Resizing Partition to install dual boot

CumbrianJohn · 11 Sep 2010

Hi, Wonder if someone can help

I'm wanting to install Win7 as a dual boot alongside my existing XP set up and have been trying to follow the excellent guide at Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP

But I'm stuck at resizing the existing partition as described at Partition or Volume - Shrink

I get as far as the command prompt and selecting the drive, but as soon as I type "shrink querymax" or "shrink desired=15360" or even just "shrink" I get the message

"Diskpart has encountered an error: This service cannot be started in safe mode"

Now I can't see any way of getting a command prompt WITHOUT starting in safe mode ... am I missing something?

Grateful for any suggestions - or would it be simpler to use a third party partition manager?

Many thanks
John

DocBrown · 11 Sep 2010

You might need to use a 3rd party program like Partition Wizard Bootable Disc

Partition Wizard : Use the Bootable CD

CumbrianJohn · 11 Sep 2010

Suspected as much! Thanks for the helpful link DocBrown, I'll give that a go.

Bare Foot Kid · 12 Sep 2010

Hello CumbrianJohn, welcome to Seven Forums!

This one would probably be more useful for your situation, have a good look at this tutorial at the link below.

Dual Boot : Create Partitions Using PWBD

CumbrianJohn · 12 Sep 2010

Thanks for the welcome Bare Foot Kid!

And also thanks for the heads up - that looks to be a useful utility to have available anyway

Many thanks

John

Phone Man · 12 Sep 2010

I agree. Partition Wizard is a very good program. On their website they have lots of tutorials on their product.

Jim

Bare Foot Kid · 12 Sep 2010

Phone Man said:

I agree. Partition Wizard is a very good program. On their website they have lots of tutorials on their product.

Jim

What, you don't like my tutorials?

Partition Wizard : Use the Bootable CD

Dual Boot : Create Partitions Using PWBD

Partition : Recover Space Used by an Older OS

Bare Foot Kid · 12 Sep 2010

CumbrianJohn said:

Thanks for the welcome Bare Foot Kid!

And also thanks for the heads up - that looks to be a useful utility to have available anyway

Many thanks

John

Hello John.

It is a very easy procedure, I've also posted the other tutorials I've done on PW above this post, mine cover just about everything to do with PW.

Phone Man · 13 Sep 2010

Bare Foot Kid said:

Phone Man said:

I agree. Partition Wizard is a very good program. On their website they have lots of tutorials on their product.

Jim

What, you don't like my tutorials?

Partition Wizard : Use the Bootable CD

Dual Boot : Create Partitions Using PWBD

Partition : Recover Space Used by an Older OS

No they kind of suck.

Just KIDDING.

I had used PW before I found your tutorials and just used the infor from their website. Haven't needed it in quite a while. Its an easy program to use once you learn the basics.

Jim