Dual Boot Vista (Installed) with Windows 7

[Beatnyama]

I have an installation of Vista SP1 on a new HP Laptop. This laptop has
a recovery partition which i can use to restore my laptop to factory
settings if things go wrong.

I want to install Windows 7 RC1. I know how to go about it.

My question is if i create a new partition and install Windows 7 on it,
will i lose my ability to restore my laptop to factory settings (via
F11).
Will also repair options from Vista that repair start-up problems
appear automatically when there is a problem detected with my laptop?

Just want to know before i start the installation.

Beaton


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[Tom Ferguson]

I believe this is how it goes with HP laptops as configured from the
factory:

If you install another OS to dual-boot with the original install, you have
to shrink the partition which contains the supplied OS, create a new
partition for the new OS and install it. Both OSs will work properly. The
boot manager will operate as expected. No surprise there.

However, you will not be able to use the method to restore the computer to
its shipped state by the usual means of pressing F11 during start-up. You
would have to remove the partition you added with the new OS and repair the
boot manager first.

You can restore to factory-shipped state from the DVD set if you made one
using the utility provided by HP for that purpose.

Now, if it were me doing it, I would not rely one one word I wrote unless I
checked it all out and, at the least, had another image of the drive
somewhere that I could use to restore it should it all 'go sideways and
crooked'.

Good luck.
Tom Ferguson

"Beatnyama" wrote in message
news:Beatnyama.3ttyfb@DoNotSpam.com...
>
> I have an installation of Vista SP1 on a new HP Laptop. This laptop has
> a recovery partition which i can use to restore my laptop to factory
> settings if things go wrong.
>
> I want to install Windows 7 RC1. I know how to go about it.
>
> My question is if i create a new partition and install Windows 7 on it,
> will i lose my ability to restore my laptop to factory settings (via
> F11).
> Will also repair options from Vista that repair start-up problems
> appear automatically when there is a problem detected with my laptop?
>
> Just want to know before i start the installation.
>
> Beaton
>
>
> --
> Beatnyama
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Beatnyama's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/members/106002.htm
> View this thread: http://forums.techarena.in/vista-help/1197920.htm
>
> http://forums.techarena.in
>

 

[nomore]

In my experience it is not a good idea to dual boot on a laptop or any other
computer that has only one hard drive.
It is always safer to install second or even third operating systems on
their own hard drives.
If an OS goes down it can take the entire hard drive.
If you do not like the secondary OS(es) it is easier to delete them if they
are on separate hard drives and not lose the boot manager.
If you insist on repartioning your one and only hard drive be sure you have
backed up all your documents and images to CD/DVD and still have the
installation discs for your programs. The Vista tools for repartioning are
actually good for inexperienced users because they severely limit the amount
of space you can take from your hard drive. It is helpful also to label your
partitions with the name of the OS installed on it.
The machine I am writing this on boots to XP, Vista and Win7, each on its
own hard drive.
XP is no longer my favorite OS, although it remains more useful and used
than Vista.