OS instalation Questions.

[TehRageQuit]

Hello, I am here to ask about some computer things, so here goes,

I recently figured out that my will work with windows 7, and 64bit to boot...
I am currently running Windows XP SP3, and I want up upgrade seeing as microsoft's checker tool for windows 7 says my PC can have win7 64 bit I wanna do that.

My questions are,

1. Is it possible to create a separate partition on my hard drive to install windows 7 and test if it works alright, and then combine the two overwriting the old OS?

2. How would I go about doing something along the lines of that.

Thanks in advance,
~Gryffen

 

[FAST6191]

Yes, quite possible and I have done it many times for customers and myself.

Assuming you have the free space grab a copy of a partition manager (I prefer gparted which comes as part of "parted magic" which in turn comes as part of http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ and Hiren's boot CD (no link I am afraid as it includes a cut down version of windows XP). I suggest you have both anyway as they are great system recovery/check tools.

Anyway once in gparted (parted magic may call it partition tool or something, either way it will be on the desktop) shrink the partition and create a new one, depending upon level of fragmentation this might take a while.

After that run the windows 7 installer and point it at your shiny new partition and it will install, it should allow you to dual boot but if for some reason it does not (I can not say it would be a first but when it has happened it was my fault for having a very odd setup originally) then EasyBCD will sort that http://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/ (Hiren's and UBCD will both be able ot force a boot into one or the other anyway)

If you decide windows 7 is what you want then you can erase the old partition and grow what was the new one back out or just format it and instead have two partitions, one for your files and one for the OS. It will not prevent problems in the case of a dead drive but does rather speed things up if you hose up the OS and want to reinstall.

Windows 7 has a few more issues with permissions than some versions of windows XP so if it says you can not access you old files then do a read up on the takeown command ("takeown /F [location] /R" being the command if memory serves, you will probably need to run it from an admin command line so right click and it will give you the option). Related to the above windows 7 uses "libraries" rather than designated folders so you may need/want to instead point the libraries at the your old partition. One guide http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows7/working-with-libraries

 

[yusuo]

I do this quite a bit as well but I think fast has pretty much covered everything. Happy installing. And if the shit does hit the fan just come back and we'll sort you out

 

[TehRageQuit]

Spoiler

Yes, quite possible and I have done it many times for customers and myself.

Assuming you have the free space grab a copy of a partition manager (I prefer gparted which comes as part of "parted magic" which in turn comes as part of http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ and Hiren's boot CD (no link I am afraid as it includes a cut down version of windows XP). I suggest you have both anyway as they are great system recovery/check tools.

Anyway once in gparted (parted magic may call it partition tool or something, either way it will be on the desktop) shrink the partition and create a new one, depending upon level of fragmentation this might take a while.

After that run the windows 7 installer and point it at your shiny new partition and it will install, it should allow you to dual boot but if for some reason it does not (I can not say it would be a first but when it has happened it was my fault for having a very odd setup originally) then EasyBCD will sort that http://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/ (Hiren's and UBCD will both be able ot force a boot into one or the other anyway)

If you decide windows 7 is what you want then you can erase the old partition and grow what was the new one back out or just format it and instead have two partitions, one for your files and one for the OS. It will not prevent problems in the case of a dead drive but does rather speed things up if you hose up the OS and want to reinstall.

Windows 7 has a few more issues with permissions than some versions of windows XP so if it says you can not access you old files then do a read up on the takeown command ("takeown /F [location] /R" being the command if memory serves, you will probably need to run it from an admin command line so right click and it will give you the option). Related to the above windows 7 uses "libraries" rather than designated folders so you may need/want to instead point the libraries at the your old partition. One guide http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows7/working-with-libraries

So I just went home the other day, after being at my girlfriends house for a few weeks, I find my PC may be Out Of Commission.
Thank you both for the information, when I have time and I'm at home, Ill be fiddling around with my PC at home.
~Frustrated & Disgruntled Gryffen

Edit:
Ok here is the thing I keep getting now, I am attempting to install Win7 64 bit, and everything goes great installing from my USB, and then after it restarts and it is finalizing the installation it gives me an error like,
"Windows could not configure one or more system components, please reboot your computer and restart the instillation."

I also have rerun the Windows7 Upgrade Advisor and it gives me this message, it had given it before, but I want to know what you may think about it.

"You'll need to perform a custom installation of 64-bit Windows 7 and then reinstall your programs. Make sure to back up your files before you begin.
Go online to get important information about installing Windows 7 on a PC running Windows XP "http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=163009

 

[TehRageQuit]

Double Post W/E IDC, I just decided to give up on the whole win7 thing and when I combined to partitions my WinXp got currupted.

I am seriously upset, if I can't get that stuff back I'm really boned.

~Annoyed and Panicking Gryffen

 

[FAST6191]

The partitions are corrupt or just the windows install? If you have Hiren's or UBCD you should be able to look at NTFS drives and dump all the files, pictures, documents and settings for browsers and whatever else (indeed I would consider dumping the whole documents and settings folder to another drive/partition and picking through that). Similarly it might just be the boot setup (unless you cancelled halfway then I have not seen gparted screw up things unless you have a drive on the way out and windows should not have touched it), you can try forcing a boot to a given partition from either of the disks and some will even come with recovery options (Hiren's will, I can not remember what goes with UBCD right now).

If the partition is corrupt then you have bigger worries. You can try with a tool like photorec and testdisk to see what you can get back but that is not assured, it will be part of parted magic and largely graphical command line as it were but easy enough to use if you just read through it all.