BIBM and Win 7 Partition Help Please

User discussion and information resource forum for BootIt Bare Metal and BootIt UEFI
plain
Posts: 53
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 6:33 pm

Re: BIBM and Win 7 Partition Help Please

Post by plain »

Okay Brian, Thank You for your patience. I will check back in a few days.
Brian K
Posts: 2214
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:11 am
Location: NSW, Australia

Re: BIBM and Win 7 Partition Help Please

Post by Brian K »

See you then. With this method of installing a Windows OS you don't need 4 partitions on your disk to prevent Windows from adding further small partitions. This is because the Windows partition is set Active prior to running the Windows installer. Windows booting files are installed into the Active partition on HD0.
CyberSimian
Posts: 137
Joined: Wed Aug 10, 2016 12:13 pm

Re: BIBM and Win 7 Partition Help Please

Post by CyberSimian »

Brian K wrote:
> With this method of installing a Windows OS you don't need 4
> partitions on your disk to prevent Windows from adding further small
> partitions. This is because the Windows partition is set Active prior to
> running the Windows installer. Windows booting files are installed into the
> Active partition on HD0.

You might be right, Brian, but that it not what I would expect to happen. If there is only one partition in the MBR, and that partition is active, and the partition does not occupy the entire disk, I would expect Windows to:

(1) Install the OS into the active partition.

(2) Create a "Microsoft Reserved" partition to contain the files needed for BitLocker (so that the user could activate BitLocker subsequently, if he wanted).

(3) Create a "Windows Recovery" partition to hold the recovery files.

If the disk is completely empty, the above causes no problem. But if there are other partitions on the disk (data partitions, or other OS partitions), and these partitions are not present in the MBR, there is a risk that Windows will overwrite one or several of those other partitions when Windows creates the "Reserved" and "Recovery" partitions. The procedure that I described in the post that I referenced previously avoids the risk of overwriting.

If the original poster has not already done so, I would suggest that he create on an external USB disk a backup of his irreplaceable data BEFORE performing any of these changes, just in case it all goes horribly wrong.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK
Brian K
Posts: 2214
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:11 am
Location: NSW, Australia

Re: BIBM and Win 7 Partition Help Please

Post by Brian K »

CyberSimian,

We'll have to have a beer on the result.
plain
Posts: 53
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 6:33 pm

Re: BIBM and Win 7 Partition Help Please

Post by plain »

I only have one OS on my hard disk. The other partition I make is for setting up the OS again when the one I am using gets cluttered or has had programs installed/uninstalled several times.

Well, I followed Brian's instructions and wound up with a 100MB partition and a partition to which Win 7 had installed itself. These were in addition to the other 3 partitions so that I wound up with 5 partitions. Which is okay but I had hoped to avoid this so I tried something different. I could have fixed this but I do this so seldom I have to really get my guts up for it and I wanted an easier way. So I imaged my Win7 and got out my trusty DBAN disk and wiped the whole thing off.

I installed BIBM and 3 partitions, restored Win7, and started over.

Using MBR and Limit Primaries I left BIBM and my original Win7 install alone.
So I made two remaining partitions just to carve out a space on the disk for my new Win7 install.
Now I have 4 partitions.

I deleted the partition I wanted to install to so that now I had -BIBM-, -Win7-, -Empty Space-, -Partition 4- (which I had made in BIBM). This may sound goofy but I made -Empty Space- "Active" using BIBM. I don't know whether it stuck or not but while I was in BIBM it seemed to, and maybe it helped since Windows does reboot several times during installation. Then I turned the PC off.

Then I installed Win7 from DVD by creating it's partition from the -Empty Space- using the install DVD, reactivated BIBM, and the new install showed up on what had previously been "Empty Space".
No 100MB partition, and no adverse effects to -BIBM- or to my original -Win7- or to the -Partition 4-. (I did have to reactivate BIBM)

I couldn't have done it without you guys. I just couldn't get over the hurdle by myself. I really do Thank You.

Anyway, with some temerity, I booted to each OS using BIBM just to make sure every body is happy and have found no glitches so far.
I think I am going to do it this way from now on unless I start running into problems of some kind.

Thank You Guys Brian, Bob, and CyberSimian, for all your help.
Brian K
Posts: 2214
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:11 am
Location: NSW, Australia

Re: BIBM and Win 7 Partition Help Please

Post by Brian K »

plain wrote:
>
> Well, I followed Brian's instructions and wound up with a 100MB partition
> and a partition to which Win 7 had installed itself.

plain, I haven't yet posted the instructions. I was waiting for you to get back to us.
plain
Posts: 53
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 6:33 pm

Re: BIBM and Win 7 Partition Help Please

Post by plain »

Doh! Please accept my apology. I presumed I was to go ahead with the information you gave earlier about not limiting primary partitions and I got carried away.
Post Reply