I would like to dual boot the OEM Windows 7 with a new copy of Windows 7 on another partition, using the second boot for testing purposes.
My Thinkpad is a SL410
1)
Is it possible to dual boot Windows 7 by having Windows 7 installed on one partition, and then installing Windows 7 on another partition on the same hard drive?
2)
When I insert a Windows 7 install CD into my SL410, it detects the SYSTEM_DRV as the C: drive and Windows7_OS as the D: drive.
I think I need to hide the SYSTEM_DRV (by marking the partition as hNTFS), and proceed to do a full install on a new partition I made between the Windows7_OS partition and the LenovoRecovery partition.
Can someone tell me if this is safe to do?
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why not just run virtual PC?
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Because I need 3D acceleration running engineering applications
Anyone? -
You could install linux (and a linux boot loader) and then install as many native Windows on native partitions as you like.
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What exactly are you testing?
Have you tried VirtualBox? It's got 3D (experimental, but it has it). -
Thanks surfasb. The answer I was looking for.
Oh and I need to hide System_Drv because the CD thinks that my Windows 7 default drive is D: instead of C: if I just run install that way. I think it might screw up my drive letters. -
Don't worry what letters Setup gives the dives, you can always change that later.
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There's no need to hide the SYSTEM_DRV partition. If installing from boot, Windows 7 always assigns itself as C:. If installing from setup, SYSTEM_DRV is hidden as expected
Here are my results:
1st try) boot with Windows 7 CD and setup into pre-formatted partition
result:
The install moved my mbr to the partition Windows was on, effectively my OEM boot useless. I was about to restore my OEM boot my restoring the boot flag on the SYSTEM_DRV partition. Then a repair from boot of the Windows 7 boot disk restored the boot.
After this, both Windows 7 boots showed the active Windows 7 boot partition as the C: drive.
This also broke my ThinkVantage Rescue on bootup.
2) Install Windows 7 from within my original Windows 7 install.
C: drive remained as my original Windows 7 boot
D: drive is my 'new' Windows 7 boot
it re-ordered my operating systems list, which I fixed with EasyBCD.
My new Windows 7 boot assigned E for the Lenovo recovery partition, so I renamed it to Q:.
Missing drivers on a fresh Windows 7 install included:
Thinkpad power management driver
Intel Wifilink 1000 driver
Card Reader Drier
ThinkVantage rescue still works.
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The reason for doing this is keeping my main Windows 7 partition clean and making a new one for testing.
I used symlinks to move my music, documents, videos and pictures to my storage D: partition. I wanted both hard drives to 'see' the files without making more symlinks, so I installed the new Windows 7 directly on the D: drive.
Dual Boot OEM Windows 7 with Retail Windows 7
Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by xaueious, Jan 18, 2010.