New Win8 laptop arriving, wish to Dual Boot with Seven

[smurfercom]

Now installing Win7 in UEFI mode. When clicking Next after selecting pre-formatted Win7 target partition it warns that "the partitions are not in the recommended order for GPT disk" but lets me continue with install anyway.

Is this a known issue which might cause problems if I decide to wipe the Win7 and Win7 clean reinstall partitions to Extend C and take back the PC? If the wireless speed (40 kbps Download, 10gb Upload) cannot be resolved in Networking thread I have then I will prob do that anyway.

Not an issue you just need to brush up on your partition structures for your type of setup. Check your hardware bios to see what your board supports and partition it accordingly.:thumb:

• Basic Input/Output System (BIOS). Uses the Master Boot Record (MBR) partition structure.
• Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) Class 1. Uses the GUID Partition Table (GPT) partition structure.
• Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) Class 2: Uses the GPT partition structure. Also includes a compatibility support module (CSM) that enables you to use BIOS functions, including the MBR partition structure. This module may be enabled or disabled in the firmware.
• Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) Class 3: Uses the GPT partition structure.

Understanding Disk Partitions

 

[SIW2]

@greg,

Perhaps the oem has set it up in a specific way.

Is win7 booting ok

 

[gregrocker]

Yeah 7 is fine. I wonder if it's because I gave a drive letter to Recov partition to get Paragon Boot media builder to find it's winre.wim then didn't remove it. I also don't have an MSR partition on here, just 300mb UEFI System, 900mb Recov, C: factory 8, F: Win7 and 20gb Recov I gave the letter. So it might not have realized the last partition remains Recovery as UEFI seems to want.

The pitifully slow Wifi 20kbps is wearing on me. Just plugged it in by wire and am getting 55Mpbs.

Roommate is shutting down tablet and Iphone to see if that's the conflict. Speeds double to 1mbps but still not what my other g laptop gets here.

 

[SIW2]

What partitions does paragon show you?

Is it slow wifi only on 7 or the same on 8?

 

[gregrocker]

Yes, was hoping the 7 Clean Install would help but slow wifi, 1 minute boot after all driver updates. Now I want to wipe the HD to see if I can get decent boot times with UEFI or without.

I'll install Paragon to 7 to get a screenie of the map.

 

[theog]

Yeah 7 is fine. I wonder if it's because I gave a drive letter to Recov partition to get Paragon Boot media builder to find it's winre.wim then didn't remove it. I also don't have an MSR partition on here, just 300mb UEFI System, 900mb Recov, C: factory 8, F: Win7 and 20gb Recov I gave the letter. So it might not have realized the last partition remains Recovery as UEFI seems to want.

The pitifully slow Wifi 20kbps is wearing on me. Just plugged it in by wire and am getting 55Mpbs.

Roommate is shutting down tablet and Iphone to see if that's the conflict. Speeds double to 1mbps but still not what my other g laptop gets here.

View attachment 19592

MSR is hidden.
Screenshot from Paragon.

Now installing Win7 in UEFI mode. When clicking Next after selecting pre-formatted Win7 target partition it warns that "the partitions are not in the recommended order for GPT disk" but lets me continue with install anyway.

Not a problem, just a WARNING for Non-UEFI BIOS.

 

[SIW2]

Yes, greg already posted that.

 

[theog]

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...flash-drive-create-windows-13.html#post217113

Is it even known for sure that Win7 can be installed in UEFI to a Dual Boot with preinstalled UEFI Windows 8?

YES.

Fujitsu OEM Windows 8 Pro Pre-installed.
Dual Boot Windows 8 Pro & Windows 7 Pro.





Also comes with Reinstall DVD's.

 

[SIW2]

It is interesting Fujitsu does that.

It was Fujitsu who announced 8 is dead in Japan.

Greg knows the answer because he has now installed 7 alongside 8. ( Not using anything supplied by the oem.)

 

[gregrocker]

So I have preinstalled triple boot now: Asus crapware 8, clean 7 and clean 8 multi-booting smoothly. I'd like to wipe the HD to see if I can improve 45 second Win7 boot time but don't know if I trust the images and need to have it in exact factory condition if I decide to take it back.

