installing windows 7 on a partition with Ubuntu and windows

[aneuryzma]

Hi,

I've 2 partitions with Linux (Ubunt) and Windows XP.

I would like to replace Windows XP with Windows 7 without affect linux.

Is this easy to do ? Just with the installation CD of Windows 7 ?

thanks

[-pops-]

Windows 7 needs to be installed on a clean drive. It will overwrite older versions of Windows and/or refuse to install alongside another O/S.

The currently available version of W7 has a very limited lifespan (June 2010). It would be best to wait until October 22 for the full release version before making any drastic changes to your system.

For information: on a test rig machine I have built, each operating system has its own hard drive which is installed in a swappable caddy thus there are no problems of multiboot errors and confusions.

[AlanHo]

Before I installed Windows 7 I created a second partition on my main hard drive - leaving Vista on the first partition.

I then installed Windows 7 on the second partition with no problem and now have a dual boot system - Vista or Windows 7.

[aneuryzma]

so I got 2 opposite answers.

First says it is not possible to install on a partitioned drive with another OS (Linyx).

The second said it is possible (but with Vista)

Can anybody give me some more information ??

thanks!

[-pops-]

Installation: You can install the Windows 7 RC on a PC running Windows Vista without backing up the PC—but we encourage you to make a backup for safe keeping. If you're running Windows XP or the Windows 7 Beta, you'll need to backup your data, then do a clean installation of the RC, then reinstall your applications and restore your data.

From http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/download.aspx (underscoring mine for emphasis).

My comments in regard to the limited lifespan of W7RC still apply and I would be very reluctant to make drastic alterations to a system knowingly to have to repeat it in the near future.

The situation regarding multibooting may be completely different in the final release.

[AlanHo]

Pops and I are both saying the same thing - you need to install Windows 7 into a clean partition. It will not over-write any OS residing there - nor will it upgrade any old Beta copy of Windows 7.

In my case my computer is well protected by full clone copies of my Vista partition and my data (which is on a second hard drive) using Acronis - the backups are stored on an externel eSATA hard drive. I was willing to partition my primary hard drive in order to try out Windows 7 because it will be easy to restore it if necessary.

I will reformat my hard drive and combine the partitions before installing the release copy of Windows 7 and reinstalling all my software. Immediately afterwards I will take an Acronis copy onto my externel hard drive for security.

If you have a proper backup procedure and if you are willing to mess about with your primary drive in the same way - it is possible to have a dual boot system using the current pre-release version of Windows 7.

I have not seen any formal advice from Microsoft on the method for installing the final release copy - it now appears they will release an upgrade version in the UK after all. I have ordered the full retail copy - so am confident it will install onto a clean drive.

[Alan2273]

If you install W7 over XP it will write a new MBR, so if you are not adept at altering the MBR then you will lose Ubuntu.

If you are familiar with altering the MBR then you can do it through a Live Ubuntu disk.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Recoverin...stallingWindows

[Seshomaru Samma]

I am running Win7 and Ubuntu on the same drive.

I have Ubuntu with 3 partitions :

1. /

2. /home

3. /swap

I used gparted to create another fat32 partitions cause from my experience with XP I thought it will not recognise an EXT3 drive but interestingly Windows 7 saw my all 4 partitions .

The Windows installer then asked me to format one of them as NTFS , here you have to be very careful , I asked Windows to format the FAT32 , but for some reason it formatted both the FAT32 and my /home partition (I made a back up before hand).

Then it installed Win7 and wiped the MBR

I booted from a live CD (I used SystemRestore CD, but you can use Ubuntu) and reinstalled Grub

Grub should recognise Win7 but if not , I can explain how to add the Win7 entry to Grub- it's very simple.

Now I dual boot Ubuntu and 7

btw- In relation to Alan2273's link which might look very complex, you don't actually have to follow the whole thing.

just boot from a live CD (Ubuntu, Knoppix, DSL whatever) , open a terminal

and follow the instructions in the link starting from where it says :

If you have your Linux system in a second (or third...) hard disk this method will not work. Please check Super Grub Disk's method that address this problem.