Reinstalling 8.1 Preview in MBR disk

[BJB]

When Win 8.1 Preview was first released it installed without issue in a second partition on my Win 7 Pro Lenovo Edge E335 and created a standard dual boot setup. A week ago something or other started causing chaos in Win 7 though 8.1 still ran normally, but as 7 is my day-to-day system I needed to get it working normally again. Three different Acronis images restored OK but then each developed the same problems, so probably a rootkit was behind it all. Unable to overcome these problems I restored to factory condition, reinstalled my software and life returned to normal.


I then set about repartitioning to install Win 8.1 Preview again but hit a first problem when the same DVD and key I had used previously failed as the key was not accepted. Undaunted I tried again with a new key I found on the internet and this key did work. However the install then failed with the message that Win 8.1 can not be installed to an MBR disk, only to a GPT disk. Now this is the same disk that installed to the same MBR HDD previously, only the key being different.


Is the only solution to this to convert the entire disk to GPT and reinstall both 7 and 8.1 again? If so, that's a bit of a problem as my Win 7 was preinstalled to an MBR disk and I'm certainly not buying it again.

EDIT - the Win 8 Pro/Win 7 Ult on the left relates to a different box.

 

[theog]

EDIT - the Win 8 Pro/Win 7 Ult on the left relates to a different box.

Does box a UEFI/BIOS firmware?

Boot DVD in Legacy.

 

[BJB]

The DVD was booted in Legacy mode and boots fine. It's the installation process itself that fails with the message that 8.1 cannot be installed to an MBR disk.

 

[theog]

1) If you boot the DVD in UEFI mode, & try to install on a MBR Disk.
You will receive an ERROR "cannot be installed to an MBR disk"

2) If you boot the DVD in Legacy mode, & try to install on a GPT Disk.
You will receive an ERROR "cannot be installed to an GPT disk"

 

[BJB]

Ahhh! Thanks for that - the Startup was set to Both > Legacy first but changing it to Legacy only it's now installing.