Detailed process for installing new OS

Hello,

I have recently purchased the Parition manager 10 product. I have been trying to do a dual boot setup with windows XP 64-bit and windows 7 RTM. I first install windows XP 64 and then install the Paragon partition manager on it. I run the wizard for the new os install. I commit the changes for the new partition and it tells me it will hide the other partitions on reboot. I then shutdown and reboot. The computer the comes up to the screen where the Paragon software tells me to insert the provided media and reboot (your bios must support cd-media boot). I then reboot and the system comes back to blinking cursor. If i do a repair obviously it fixes this.

What i am really wondering is, if i have a system that i am building from scratch, what would be the best way to properly use Paragon Partion Manager?
I want to use it from the very beginning, because i want to quad boot.
The disk type i have is an intel ICH10R Storage matrix with a RAID 10 setup. It has 1 logical 500 gig drive defined.

Any assistance or proceure would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

If your computer is booting back to a blinking cursor screen, it sounds like it's not booting from the inserted OS CD/DVD.

Have you verified that the BIOS boot order has the CD/DVD drive booting before the hard drive?

 

Hello Obispal,

It sounds like you've done everything right so far. Can I assume that you've already allocated free space for the Windows 7 you're going to install it on? It won't matter if it's unallocated space or an empty partition, during the Windows 7 installation, it will either create a new partition or reformat the existing one.

Once you have the Windows XP partition marked hidden, boot with the Windows 7 installation DVD (change BIOS boot order to CD/DVD first, or hit F12 for boot options) and finish the installation. In Windows 7, I recommend using EasyBCD to manage your dual boot. Simply add a new operating system in EasyBCD, update the MBR, and at every reboot, you will see the option for both OS's.

Just want to note that you cannot manage dual booting XP and 7 on the XP side. As XP does not recognize Windows 7 and uses boot.ini.

 

Thanks for the quick replies.

I really wanted to use the paragon boot manager and move away from the windows boot manager. The blinking cursor will also appear if i try to install the Paragon boot manager from winxp64. Is the Paragon boot manager the right product to use in this situation?

I would like to boot linux as well, so it would be great if i could use a third party boot manager.

 

In Partition Manager 10, under Tools> Setup Boot Manager.

Boot Manager will automatically detect multiple OSes found on the machine. After a short test, BM does detect Windows 7, but labels it as Vista/2008. Regardless, it boots fine and compatible with Linux OSes.

To remove the Boot Manager from startup, boot to a recovery disk or in Partition Manager 10, right click the Basic Hard Disk > Update MBR.

Tommy

 

Using the bootable winPE Partition manager disk. I hide all the partitions, except the partition i am going to install the OS to. However, When i then boot the PC up and attempt the OS installation you can still see all the partitions. Will they still show up even if they are hidden? Can you actually install the boot manager so that it starts at boot up? If so how do i do this, it does not talk about how to install the boot manager in the documentation.

 

Hi Obispal,

When you 'Hide' partitions, they won't be hidden from your view, it's just hidden from other OSs so they can't access each other or steal the C drive letter during Windows installation.

Installing the Boot Manager is just a matter of running through the wizard. It does not matter what OS you are booted to when you do this. Install all the OSs, then from any one of them launch PM10 (switch to full scale launcher if necessary) and click the Tools drop-down - Boot Manager Setup. It will scan your drives and create the necessary boot entries. The Boot Manager can also be installed from the WinPE Recovery CD.

If you continue to encounter a blinking cursor after activating the Boot Manager there may be an incompatibility issue with your system. If this happens, use the 'Update MBR' feature as Tommy suggested to remove it, or run the Boot Manager Wizard from WinPE to deactivate it.

Also, 'Active' flags are very important for this. When you're changing the hidden flags, check to make sure the partition you are about to install to is the only Active partition on the disk. You can highlight the partition and look for "Activity = Yes" in the properties window at the lower right, or you can right click the partition and look at the option it presents. If it says 'Mark Active', then it is current not Active and this should be run. If it says 'Mark Inactive' then it is already set as Active.

A black screen or just a blinking cursor is what you usually see when there are no Active partitions on your drive, but it can indicate other problems as well.