Windows 7 Trouble with Dual Boot two installs of Windows 7 on different partitions

rkrueger

New Member
Trouble with Dual Boot two installs of Windows 7 on different partitions - SOLVED

I am a musician and use my computer for my recording. I also use the same machine for everyday use. In order to keep my music system clean and optimized, I would run a dual boot of Windows XP.

I successfully installed Windows 7 RC1 on a 2nd partition, this was my "studio" boot. I was still running XP on my "main" partition. Once Windows 7 retail came out, I installed in on my 1st partition, wiping out XP, thus giving me a dual boot system of Windows 7. No problems.

Now that RC1 is near it's end of life, I want to install Win7 retail. I've deleted and formated that partition using the Win7 setup, but when selecting that partition to install, I get an error :

Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition.

I've tried both quick and regular formats, having the installed delete, create, and format the partition. I've tried a delete, create , and format from inside my main Win7 boot and I still get this error. I can't figure out why I had no problem getting two Win7 boots before, but now can't seem to get it to work.

I've added a pic of my disk management setup. I'm trying to install Win7 Retail on E:, which was formerly a win7 RC1 install.

Link Removed due to 404 Error
 
Last edited:
I am a musician and use my computer for my recording. I also use the same machine for everyday use. In order to keep my music system clean and optimized, I would run a dual boot of Windows XP.

I successfully installed Windows 7 RC1 on a 2nd partition, this was my "studio" boot. I was still running XP on my "main" partition. Once Windows 7 retail came out, I installed in on my 1st partition, wiping out XP, thus giving me a dual boot system of Windows 7. No problems.

Now that RC1 is near it's end of life, I want to install Win7 retail. I've deleted and formated that partition using the Win7 setup, but when selecting that partition to install, I get an error :

Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition.

I've tried both quick and regular formats, having the installed delete, create, and format the partition. I've tried a delete, create , and format from inside my main Win7 boot and I still get this error. I can't figure out why I had no problem getting two Win7 boots before, but now can't seem to get it to work.

I've added a pic of my disk management setup. I'm trying to install Win7 Retail on E:, which was formerly a win7 RC1 install.

Link Removed due to 404 Error

Try installing after disabling Disk 0 and 2 in your BIOS.
 
Thanks, I'll give that a shot tonight. I thought I also might try backing up the 2nd partition labeled "Media", and then remove it so I just have 2 partitions on that drive and see if that flies.
 
Your boot files were on Drive 2 or partition F:.. Just something to keep in mind if you have any strange boot situations later after moving or replacing a drive.
 
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