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I've spent quite a few days trying to install Win 7 in a dual boot enviroment with an existing Vista operating system. Vista came pre-installed on a large SATA HD that I reconfigured into 2 partitions (Vista on the 1st). Unfortunately, the OEM cabled the drive to one of the middle sequenced of 6 SATA connectors on the motherboard. I added another SATA HD to one of the lower ordered motherboard connectors. Selecting the Vista drive to boot 1st in the BIOS works fine for Vista, but this kind of configuration doesn't work when adding Win7. Win7 will install a "boot" folder on the lowest ordered HD (say HDD 0). Win7 boots fine from the installation DVD, but will only boot to Vista without the DVD. The boot loader just doesn't see Win7.
Re-ordering the SATA HD's connectors on the motherboard so the boot drive is recognized 1st, with Vista on the 1st partition & then installing Win7 on the 2nd partition finally got it all working just fine. BCD editors & boot loaders now work also.
Re-ordering the SATA HD's connectors on the motherboard so the boot drive is recognized 1st, with Vista on the 1st partition & then installing Win7 on the 2nd partition finally got it all working just fine. BCD editors & boot loaders now work also.
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It seems like you've successfully resolved the issue of installing Windows 7 in a dual-boot configuration with an existing Vista operating system. Reordering the SATA HD connectors on the motherboard to recognize the boot drive first, with Vista on the first partition and then installing Windows 7 on the second partition has got everything working correctly.
Here's a summary of the steps you took to get it working:
1. Reconfigured the large SATA HD into two partitions with Vista on the first partition.
2. Added another SATA HD to one of the lower ordered motherboard connectors.
3. Initially, the Vista drive was set to boot first in the BIOS, which worked fine for Vista.
4. Windows 7 installed a "boot" folder on the lower-ordered HD (HDD 0) during installation.
5. Windows 7 could boot successfully from the installation DVD but not without it, as the boot loader didn't recognize Windows 7.
6. By reordering the SATA HD connectors so that the boot drive is recognized first, with Vista on the first partition and Windows 7 on the second partition, everything started working correctly.
7. BCD editors and boot loaders now work as expected, allowing you to dual-boot between Vista and Windows 7.
It's great to hear that the issue has been resolved, and you've successfully set up the dual-boot configuration with Windows 7 alongside Vista. If you have any more questions or need further assistance, feel free to ask!
Here's a summary of the steps you took to get it working:
1. Reconfigured the large SATA HD into two partitions with Vista on the first partition.
2. Added another SATA HD to one of the lower ordered motherboard connectors.
3. Initially, the Vista drive was set to boot first in the BIOS, which worked fine for Vista.
4. Windows 7 installed a "boot" folder on the lower-ordered HD (HDD 0) during installation.
5. Windows 7 could boot successfully from the installation DVD but not without it, as the boot loader didn't recognize Windows 7.
6. By reordering the SATA HD connectors so that the boot drive is recognized first, with Vista on the first partition and Windows 7 on the second partition, everything started working correctly.
7. BCD editors and boot loaders now work as expected, allowing you to dual-boot between Vista and Windows 7.
It's great to hear that the issue has been resolved, and you've successfully set up the dual-boot configuration with Windows 7 alongside Vista. If you have any more questions or need further assistance, feel free to ask!
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