Webb Posted June 13, 2015 Share Posted June 13, 2015 My Lenovo H30 came with a 500G HD and W8.1 on it and I want to dual boot it with W7 and transfer/copy critical applications from 8.1 to 7. I have shrunk the W8.1 partition(s) (it uses about 5 partitions for OS, recovery, rescue, etc.) to 200G and I have carved out an unformatted 300G partition to be further partitioned as follows 200G Windows 7 100G NTFS shared data Can I just follow these instructions, substituting "Windows 7" for "Windows XP"? I don't know it it's relevant at this time but I plan to eventually delete 8.1 completely and install Linux Mint 17 in its space. Hence the shared data partition for media, documents, etc. I think Linux can read NTFS but Windows can't read Linux, or I could make the shared partition FAT. Is this feasible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crp Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Didn't W8.1 come with a hyper visor? If it did, i'd put W7 on as a guest , share folders between the two, then proceed. If it doesn't, VMWare has a tool to clone a live system, you could use that and then run as a guest in VMWare Player (both free for personal use) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 Step-By-Step: Enabling Hyper-V for use on Windows 8.1 Yep, so right you are crp. To keep the best of both worlds, it would be a great way to do that. Then you could use the new partition you made for Linux. and shared data. Plus you would be able to upgrade Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 when it comes out in July or a couple months later to be sure all is well with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amenditman Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 (edited) My Lenovo H30 came with a 500G HD and W8.1 on it and I want to dual boot it with W7 and transfer/copy critical applications from 8.1 to 7. I have shrunk the W8.1 partition(s) (it uses about 5 partitions for OS, recovery, rescue, etc.) to 200G and I have carved out an unformatted 300G partition to be further partitioned as follows 200G Windows 7 100G NTFS shared data Can I just follow these instructions, substituting "Windows 7" for "Windows XP"? I don't know it it's relevant at this time but I plan to eventually delete 8.1 completely and install Linux Mint 17 in its space. Hence the shared data partition for media, documents, etc. I think Linux can read NTFS but Windows can't read Linux, or I could make the shared partition FAT. Is this feasible? I always use my PartedMagic LiveCD to repair Windows Booltloaders after a multi-boot install. There is a command-line tool called ms-sys which is super easy and has always worked. My 2 year old LiveCD doesn't have support for anything newer than Windows7, but I'm sure there is a good, free, open source tool available. Or you could use a Windows 8.1 install DVD which will be able to do it. Edited June 23, 2015 by amenditman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webb Posted June 23, 2015 Author Share Posted June 23, 2015 GPT vs MBR Microsoft did it again. The HD is formatted in the new GPT format. Windows 7 and earlier will not install on a GPT drive but 8.1 will install on a MBR drive. It is possible to reformat GPT to MBR but this requires wiping the drive. Naturally I don't have a real install disk so this would be a permanent change of operating systems. As disgusted as I am with 8.1 this a definite possibility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt.Crow Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 The last halfway decent OS put out by MS was xp-pro.What I really do not comprehend is why they insisted on killing it off. I have w7 on this ploptop.Just cannot get comfortable with it . As for Chrome. That's really in the boonies' .Just about streams movies. Instead of getting lighter and faster like aircraft .The os are becoming more and more like super container carriers .Bloated heavier and terribly unstable. That said I have to congratulate you Webb for your tenacity,and wish you all sucess Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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