know for sure that this is the wind 8 partition?

If I format the partition 3: 489GB will windows now allow for windows 7 to be installed?

Is there any way I can fix windows 8 partition to boot?

Lastly the basic question is how do I fix this error so that I Can install windows 7?

P/S
I don't have any pre-created OS discs of Win8. My current laptop is a toshiba win 7

 

[topgundcp]

By looking at the image, I think your Windows 8 was installed with GUID Partition Table Style (GPT). Therefore the utilities you use will not regconize unless they support UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is a standard firmware interface for PCs, designed to replace the legacy BIOS.
In addition, the layout from the image does not look right to me. For Windows 8 installed with EFI, it should be in order as follows:



and from the device management. The 128MB Microsoft Reserved Partition is hidden by design, you can use the Diskpart command, then you'll see it.



AT this point, the best thing you could do is first try to save all the data from the disk then if you have the Recovery USB/CD to boot it from and try to do a repair to see if it can correct the problem.

 

[hjintx]

I hooked up the drive to my Laptop via a USB cable that has a SATA converter that I connected to the drive . The LT recognized the drive, installed the drivers and gave the pop-up that it's been installed and ready for use. But the drive is not appearing on my file explorer. I can see the eject drive icon. Why is the drive not appearing in windows explorer.

Also if I formated and attempted to install windows 7 in the newly created partition but this error is still present "Windows cannot be installed to Disk 0 Partition X" How do I overcome this so that I can install windows?

 

[Anshad Edavana]

Hi

Since Windows 7 install disc can see your partitions,let us hope your files are still there. You can try copying data to an external medium as per illustrated in the below guide.

Copy & Paste - in Windows Recovery Console - Windows 7 Help Forums


Only 64 bit operating systems support booting from GPT. Is your Windows 7 is 32 bit ?.

 

[hjintx]

Hey thanx I am copying the data off the HD using a WinVista install disc. When I clicked repair Win7 disc kept giving error that this version of system recovery is not compatible with the win version you are trying to repair. XPpro cd gave a BSOD. Vista disc worked great.

It's a 64bit I have a 32bit as well but figured I will go with the former since the desktop's Win8 is a 64bit.

Q1
Since the Win7 that I want to install is a 64bit why is installation not possible because currently I am stuck at this and so far I haven't found a way to overcome it -> "Windows cannot be installed to Disk 0 Partition X" How do I overcome this so that I can install windows?

Q2
What freeware tools can I use that are compatible with GUID Partition Table Style (GPT) and/or UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) to manipulate the HD so that I can format and/or create partitions so that I can install Win7? I don't care to re-install Win 8.

 

[hjintx]

Also I would like to copy the partition where win8 recovery is stored for future need if that ever arises. From the photo above of the HD which partition will that be?

 

[genet]

My windows 7 install CD is giving me the "Windows cannot be installed to Disk 0 Partition X" details ->"The selected disk is of the GPT partition style." What is this and how do I fix it?

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

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.



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.

 

[hjintx]

Got all the data out per advice - Thanx!
Deleted partitions,
Now when I wanted to install windows 7 ultimate 64bit in UEFI mode PC would not boot and would stop at no bootable media found, F1 to retry F2 to change boot setup. Reading around I think I gather that the install DVD has to support UEFI booting. Mine was modified in 04/07/2009. Going by that date does that mean that my Win7 dvd most likely does not support UEFI booting? I just want to know about this as I am new to it (UEFI).