Hello everyone! I am trying to create a Dual Boot from VHD with Windows 7 and Windows Sever 2008 R2 setup. I am following the video tutorial here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/edge/Video/ff710851 In the video, the guy has Size=320GB and Free=319GB. This is what I have: It seems like I have no free space to do the install. How do I get this to work? Also, I'm curious to know if the VHD will be on the bootable DVD, or if it will be on my HD. I can't see how, when I download software to run on Windows Server 2008, the computer will know that this all runs from the bootable DVD. It seems liek the software should be installed on the HD. I don't understand this part. Please give me some guidance on this. Thanks!!Ryan Shuell

The 0GB simply indicated un-partitioned space. The size of 149GB is the whole partition, it may still contain free space within the partition. You cannot run the bootable VHD from the DVD. You will need to run the VHD off of a physical hard disk. If you are doing a fresh install of Windows 7 and 2008R2, the quickest and easiest way is to simply boot to the setup media, drop to cmd, create and attach a VHD, and the continue setups, pointing to the VHD as the install destination. Then repeat for the second instal.MCP Card || LinkedIn

Thanks, I am NOT installing a fresh version of Windows7. I want to keep exactly what I have now; I don NOT want to reimage. I just read through two helpful blogs: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/gg309170.aspx http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/5291/how-to-create-a-virtual-hard-drive-in-windows-7/ So I went through the steps and create a 25GB partition on my C:. I named the partition Z: Then, I try to do the install again. I click 'Windows Server 2008R2 Standard (Full Installation)' Custom, then Select Z: Then, I can't click 'Next'; it is greyed out. I click a message that reads 'Windows can't be installed on Disk 1 Partition 1 (show details). windows can't be installed on this disk. The selected disk is a surfaced virtual disk.' What am I doing wrong here? Do I need to partition my HD, and use a non-VHD? Thanks everyone! Ryan Shuell

This is NOT looking good at this point. I tried one more thing; followed the steps here: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2674-partition-volume-create-new.html In Step5, it looks like I should have an option to right-click Disk1, and choose 'New Simple Volume'. I don't have that option, as seen here: Is this just a complete waste of time, or what? All I wanted to do was install Windows Server 2008, get SharePointServer, and install Access Services and Excel Services. I just wanted to experiment with these new technologies. I don't need these for my work, or anything close to it. I was just doing this for fun. It's turning out to NOT be fun now...Ryan Shuell

Okay, lets start fresh here. Forget whatever guide for the moment. You have a nativley installed Windows 7 OS on your physical PC.Check the Properties of your C volume and determine if you have enough free disk space INSIDE the C volume.Create a new VHD on your C volume; e.g. this will make a 40GB disk in your C drive, adjust the size depending on your free space [create vdisk file="c:\Win2008.vhd" maximum=40000].Shut down your PC and boot from your Windows 2008 install media.Hit Shift+F10 to enter cmd, goto diskpart and run:select vdisk file=c:\win2008.vhdattach vdiskThen continue through Setup and you will see that the VHD shows as a new disk to install too. Select the disk and Setup will take care of all dual boot config. All done. :)MCP Card || LinkedIn

My ThinkPad is TOTALLY screwed up now. I keep getting messages about a startup file missing. I tried to recover from my original Windows7 DVD. That didn't work. It keeps saying it can't find some kind of startup file. Next, I tried to recover from a Restore Point. That didn't work. I keep getting the 'blue screen of death'. Now, as I try again to recover from the Windows7 DVD, I get a message that says 'Startup Repair cannot repair this computer automatically'. What the heck is going on here??!!!! I've spent a couple hours on this; made no progress whatsoever. The weirdest thing of all is that I did virtually nothing at all. I created a partition. That's it!! I'm typing this on my wife's computer. Mine is almost completely dead. All I can do now is try to recover from a few restore points. Each time I've tried to do that, I get a message that says the process completed successfully, and then when I reboot, I get the good old 'blue screen of death' each time. Ryan Shuell

This is all I see now: Problem event name: StartupRepairOffline Problem Signature 01: 6.1.7600.16385 Problem Signature 02: 6.1.7600.16385 Problem Signature 03: unknown Problem Signature 04: 21200211 Problem Signature 05: AutoFailover Problem Signature 06: 7 Problem Signature 07: Bad Driver OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.1 Locale ID: 1033Ryan Shuell

As I go to the command prompt, under 'System Recovery Options', I see something weird: X:\windows\system32>cd\ I've never had an X-drive in my life (on this computer, or any). I should have a C-drive!!! Ryan Shuell

X is simply the RAM disk that Windows PE is running under. You stated that you "created a partition" how did you create a partition. What steps did you use? You may have created an issue with the bootloader or BCD. Please follow this article to try and repair. As you are having all these issues getting this functioning, and you are only trying this for testing, I suspect it will be easiest for you just to use Type 2 virtualization. Please check out Virtual PC.MCP Card || LinkedIn

Thanks! I've been trying all kinds of DOS commands all day! Ugh!! I haven't touched DOS in almost 20 years. I ran this: bootrec /RebuildBcd I got this message: Successfully scanned Windows installations. Total identified Windows installations: 0 The operation completed successfully. Something is definitely f'ed up with my Windows 7!!! I can list all files on my C-drive. I think the files are in tact. I can't start Windows though. Is there some way to temporarily boot Windows, so I can copy my files to a DVD? Then, I'll just reimage the whole thing!! I just don't want to lose my files!! :( Ryan Shuell

