Running 7 during the 'Trial Period'

This is my first thread on this very informative Forum so sorry if this is a stupid question, but yesterday I installed Windows 7, and wanting to establish the best configuration for my system, I installed Windows 7 - 64bit Professional without 'Activation'. After a smooth installation, and the transferring of some of my Vista files, I shut the system down for the night. The following morning when I tried to boot the PC, I got a message stating that no System could be detected on my hard Disk. To cut a long story short, after replacing the Hard Disk, and re-installing Windows 7, I realised that my PC will only boot up if I keep the Windows 7 Installation Disk in the DVD Player. To come to my question - Does one have to insert the Windows 7 DVD to allow boot up prior to Activating Windows 7 ?

No.. you shouldnt need to do that... sounds like you need to do a repair install... boot from your 7DVD and select repair from the custom install menu...

Hello Hamrag2, Welcome to the Windows 7 forum

I think we need more information.

Can you log-on to Windows 7 and upload a screendump from disk manager to this forum?

disk manager, Start->type disk management, select Create and format hardisk partitions.
Open full screen by selecting the window and drag it into upper border.

Now make a screenshot and upload it to this forum:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-how-post-screenshot-seven-forums.html

We will be glad to help you! If you have questions left, just ask.

Best regards,

zx81

Could be many things, but check the easiest one first. Go to bios, make sure it is set up to boot from HD, before CD. On dell and most other computers, hit f12 repeatedly at boot, start as soon as it begins to boot. Then go to boot menu.

Thanks guys for the responses to my query – I have spent a very fraught weekend trying to understand the problem.
For the past two years I have been running a dual boot system using Vista Ultimate 32, and Vista 64 on separate drives. The Vista 64 drive being top of the BIOS disk priority list, and Vista 32 drive the second. The dual boot screen default is for Vista 64, or the Vista 32 if selected.
As stated in my initial entry, I purchased Windows 7 Professional, with a new 500Gb Disk, and installed the disk, and windows 7 64bit, without, what I thought no problems. Only, after I switched off, removed the installation disk, the rebooted , did I get an error message saying “ Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. ‘Info ‘ The windows boot Configuration Data File does not contain a valid OS entry”
@ Tews I did a repair install but it came back with ‘No Fault found’
@richc46 If I moved the CD below the HD position booting could not ‘See’ the DVD therefore came up with the error every time
But with the disk in, the system would boot up normally anyway !. I then found that ANY bootable disk placed in the DVD Reader would allow a normal boot !
I then suspected that the win 7 installation had somehow written the Boot configuration to the wrong Disk , due to the existing dual boot configuration?. I therefore physically disconnected my Vista disks, and re installed Windows 7 64 on to the 500Gb Disk. That worked a treat, and I had a fully functional Windows 7 64 installation. After re- connecting the Vista disks though, neither would boot up, without a bootable disk in the DVD reader !, although the windows 7 was now OK. After doing a repair install using my Vista DVD on the Vista 64 disk I recovered my Vista Operability.
So now I have a functional Windows 7 64, as long as I move the 500Gb disk to the top of the BIOS Boot priority list, and Vista 32 or Vista 64 by moving the Vista 64 disk to the top of the boot priority list, and selecting either OS from the Dual Boot screen.
I downloaded , and ran the ‘Vista BootPRO’ program that allowed me to view the BCD Registry Settings , and find that the Windows 7 Disk has a single entry, the Vista 32 Disk has a single entry, but the Vista 64 disk has two entries – Vista 32, and Vista 64 – thus allowing me to dual boot when the Vista 64 Disk has boot priority. Ideally, I would like to triple boot with the Windows 7 hard Disk at the top of the BIOS Boot Priority list – Is this possible, and, if so how do I go about doing it.

Seek and ye shall find !! I found the answer to my question in the thread 'Is this possible' Just above here. Many thanks Zeshana - the only thing I did differently was to use Vistaboot v 3.3 as EasyBCD 1.7.2 would not store the additional Vista entries. All ready to roll now - What a Great Forum !!

Glad you got it going!!