unable to dual boot 2 installation of windows 7 ultimate 64

Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast

  1. Emcha
    Posts : 23
    windows 7 ultimate 64
       New #1

    unable to dual boot 2 installation of windows 7 ultimate 64


    Until a week ago I used to have an asus p5q se with two installation of the same os on two different physical drives, giving me a dual win 7 ultimate 64 boot. One for gaming, the other for my daws. But I killed it after it ate my fourth video card in two years. And in case anyone asks, yes I am 110% sure that I had two installation of the same os on my computer, one was on my seagate barracuda, the other on one of my two WD Caviar black 500 GB.

    Since I changed my computer to an asus p8p67 evo rev 3, I am unable to install my os's like I had in the past. Each time I install one on it's appropriate drive, the other is unusable, unseen from the other os installation, and there's no boot manager coming up when I start the computer.

    Help would be greatly appreciate it before I start axing this new computer
    Last edited by Emcha; 09 Mar 2012 at 05:34.
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  3. seavixen32
    Posts : 7,730
    Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-Bit
       New #2

    Welcome to Windows Seven Forums.

    Please post a screenshot of your fully-expanded disk management layout so that we can give you better help.

    Screenshots and Files - Upload and Post in Seven Forums
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  4. Emcha
    Posts : 23
    windows 7 ultimate 64
    Thread Starter
       New #3

    from the device manager?
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  6. seavixen32
    Posts : 7,730
    Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-Bit
       New #4

    No.

    Click Start>Control Panel>System & Security>Administrative Tools>Create & Format Hard Disk Partitions.

    unable to dual boot 2 installation of windows 7 ultimate 64-dm.png

    I'll be away from my computer for the rest of the day, but someone else should be along shortly to help out.
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  7. Emcha
    Posts : 23
    windows 7 ultimate 64
    Thread Starter
       New #5

    Alright, here it is

    unable to dual boot 2 installation of windows 7 ultimate 64-hdd-config2.jpg

    Also including a screeny of what my Pro tools HDD has on it, showing the installation of the os.

    unable to dual boot 2 installation of windows 7 ultimate 64-whats-my-barracuda.jpg

    The only thing I haven't tried is to install the os from my Normal HDD session while being logged in it. Ie to format the Pro tools HDD from within windows, and then using the installation disk while being in my windows session on my normal drive, to try and install it on my Pro tools drive.

    Would that make any difference?
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  8. gregrocker
    Posts : 50,642
       New #6

    You have a mess. Only the partition holding the System boot files should be marked Active.

    Probably because data drives had been marked Active and you didn't unplug the other HD's when installing, the System boot files were derailed to Disk 3 which doesn't even hold an OS.

    When you have separate HD's the best way to Multi Boot is to unplug all other HD's during install, then afterwards plug them back in and boot the other Win7 OS by using the one-time BIOS Boot Menu key. This keeps them independent to come and go as you please.

    To sort this out, first mark C and E Active: Partition - Mark as Active (Method Two)

    Next mark all partitions except E and C Inactive. Partition - Mark as Active, power down to unplug all other HD's except C, reboot into BIOS setup to set C first HD to boot (after DVD drive), boot it's installer's System Recovery Options to run Startup Repair 3 Separate Times until WIn7 starts and holds the System Active flags.

    Now power down (always) to unplug C, plug in E and repeat the same process with it's installer until it starts and holds System Active flags.

    Now you can plug in the other HD's. E will boot by default, so when you want to boot into C tap the one-time BIOS Boot Menu key (F8 on most Asus's) to trigger it to boot. If you find you don't like this arrangement, install EasyBCD to default HD OS to add the other to a WIndows Dual Boot.
    Last edited by gregrocker; 09 Mar 2012 at 15:33.
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  10. Emcha
    Posts : 23
    windows 7 ultimate 64
    Thread Starter
       New #7

    Thanks for the info, before I start I have one question though. Is there any danger to the Data I have on the Audio drive and the Sample drive if I mark them inactive?
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  11. gregrocker
    Posts : 50,642
       New #8

    Absolutely not. Marking Active only tells Windows which is supposed to be the System partition holding the OS boot files.

    During install or repairs, it will look for the first Active partition to place the System boot files upon, or lacking a preceding Active partition it will mark the partition chosen for install.

    Feel free to ask back if you get stuck or have any other questions. I will be around all day. We need to see if getting it configured correctly then solves the issue reported as additional steps may be required including possible reinstall of problem OS.
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  12. Emcha
    Posts : 23
    windows 7 ultimate 64
    Thread Starter
       New #9

    Cheers mate.
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  13. Emcha
    Posts : 23
    windows 7 ultimate 64
    Thread Starter
       New #10

    Is there a way to tell the disk part? Since I have 2 WD Caviar black 500GB, how do I tell which one is the C: drive?
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

 
Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast

  Related Discussions
I have an old Samsung laptop R439. It came with Windows 7 professional. Lately it was filled with lots of viruses so I decided to perform a clean install with my genuine Windows 7 ultimate disk. First I formatted the hard drive and created 3 new partitions. Then installed the windows (32bit)....
How to Setup a Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP This will show you how to install Windows 7 and XP to dual boot with when you already have either Windows 7 or XP installed first.With a dual boot installaton, you will have two operating systems (OS) installed. When you start the...
Hi, im wanting to dual boot two copies of windows 7. so i can upgrade to windows 10 when it is released. the only thing holding me back is the fact that i got a dazzle dvc100 which works on 7 but not 8 so i doubt itll work on 10. and im wanting to make a small partition (Like 100GB) to install and...
I used to have a computer with Windows XP on which I could use Microsoft Works 2002 "Picture It 7". I now have a laptop with Windows 7 which does not have Microsoft Picture It and I believe that application was discontinued. I still have the old software but cannot use it with Windows 7 only with...
After deleting the partition on which Ubuntu was installed and enlarging the windows partition to fill the old space at the same time( stupid I know), I am unable to boot to Windows 7. All I see is a command line message that says Unknown File System and on the next line says Grub Rescue> with...
Our Sites
Site Links
About Us
Windows 7 Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation. "Windows 7" and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

 © Designer Media Ltd
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 15:04.
Find Us