Crapola! I think I just figured out what happened here. May be an easy fix; I hope. Early this AM, I created a 100MB partition on my C-drive. Just playing around. Then, later in the morning, I removed it? I might have removed the bootloader files. I think that's what caused all of this. I've never been down this path before. Now what do I do?Ryan Shuell

I followed the instructions here; http://superuser.com/questions/66282/bootmanager-is-missing Seems like everything worked up to this point: So to get it there you have to copy it from the Windows 7 DVD. *xcopy d:\bootmgr c:* (where D: is your CDrom) *xcopy d:\bootmgr.efi c:* (don't know if it needs this or not) When I try to copy the bootmgr from the DVD to my C-drive, I keep getting a message about E:bootmgr Access Denied Any thoughts??? Ryan Shuell

Simplest way for you without bothering will all this would be to just boot to your Win7 disc and do an in-place upgrade of your Win7 install. Provided it locates it as an installed OS then it should take care of the rest.MCP Card || LinkedIn

Boot to a dos prompt and from the Win7 DVD, in the boot folder, try running bootsect /nt60 c: Then run 'diskpart' and type type following list disk select disk 0 // Where disk 0 is where your C is list partition select partition 1 //Where partition 1 is C active exit Reboot your system THAT DOES WORK If Bootrec cannot locate any missing Windows installations, you must remove the BCD store, and then you must re-create it. To do this, boot to command prompt and type the following commands in the order shown below. Remember to press ENTER after each command. bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup c: cd boot attrib bcd -s -h -r ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old bootrec /rebuildbcd Finally, restart the computer. THAT DOES WORK I had a similar problem with the bootmgr being installed on a different hard drive when the OS was installed on a RAID array. This brought a few other problems with having to go deeper into the wizards to "load drivers" then exit out and get back to the command prompt. Here is what you do. I tried the same options as listed above. PLUS The real problem is that the OS is looking for the file Bootmgr but it's not there. So to get it there you have to copy it from the Windows 7 DVD. *xcopy d:\bootmgr c:* (where D: is your CDrom) *xcopy d:\bootmgr.efi c:* (don't know if it needs this or not) Then I ran the above options again. Then it finally booted successfully. WELL IT'S NOT WORKING FOR ME!!! THIS DOES WORK I keep getting messages about access denied. So, I do a little research; it seems like I have to start the DOS prompt as Administrator??? Hey!!! I am the Administrator. I'm lucky I even has a DOS Prompt at this point!!! There is no way for me to start the DOS Prompt as an Administrator. So, now I've spent an entire day on this. Fine. Whatever. I feel like I got so close with the xcopy solution. I've used it before; like 20 years ago or some such thing. Even that won't work!! How do I perform an 'inplace upgrade'? I've never heard of this before. I did some research on this. I saw some good tips, but can't find anything that takes me from the beginning of the process to the end of the process. I've just seen little tidbits of information. Ryan Shuell

Wait! Maybe this: http://www.elmajdal.net/win7/In-Place_Upgrade_From_Windows_7_Beta_To_Windows_7_RC.aspx It will NOT overwrite my existing files, right. I've gotta get this working soon. Even the BIOS is acting weird; not saving my preference to boot from the DVD, and other weird things. Ugh!!!Ryan Shuell

I think some version of this will work: D:\>xcopy /h bootmgr C: D:bootmgr 1 File(s) copied D:\>copy Boot C: Boot\BCD The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process. 0 file(s) copied. D:\>xcopy /h Boot C: Boot\BCD Sharing violation Now, of course I need to run this as an 'Administrator': tips4pc.com/computer_tips_and_tricks/how_to_run_the_dos_command_promp.htm Looks like this would be super-easy if Windows was actually working. Of course it's not, and I don't know if i can force DOS to start in Administrator mode, while being in DOS (and I can't start this any other way). All day, the problem has been that I literally can't do the things that I need to to, to make this **** work. I've been using Windows for 20 years, and developing Windows apps for 10 years; I've never seen anything like this. This is totally bizarro. Ryan Shuell

Your having all theses issue. If you were unable to do the in-place upgrade, the quickest fix will be to just cut your losses and reinstall Windows over top of your current install. Do not format the partition, and it will move all your data into a Windows.old folder.MCP Card || LinkedIn

Thanks, once again, D.L. This may actually do it. I've never heard of this before. It must be new to Windows 7. I researched this a bit (on another computer, of course). This may be the perfect, and apparently only, solution for me. As I know, with all versions of windows prior to Windows 7, when you reinstall the OS, you basically do a reimage; all old files are gone and the system is restored to its factory spec. Maybe this is old school, but I thought that's always the way it was before. I thought that's the only way to do it now... I found this post, based on your last comment: http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/what-is-windows-old-folder-and-how-to-remove-it/ This seems promising! I'm doing the install right now. I'll feed back when it's done. Ryan Shuell

Thanks, D.L. I got it working. I had to reinstall Windows 7. Apparently, Windows 7 creates a backup of everything while it reinstall (I didn't realize this; I thought it would wipe out all my files). Here is some more information: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Where-are-my-files-and-folders-after-upgrading-from-Windows-XP-or-Windows-Vista I ended up burning my files to a few DVDs, then formatted the HD, and finally reinstalled a fresh version of Windows 7. Everything is working fine now!! Thanks again!! Ryan Shuell