Acer Aspire One D255 - removing Android and installing a second Win

[castalla]

I just acquired this Acer - it installs Win 7 Starter on startup. I refused the Android install.

I checked the partitions - there's one with the Acer recovery data. C partion has Win7, and D has Android. BCD says there's only one bootloader entry - Win 7.

I want to install Win7 Ultimate but keep the original 7 Starter.

Can I simply delete the D partition, resize the C partition and recreate a new D partition for the Ultimate install?

I guess this will give me a boot choice of Windows 7 and Windows 7 (!) - I think I can rename these using BCD so I won't get confused.

I'm slightly reluctant to proceed just in case there sme weird Acer bootloader which might prevent the dual boot.

Any comments?

 

[theog]

I would say YES, but the Acer Recovery Partition would most likely be made unusable.
So make sure & make the Acer Recovery Disks.

 

[castalla]

Thanks!

Given these netbooks don't have CD drives, etc. how do I create a recovery disk?

Is it made to a usb stick?

 

[alphanumeric]

Some do some don't, I had to connect a USB DVD burner to my Daughters HP netbook to burn the recovery disk set.

 

[castalla]

Oh'oh ... this looks a bit more complicated than I first thought.

Looking at the partions again, there are actually 4, as follows:

PQSERVICE (none) (primary)
D (none) (primary)
SYSTEM RESERVED (system) (primary)
C (boot) (logical)

On another PC with just win7, this has 2 partions:

SYSTEM RESERVED (system) (primary)
C (boot) (primary)

I´m now even more hesitant to mess with the Acer - why is one logical but other is primary?

Any further comments welcome.

 

[gregrocker]

They've made Win7 partition Logical so that you can add as many Logical subpartitions as you wish, otherwise you'd be stuck with 4 Primary which would convert to a Dynamic disk (meant only to span partitions on multiple HD's) if you tried to add a fifth Primary - a real mess we clean up here regularly. It doesn't mean anything except that you'll need a boot partition (SysReserved) unless and until C is converted to Primary, marked Active and the SYstem boot files are written to it by running Startup REpair a few times.

For now, I'd boot the Ultimate DVD and install to D. It will autoconfigure a Dual Boot with Starter and see Ultimate as C when booted into it.

Later we can show you how to easily remove and recover the space for Starter when you realize there's no reason to keep it, along with the Recovery partition once you figure out a way to make the CD's or flash stick to have in case you ever want to restore to factory condition to use your Ultimate elsewhere. Of course you can always clean reinstall Starter with the Product Key on its COA sticker by unlocking the Ultimate DVD

Adapt the steps for getting a perfect Ultimate install here: Perfect Reinstall

Any questions?

 

[castalla]

When I´ve done a dual boot before I´ve always resized the original C disk and then created a new partition, and then installing to the new partition.

Are you saying I don´t need to do this?

I´m gettting very confused. Sorry.

 

[alphanumeric]

If your version of Ultimate is an OEM version you might consider not entering the product code during the install, just leave it blank. You can run it like that for 30 days as a trial, longer if you use the rearm trick. That way your windows 7 Ultimate won't get locked to this PC if you accidentally activate it or it activates automatically. It just makes it easier to use it on another PC later if you decide to stay with Starter on this one.

 

[gregrocker]

When I´ve done a dual boot before I´ve always resized the original C disk and then created a new partition, and then installing to the new partition.

Are you saying I don´t need to do this?

I´m gettting very confused. Sorry.

Didn't you say there is a D partition which is there to install Android which you don't want?

My suggestion if you must keep Starter is to boot the Win7 Ultimate Disk and Custom install to D if the space is already available and not needed for Android. Or you can certainly shrink C in Disk Mgmt to make a Logical subpartiiton for Ultimate install, perhaps deleting D.

First post back a screenshot of your maximized Disk Management drive map with listings showing all columns, using the Snipping Tool in the Start Menu, so we can advise you better.

 

[castalla]

Okay ' I´ll post a pic tomorrow.

Struggling to install a wifi ptinter at the moment!

 

[castalla]

The partition pic is attached ......


The contents of D seem to be only Android program files - as I said I didn´t actually install Android.

 

[castalla]

Okay - this now becoming more critical!

I really need to install Ultimate on this PC '- the Starter version is useless! I´ve spent hours trying to install a wifi printer without success. I installed the same printer on Ultimate on another PC without any problems. Starter is just useless.

So, I need help on how to install just Ultimate on this new PC. To hell with whatever in already installed - it´s obviously rubbish!

So, if I boot to the Win install, is there an option to use the whole disk for the install via a reformat? I can´t recall the install sequence.

 

[gregrocker]

Did you even read the steps given for a Perfect Reinstall which are based on what works best with hundreds of successful installs here?

It's all there, you just have to read and ask back any questions instead of complain about how complicated this is.

 

[castalla]

Thanks. Read and understood.

 

[alphanumeric]

One option is to use anytime upgrade. You just type in your ultimate product code and Starter becomes Ultimate without having to install anything or even put a disk in. If you want to nuke everything boot from your Ultimate DVD. During the install you do have the option to delete, create, and format partitions.

 

[castalla]

Again, thanks.

 

[gregrocker]

We're here to help you as needed. The thread can remain open to keep us posted as you proceed.