Do a clean install of 7-Pro 32 upgrade to dual boot with XP?


  1. kaborka
    Posts : 16
    Windows 7
       New #1

    Do a clean install of 7-Pro 32 upgrade to dual boot with XP?


    I want to do a clean install of 7-Pro 32 upgrade into unpartitioned space on an XP machine, to dual-boot XP and W7. I've done that successfully on a notebook by booting off the upgrade DVD. Unfortunately on this desktop machine the BIOS will not recognize the boot block on the DVD.

    If I run W7 setup from XP it does not give the option to create a new partition for the W7 installation, and IIRC, even if I used XP to create a new partition, the XP partition would appear as C: in the W7 installation, with the W7 partition being assigned a new drive letter (is this correct?).

    Is there a way to force Setup to install W7 to a new partition as C: even if it is started under XP?
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  3. zigzag3143
    Posts : 28,845
    Win 8 Release candidate 8400
       New #2

    kaborka said:
    I want to do a clean install of 7-Pro 32 upgrade into unpartitioned space on an XP machine, to dual-boot XP and W7. I've done that successfully on a notebook by booting off the upgrade DVD. Unfortunately on this desktop machine the BIOS will not recognize the boot block on the DVD.

    If I run W7 setup from XP it does not give the option to create a new partition for the W7 installation, and IIRC, even if I used XP to create a new partition, the XP partition would appear as C: in the W7 installation, with the W7 partition being assigned a new drive letter (is this correct?).

    Is there a way to force Setup to install W7 to a new partition as C: even if it is started under XP?
    First when installing win 7 you dont run it from within XP. In XP it cant make the new partition label C:\ because XP is already using it.

    Boot from the win 7 DVD (not restore dvd) and win 7 will create a partition, put the boot files and folders where they belong and install win 7 as dual boot.


    Let us know when you are ready to do it if you need help


    Ken
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  4. kaborka
    Posts : 16
    Windows 7
    Thread Starter
       New #3

    Sorry, the point of my post is that the BIOS will not allow me to boot from the DVD. I will need to run Setup from XP, yet still force W7 to install as C:.
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  6. zigzag3143
    Posts : 28,845
    Win 8 Release candidate 8400
       New #4

    kaborka said:
    Sorry, the point of my post is that the BIOS will not allow me to boot from the DVD. I will need to run Setup from XP, yet still force W7 to install as C:.
    No can do.

    Cant you adjust bios to include dvd as boot-able device?
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  7. kaborka
    Posts : 16
    Windows 7
    Thread Starter
       New #5

    zigzag3143 said:
    Cant you adjust bios to include dvd as boot-able device?
    Yes. It will boot from CDs but not from the W7 DVD. Error msg says "boot block not found"'. Hence my question. It's an older PC-Chips mobo. Maybe i can find a BIOS update. Guess I can't install W7 properly without one.
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  8. theog
    Posts : 11,408
    ME/XP/Vista/Win7
       New #6

    Where do got your DVD from?
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  10. kaborka
    Posts : 16
    Windows 7
    Thread Starter
       New #7

    theog said:
    Where do got your DVD from?
    MS online store.
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  11. theog
    Posts : 11,408
    ME/XP/Vista/Win7
       New #8

    Try this:
    USB Windows 7 Installation Key Drive - Create
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  12. kaborka
    Posts : 16
    Windows 7
    Thread Starter
       New #9

    I'll have to try that. I believe the boot menu had a USB option (it's at my sister's). Just hoping there was a Setup command line option or .inf hack that would work.

    (PS: Like your avatar pic -- ouch!)
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  13. Ztruker
    Posts : 6,285
    Windows 10 Pro X64
       New #10

    If you have access to another computer that has a DVD burner, you could try making a copy of the Win 7 DVD and use that to install with, see if that works. If you try this, set the burn to the lowest speed it will allow, preferably 4X.

    I use a free program called ImgBurn to do this. It's a two step process but always creates good DVDs if it can read the source.

    1. Create image file from Disc.
    2. Create Disc form image file.
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