Windows 7: Install Vista SP2 after Windows 7 (7100)

I am trying to load VISTA SP2 to an unallocated partition on my hard drive that already has win 7 installed.

I downloaded the 64 bit SP2 vista install DVD through torrents, and poped it in the DVD drive. Since I have an upgrade product key I did a clean install in the unallocated part of the HD. I did not enter the product key, since I want to do that when I upgrade the same install in order to get the key accepted.

The problem happens when I try to do the upgrade. I get an error that the "active" partition does not have enough space(error 80070070). Well this is not exactly true. When I installed win 7 on the empty drive I noticed that a system reserved partition was created with 100MB and set as active.

It appears that the VISTA upgrade has an issue with this part. since it is set as active, and as a result assumes this 100mb win 7 part. is where it wants to install the upgrade.

Without going into multiple paragraph explanation, lets say I tried to set other partitions as active and it still failed for other reasons.

Has anyone installed vista after win 7 was installed? Does anyone know a way around my problem?



thanks.

so u have 1 harddisk with only 1 partition and some unallocated space? to install vista, u need another partition, but not on unallocated space

maybe u can show us the disk management here

From your post I find it unclear what exactly you are attempting to do , or rather the specifics of the procedure.

From what you tell us here, you are attempting to install vista sp2 after having 7 installed at one time.

The disk management is attempting to install on the allocated 100 MB space that windows automatically sets aside during install.

What I can recommend from the little and confusing information you have given, is to simply delete the partition, format, and install the OS of your choice.

If you are attempting to install to have the availability of two windows operating systems, you would have needed to partition enough space for two separate installs.

Please provide a little more information, I am not exactly certain what to derive from the details you have given thus far.

-all the best

No offense, but don't you guys ever learn about torrents.

The 100 MB partition is built by Windows 7 install and that's where it boots from.

This happens when you upgrade rather than choosing a "clean" install. A "clean" install is the only way to go. You end up with hundreds of useless files on your system and conflicts can also arise with drivers/

Even before attempting this you should download a free utility to manage and./or fix the Boot manager. It's called EasyBCD and can be downloaded here:

EasyBCD 1.7.2

truthfully, I would reformat everything and start over with a clean install.

This will also eliminate the 100MB partition.

First off when I clean installed win 7 RC7100 64 bit on my brand new unallocated 1TB SATA drive the installation created a 100mb system partition and the rest of the drive as the win 7 partition. So the clean install still created the 100mb partition.

Now to make this more clear....

1- I split the win 7 partition in half, on one Ihad the win 7 OS the other was unallocated space.

2- I ran the 64bit windows vista sp2 installation disk I downloaded from a torrent. Yes I checked the hash values using hashtab.

3- during the install process i picked the unallocated space to install vista sp2

4 - I did not enter the product key or allow activation at this time since i have an upgrade key not a full version one for vista.

5 - The install went fine. I then attempted to do an upgrade within vista so i can enter the product key and get activated, that is where I received the error 80070070, which to paraphrase says that the active partition D: does not have enough space.

After the Vista install vista see the partitioned disk as follows:

C: ~400G primary partition
D: 100mb primary, active, partition
E: ~600G win 7 partition, primary

I hope this is clear. I am looking for a way to get vista activated, without going through a whole process of backing up the win 7 partition, then reformatting the entire disk, install vista then win 7 and then restore the win 7 partition.

Thanks

Thanks for the info.

Mine didn't create the 100 MB partition because I formatted the drive in the command prompt before installing

What do you mean by upgrading. Are you referring to Windows Update?

I am referring to running setup off the vista Sp2 install disk to do an upgrade. I usually do this to get around the product code issues with a windows upgrade edition of vista.

Forgive me for laughing,

But do you have an legal OS or applications on your computer.

The 100mb system reserved partition is for the system tools in case you need to repair your installation. I have done multiple clean installs with both windows 7 and windows vista and this partition still gets created. Windows Vista's system reserved partition is 200mbs for the repair tools, while windows 7 only requires 100mbs.

Try creating a 200mb partition in addition to the partition you want vista to install to. Vista may be trying to use the 100mb for the system tools, when vista requires 200mbs.

Hi ciucca,

Go to folder options - make sure Hidden files and protected o/s files are showing.

Copy and paste bootmgr and the yellow boot folder from D (100mb) to E (7 partition).

You will get a message bcd is in use and can't be copied - skip it and copy the rest.

Open an elevated cmd prompt, type:

bcdedit /export E:\Boot\bcd {enter}

In Disk Management, mark E active.

Then reboot to hand the System status to E.

Should be able to do the Vista upgrade install now.