Installation Help ( First Time Doing It)

Did you see the #9 post I just made above your last post?


No don't make edits to old posts, please make new posts, edits are too hard to keep up with.

CookieMonsta said:

I just finished to burn the PWBD to the disc

1. OK so first i follow the steps of the "How To Change the Drive Boot Priority in BIOS" to set the optical drive as first in order, then i move to the " How to Install Windows 7 to a Partition Ahead of Installed Vista" tutorial and do the step #1.

2. and then i continue with the remainin steps of the second guide , right ?

3. One question , is there a recommended number that i should set the shrink to ? and when i do this ,

4. will loose the data that is in there ?

1. Yes

2. Yes, though you must do the Vista restarts before you continue on to Step Two.

3. Yes just resize the left side of the Vista partition to 100GB to do the installation to, this is plenty for now and can be changed later if you choose and it will make the resize 'easier/faster' to complete.

4. No you will not lose any data at all.

Yes that will be ok, just relax and let it complete and then remove the PWBD from the CD/DVD drive and restart Windows Vista to let it accept the changes to the partition structure.

A couple separate Vista restarts will be ok and are preferred before you go on to Step Two; and do restarts after you complete Step Two and continue on to Step Three.


Be sure to mark the new Windows 7 partition as Active just before you want to do the Windows 7 installation process.

One tip though, be sure to be ready to start the Windows 7 install before you mark the created Windows 7 partition active, once it's active and if you try to restart Vista it will not start.

Once the Windows 7 partition is active, then boot the Windows 7 installation media to do the clean install process.

How to Do a Clean Installation with Windows 7

Just follow Step Three starting at #1, it's all laid out there.


Sorry mate, I realize I gave you a 'scary' warning with no real explanation.

I meant not to mark the new Windows 7 partition active until you are actually ready to start the Windows 7 installation process, it's not something that can be done in advance and come back to later.

The active flag is the indicator to (2.)Windows Recovery Environmeny (WinRE) and the (1.)Windows installers where to (re)create the "System" boot files.

1. For the installation process.

2. WinRE, if the Windows boot loader ever needs repaired.


I hope this helps clarify.


One new question though, is the Windows 7 DVD you have an upgrade version or a full version installer.

You're doing a good job, well done; you need to format it, that's all.


In Windows Vista disk management right click the 'new' partition Raw space and in the drop down click full Format (don't put a check/tic at the Quick box) and just follow the prompts.

Be sure to do a Vista restart after the format process finishes.


When the format / restart is finished, you will be ready to start the installation process starting at Step Three #1 of the tutorial.


With the full installer you have, just follow the outline presented in this tutorial and just skip the format reference as that's not necessary, you will have already done that.

How to Do a Clean Installation with Windows 7