In a HEAP of Trouble - Windows 7/8/Ubuntu Triple Boot


  1. Posts : 2
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #1

    In a HEAP of Trouble - Windows 7/8/Ubuntu Triple Boot


    I was recently blessed with the gift of a 500GB SSD *hold the applause*

    I had another 250GB drive that came with my MSI GT60 laptop which was pre-installed with Windows 7 Ultimate x64...drivers...software to run some of MSI's features, etc.

    I wanted to move this entire Windows 7 drive to my SSD so my first thought was...use Windows Backup and Recovery. Long story short, I couldn't get it to work...I wanted to back up to DVD, but it kept giving me "A Volume Shadow Copy Service Operation Failed"...even after Googling how to fix this error...turning it to "Automatic" instead of "Manual" in services.cfg, etc...no luck...probably my 1st mistake.

    I gave up and decided to use a third-party software called MiniTool Partition Wizard Professional Edition...which I've had success with in the past...

    I made 2 new NTFS partitions on the new SSD...one to match the "System Reserved" 100MB partition that was on my 250GB HD (the supposedly Windows 7 creates)...and one to match my Windows 7 partition

    I then used the "copy" feature on MiniTool Partition and copied both partitions onto the new SSD successfully.

    After I was done copying both those partitions I moved on to install Windows 8 onto the partition after Windows 7 and then Ubuntu after Windows 8...everything installed fine, no problems.

    I then went to boot into Ubuntu and decided to partition/clean/erase my old HD drive so I could organize my files better and create a FAT32 drive I could access from all operating systems...my 2nd mistake...because...

    It wasn't until I shutdown and booted the next morning that I realized that maybe deleting the original Windows 7 drive wasn't such a good idea...DON DON DONNNNNNN....it would boot to the login screen, but once I entered my password it would stay on "Preparing Your Desktop" for a few minutes until it finally popped up with a blue screen that read "Windows 7 Not Genuine Copy" or something along those lines...and nothing else...I can access the task manager and run cmd, etc...but my desktop, settings, everything seem to be gone...like Windows 7 boot isn't pointing to the correct drive anymore...

    I know this isn't a Ubuntu forum, but I then went to boot back into that and a no-go either...gave me an error...so crap...went and tried to boot up Windows 8, was successful to a degree, but a ton of registry errors kept popping up and none of my Windows 8 Start Apps work...the icon just enlarges and then closes right back to the menu and can't get into Explorer.

    Long story short...none of my O.S's work...I cant even access the internet because none of my OS have the drive necessary for my Intel Centrino Ultimate N 6300 Wifi. I am currently working off a Chromebook...I wanted it all..but got nothing to show for it...

    I do however have that copy of my old "Windows 7 drive" and "System Reserved 100MB drive"...any freakin' ideas!? Everything's still there...it seems anyway...it's just not booting. Any help would be appreciated. There's gotta be a way that I can point Windows 7 to boot from the new drive and read all my old settings/programs/drivers, etc....right?

    I don't know if this helps...but I tried it anyway because I wanted to see if my Wifi would work...but I reinstalled Windows 7 Ultimate on my old 250GB HD ...just a clean copy...and I can now go in and access my past Windows 7 drive...including the system reserved drive...which seems to only have an empty "Temp" folder and a 1KB Boot.BAK file and a 4KB bootsqm.dat inside of it when all files are unhidden...but then on MiniTool Partition and Properties reads "36.1MB" used and "63.8MB" free. No idea where those other files are located...but I'm assuming they're there but just need to be pointed to the right new drives/serial ids and not the old ones...which I think is what's happening...or just what I assume because it was working fine until I repartitioned the original drive.

    Your expertise and a step-by-step process/guide to get my Windows 7 and all my old files/programs/settings to boot on this SSD and not read "Not Genuine"...would be greatly appreciated...

    If you know anything about how to run Windows 8 and Ubuntu side by side by side too...that'd be great as well as I'm still experiencing problems booting into those. Could anyone recommend a good boot manager once this is all setup and fixed. I've used EasyBCD is the past...
      My Computer

  2.    #2

    You need to use imaging software to transfer an OS, not the partition copy function of PW. It's too late now since you didn't think to ask before doing it, so Clean Install Windows 7 to it's own NTFS partition. You'd better post back a screenshot of your maximized Disk Mgmt drive map with listings so we can advise you this time first.

    Once you have the Win7 partitions installed and dual booting correctly, follow the same steps here to Dual Boot - Windows 7 and Linux - Windows 7 Forums
    to create a multi boot with all three.

    It would be best if you placed Ubuntu on another HD and unplugged the Windows HD during its install, booting your choice via the BIOS boot menu.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 2
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Once I do a clean Windows 7 install...is there a way copy/move over my old files from my old installation and get all my programs and settings back?

    There's absolutely no way to point boot to the copied partition, even when it's an exact copy of the old one?

      My Computer

  4.    #4

    You should always have all of your files backed up. Just randomly "trying something" like you did without backing up your files first is reckless.

    That said you can copy out your files attaching the HD to another PC, or to external or another HD or USB flash stick by using Copy & Paste - in Windows Recovery Console, or Paragon Rescue Kit Free Edition 11.0 Free.

    You can try to make the PW copy bootable by marking Win7 partition or 100mb System Reserved partition Active then running Startup Repair - Run up to 3 Separate Times from Win7 DVD or Repair CD. Partition - Mark as Active (Method Two). If it fails on SysReserved, move the Active flag to C and try again 3x.
      My Computer


 

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