The wireless issue is now obsessing me since I get full 55 mbps speed with ethernet cable but a pitiful 20-60 kbps using the Atheros N wireless adapter with its latest driver from Asus on all three installs.

I plug in an Airlink N adapter and get only slightly better 1mbps speed which confounds the issue since it seems to absolve the built-in wireless adapter hardware.

Router and modem are reset, continue to give full wireless speed to all other devices in the house including 10 year old HP laptop.

Asus wants me to take it back to Best Buy who are authorized Service agent. I am trying to decide if I like it enough not to just get my money back but still have 10 days to decide.

Ideas?

 

[gregrocker]

Took it back to Best Buy as there's too many issues to justify keeping it to pass on to any friend, or replace my HP that weighs the same but is built like steel by comparison and lacks all the issues even at 10 years.

Let's see if they post my review I wrote when I got home: : Asus KSeries 15.6" Laptop 4GB Memory 500GB Hard Drive K55A-SI50301P - Best Buy

 

[SIW2]

Can't see your review there yet.

 

[gregrocker]

Ditto the OP: I've just had a new Lenovo Core i5 g500 arrive to test during Best Buy's 2 week return policy period. I've shrunk C, updated to latest BIOS, reset BIOS Boot tab to DIsable Secure Boot, Legacy Support with UEFI First boot.

When I reboot into BOot choices it shows the Kingston USB2 stick in both UEFI and Legacy boot choices. I choose UEFI and it gives the missing driver error. Can't choose Legacy because it would want to delete and reformat as MBR. Any suggestions?

Before on the Asus in OP I made the Paragon 12 boot disk to image entire HD before wiping to install 7 but it wasn't necessary because I was able to install in the shrink space even though 8 wasn't bootable (a great position to be in). Is this possible on Lenovo? ANyone?

 

[chevron]

Hi Greg. I've had the same "missing driver" problem when I tried installing Windows 7 on my Lenovo G500S with OEM Windows 8 SL.

It seems the driver that the Windows Installer is looking for is for the USB 3.0 ports (which is what I'm assuming you attached your flash drive to). I attached my flash drive to the one USB 2.0 port that came with my notebook, rebooted the computer and started the setup process once again and I didn't encounter the "missing driver" error.

 

[chevron]

I'm curious, did you ignore the "partitions on the disk selected for installation are not in the recommended order" message and went on to install Windows 7 onto the partition anyway? Did that work?

I'm contemplating whether or not to install Windows 7 on my GPT partitioned drive. I don't want to lose any of the OEM created partitions, but I also want to dual boot Windows 7. If that's not possible, I guess I'll use VMWare Player to run Win 7 as a virtual machine.

 

[gregrocker]

I've ignored that error message several times, after I was assured here that it only refers to where the Recovery partition is expected to be (at the end of the drive) while many OEM's now put it elsewhere on GPT disks.

 

[gregrocker]

Ditto the OP: I've just had a new Lenovo Core i5 g500 arrive to test during Best Buy's 2 week return policy period. I've shrunk C, updated to latest BIOS, reset BIOS Boot tab to DIsable Secure Boot, Legacy Support with UEFI First boot.

When I reboot into BOot choices it shows the Kingston USB2 stick in both UEFI and Legacy boot choices. I choose UEFI and it gives the missing driver error. Can't choose Legacy because it would want to delete and reformat as MBR. Any suggestions?

Before on the Asus in OP I made the Paragon 12 boot disk to image entire HD before wiping to install 7 but it wasn't necessary because I was able to install in the shrink space even though 8 wasn't bootable (a great position to be in). Is this possible on Lenovo? ANyone?

Problem was the stick formatting resolved after using Option 1 from UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows

After trialing a dozen laptops in the past two years I've decided to keep the Lenovo to replace the 10 year old HP. I couldn't find any reason to take it back even though it's a bit heavy at 3.9 lbs, but then I don't carry it except between my homes in a pack which I like to be heavy so I exercise while carrying it all day in airports.

Almost a keeper was another HP 17" budget Black Friday special with Core i3 4000 Haswell but HP's penchant lately for flimsy hardware is ruining their past repuation. Who could keep a laptop with a power adapter port and plug so flimsy it falls out every time you move the laptop an inch? Otherwise I would have kept it as I like large screens to kick back.