Is there a way to load and run Win7 from D:

TwoCables said:

sigma6 said:

gregrocker said:

Always keep no drive letter on System Reserved from all OS's Disk Mgmt, for many important reasons: Drive Letter - Add, Change, or Remove in Windows 7 - Windows 7 Forums

We will be able to know much better what you've got if we can see a screenshot of
Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image - Windows 7 Help Forums

OK, I will show you my "miracle set up" (lol) but just to respond... that's just it, when XP booted up (note: to avoid confusion, we are talking about the system where I have re-installed Win7 on C: and shifted XP to D: ...)

But when I boot into D: it does assign itself as C: and when I saw it had assigned the system reserved as D: I was not happy, I don't really like the system doing it's own thing like that... anyhow, I couldn't change it once it booted because it's a system partition... and it did keep my E aligned so I just accepted it... and called it a day...

It will always be C. Always. You could create a Z drive, move it to the Z drive and it will still have the exact same thing as you're seeing now: System Reserved on D and that E drive. This is because Windows XP is doing its thing independently of Windows 7, and Windows 7 is doing its thing independently of Windows XP. Windows XP did not (and does not) know that you moved it to the D: drive while you were in Windows 7.

Right I hear what your saying, and I believe that you think that is the only possibility, I get that... and yes, I know that XP just saw a partition and named it... was just saying it worked out... Anyhow you're still not getting what I'm saying. It doesn't always HAVE TO BE C: It may be as Greg says a best practice, and I think that could stand technically, that doesn't mean there aren't exceptions. That's why I am here. Try and think of this as an opportunity to see something a little different today. An anomaly if you will.

Put on your curiosity hat, this is just another interesting "thing" like when learning new stuff was fun (remember those glorious days... cause I don't! lol) Anyhow, that is just a Win7 centric view... and maybe will come true, if and when all the XP OSs die out... that might become reality, but until that day, that is just part of a bigger picture, as my other original dual boot "XP system" will attest to...

this is getting funny though in the sense it's like trying to convince others of seeing a UFO or a floating man or something... LOL ... come on guys lighten up this isn't religion or supernatural phenomena, despite what Bill Gates and Co tells you... I'd like to keep this to a technical discussion, although like I said, understanding MS's history and origin goes a long way to giving context and understanding to how they operate...

I think Greg has the best sense of what I am talking about too, because he has been there from the beginning giving me advice and feedback since I introduced my "heretical" setup... (hats off to you) But I am really surprised. Is there no one on this site that has, or has seen a XP/Win7 dual boot? (with no moving letter assignments) that's news to me...)

The comments about Bill Gates are completely unfounded as anyone can find from a Google search. The bizarre allegations lead to Alex Jones website which only the most unhinged conspiracy theorists follow - most recently that Boston attack was government staged. I would not dignify them with a response but they need to be rebutted.

Gates is a decent philanthropist who has tried to contribute back to the world which made him successful, preventing AIDS, Malaria and wiring classrooms around the globe.

Unsubscribed, as I will not wallow in that any longer. You have the answer to your question, just confirmed by our resident professor.

Is there no one on this site that has, or has seen a XP/Windows 7 dual boot? (with no moving letter assignments) that's news to me...)

Yes, I do it all the time.

I don't use xp - I use vista/7/8 ( and Linux. )

Read the post just before yours.

SIW2 said:

I have been doing it for years.

1) Either run the installer from your existing installation - then it will assign itself the next available letter .

2) Or - if you are geeky, you can fix the osletter immediately after applying the image - that involves fiddling with the registry, so best use option 1.

I have often used X as the os letter.

I usually reserve W,X,Y,Z for external SATA/USB drives...

Right on SIW2, that was something what I was looking for weeks ago, but it's just as well, I probably wouldn't have been up to speed enough to understand that a few weeks ago, when I started monkeying with my hardware upgrades... but now I can wholeheartedly agree, so thanks for the confirmation as well... That makes a whole lot of sense.

You also got my attention about the registry approach. hmm, that might be a good thing to know... because thing is (or was) I couldn't get into the system when I was trying to get it to run on D: on the new drive, cause it would find the partition boot, load the OS, log in, and then realizing it was a C drive... immediately log me out again!

Would be interested to know if there is a way to access the registry of another OS if the OS is not running?... and I wonder how many entries I would need to change to get it running? (just musing)

I haven't tried Tiffany yet.

If you have a lot of os it is useful to have drive letter consistency, so you know where you are.

It may also be needed after restoring an image.

Britton30 said:

Aside from the bickering, what difference does it make if the booted drive is called C or P. D, Q or Tiffany?

My whole foray into this Britton was I had an XP/Win7 system and wanted to upgrade to a larger HDD... That is when I found this weird behaviour that no matter how I tried to set up the Clone job it would not "take" on the new drive...

I figured this was a Win7 peculiarity and that is when I started doing research on Boot loading in general, found Easy BCD and (eventually this Win7 forum) EasyBCD of course that didn't work, because although it will point it to D, no one told me that Win7 always wants to be C once it starts loading. (we are now discussing apparently that it is news that this doesn't NECESSARILY have to be the case...)

Anyhow, that was several weeks agow... I have done various tests and experiments and started getting all these weird results, that is when I started to really take a close look at 7. I was way behind the curve because I saw Vista coming before it knocked everyone broadside... I never touched it, worked with it, nor would recommend it to others BEFORE the consumer uproar... and I was right on the money, (because I was following the politics, and doing internet research that gave me a big heads up... as a result I was way behind the curve on Win7. I knew Win7 was coming (had to come) but I was so put off by Vista, I never really got around to it until recently.

I did a test install on my XP to try it out... liked it and left it at that... then I tried to do the upgrade and that was when I "fell in love all over again with Windows.... lol)

hope that makes sense...

brb... have an important conference call (just so you don't think I'm ducking and running...)

You are getting two things confused here.

BCD is different. The drive letters are an alias to make it easier for the user.

The entries are made up of the disk and partition id.

That is why you are having the issue. You would either need to generalise the bcd store before cloning, or correct the entries after cloning. Easiest way to correct is to run startup repair from win 7 dvd/repair cd.

To generalize the bcd- at an elevated command prompt:

bcdedit /set {current} osdevice boot
bcdedit /set {current} device boot
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} device boot
bcdedit /set {memdiag} device boot

SIW2 said:

I haven't tried Tiffany yet.

If you have a lot of os it is useful to have drive letter consistency, so you know where you are.

It may also be needed after restoring an image.

finally, someone who thinks like me... yes... sometimes the OS can be set up to look for other partitions, etc...