How to add Windows 7 beta to OS Selector?

I have DD10 but have never installed OSS. Now the Win7 RC has me interested to install-and-test it while leaving my XP Pro installation intact. Reading thru this thread, there doesn't appear to be any simple step-by-step of how to accomplish this?

 

If you want instructions for the general process, see this thread (post #14 has most of the details, but it wouldn't hurt to read up to that point, at least). Adding Windows 7 is basically the same as adding Vista. The only difference is the title you use for the OSS menu (use name_template="Windows 7", for example).

 

Try this file and see if it works.

 

Thanks very much, I will do my homework!

 

Perfect - you're wonderful. Thanks a lot - I can now boot into Windows 7, Vista and XP.
Sdave:

 

No matter what I try, Windows 7 (RC) keeps telling me : "Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition".

I have Win XP, OSS and Toshiba's HDD recovery partition.

I can use Win7 setup to create a new partition in the blank space, but when trying to proceed, it repeats the same error.

This does not work:

Code:

WinXP     Pri, Hid  73GB  NTFS
Unallocated
OSS       Pri, Hid 102MB  FAT32
HDDREC    Pri, Hid 4.0GB  FAT32

Neither does this:

Code:

WinXP     Pri, Hid  73GB  NTFS
NTFS (C:) Pri, Act  72GB  NTFS
OSS       Pri, Hid 102MB  FAT32
HDDREC    Pri, Hid 4.0GB  FAT32

Any other advice than to wipe the drive and start with Win7?

 

Can you post a screenshot from XP of what Disk Management and DD (in Manual Mode) show for your drive?

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Things you can try in any order you wish:

• Disconnect any other drives during the installation. This includes internal, external, flashdrives, MP3, iPODs, media card readers (including printers), etc.
• Create and format the partition using XP. Then use OSS or DD to hide the other partitions and set the new one Active.
• Create the partition using the Windows 7 installer and then abort the install. Start the install again and see if it works.
• Deactivate OSS (select XP as the default OS). Use DD to hide all the partitions except for the Windows 7 partition (if already created). See if the Windows 7 installer will accept the existing partition or create a new one and use it.

 

Finally! I found the magic ingredient. I booted to Windows XP, formatted the empty space with NTFS from Windows XP, rebooted to DD, set the new empty partition to Active, then Hid Windows XP, and finally, Windows 7 accepted the partition as "good enough" to install on...

(Win7's own format isn't good enough for itself - but XP format is fine)

Thanks! (I didn't read your advice before I got it working, but I found some other thread where it had worked. Apparently this is a very common problem, with a variety of solutions. XP formatting is one, disconnecting other drives another - this is a netbook with no other drives)

 

Finally, I had to add Windows 7 manually to OSS, using the instructions Mudcrab refers to above (post #14 in another thread), with one change : I edited the BOOTWIZ.OSS file on the OSS partition from DD within Windows XP. Fortunately, copy-and-paste worked fine there, or I would have been helpless - typing in all partitions manually would have introduced errors.