BIBM and Win 7 Partition Help Please

[plain]

I have some questions about the relationship between BIBM and Windows if anyone can help I appreciate it.
When I make partitions on my Drive 0 with BIBM I can easily restore an image to them using IFW and since I have never had success with installing Windows to a BIBM partion this is the only way I put Windows where I want it. I use MBR.

When I try to install Win 7 from a DVD I get complaints from Windows about it not being satisfied with the way the partition is set up and I usually have to get Windows to delete the partition, repartition the space, format it and only then am I able to install from Windows DVD. Then I have to go into BIBM and move it around or expand/contract, whatever I want from there.

Is this the only way to install Windows when using BIBM?

Several years ago I installed Win 7 on this disk 0 by using an XP install CD/DVD (whatever it is) and made the partitions, let Windows 7 make it's little partition then used the BIBM instructions to move the booting components to the main partition and used the little one for BIBM.

Then a few weeks ago I decided to do a clean install of Windows 7 x32 since I had never installed x32 and ran into the problem above.

So then I imaged my C-Drive and just had BIBM wipe my whole 1TB disk and start over. I wiped it from the BIBM install that is on the disk. That didn't work either and now Windows DiskPart doesn't even recognize partitions made and hidden by BIBM as being hidden. (I don't know if it did before ). Plus when I go into Windows 7 Disk Management and try to massage a BIBM partition my only option is to Delete it. I can't format it, give it a drive letter, name it, nothing.

I know this is long-winded but I don't want to drag this out to a thread that takes up everyone's time hence the information overload. So my question is...

How can I get BIBM and Windows to live happily together so that I can make my partitions only in BIBM and still install Windows from DVD/USB without complaint? If it isn't possible that's fine, I just would like to know so I can quit wasting my time in the effort. If there are boxes in BIBM that I need to check please let me know what they are. Anyway, Thanks for any help anyone can provide.

[Brian K]

plain,

Are you Limiting Primary partitions with BIBM? Or Unlimited?
Is Win7 on the first HD? HD0?
How many partitions do you have on the HD? Including Win7?
Do you set up a Boot Item after the Win7 partition has been created in BIBM, attempt to boot the Win7 item (which will fail to boot) and then press Ctrl, Alt, Delete to restart to the Win7 DVD?

[plain]

Thank You Brian K for helping me out.
The hard drive is HD 0
I have chosen limit primaries to ensure I am able to only use MBR.
My drive has 4 primary partitions including the BIBM partition.
My most recent attempt involved setting up the partition in BIBM and after Windows 7 DVD complained I deleted the same partition using the Windows 7 DVD that I had created with BIBM only moments before and went ahead with the DVD install.
I may be thinking of this all wrong. I had hoped I could set up a partition in BIBM, format it, and then put in a Windows disk and install to that partition. It's like Windows doesn't want anything to do with whatever BIBM has made. So I figure either BIBM is not supposed to work like this in the first place or I am not checking the right boxes. I have read the manual pretty carefully over the years but it's obvious I'm missing something.

Anyway, Thanks Again.

[CyberSimian]

plain wrote:
> I have chosen limit primaries to ensure I am able to only use MBR.

I never have any problems installing Windows into partitions created by BIBM. Recently I installed 32-bit Windows 7 on my HTPC, and last year installed 64-bit Windows 7 on my Lenovo laptop. But I use EMBRs for all of my internal disks. Note:

(1) Never use EMBRs for external USB disks.

(2) The HIDE setting for a partition on an MBR disk does not hide the partition from Windows -- Windows ignores the setting of that flag. The only way to hide a partition from Windows is to use an EMBR, and omit the partition from the MBR in the Boot item.

This post describes the procedure that I use:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2863&hilit=cybersim ... =10#p15456

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

[Brian K]

plain, you didn't address your method of installing Win7. Did you....

"Do you set up a Boot Item after the Win7 partition has been created in BIBM, attempt to boot the Win7 item (which will fail to boot) and then press Ctrl, Alt, Delete to restart to the Win7 DVD?"

Doing the above will set the MBR partition table for Win7 including setting the Win7 partition Active.

[plain]

Okay Brian, Sorry for my murkiness.

So I have BIBM on it's partition and Windows 7 on a partition, and then two more partitions made whether or not I am using them.
Then I delete either one or both of the other two partitions, recreate and format them but I always wind up with 4 partitions on the drive before I start with one being BIBM and typically one being my old Win 7.


Then I get my DVD and start Win 7 install let's say to partition 3
Windows 7 doesn't like this partition so I have to delete it using the DVD and recreate and format to Windows' liking. (And this is what i don't understand or I'm doing something wrong.)

Now this last time I did everything the same way except I didn't hide the Win 7 partition I am presently using...partition 2. (Until today I mistakenly thought hiding actually meant hiding. I came from Grub4Dos and think I remember it would hide partitions but I could be wrong and if I remember correctly that was Win XP. Long time ago.)

And things went as you describe Brian, where initially Windows 7 would not boot and I had to Ctrl, Alt, Del to get things moving again.

So that upon finishing my new Win 7 install, my partition 2 install had seen a new Windows 7 neighbor and pushed BIBM out of the way and the partition 2 Windows 7 wanted to be my boot manager.

I don't remember ever encountering this but with IFW as my backup I very seldom do an install from the ground up.

I'm sorry I don't grasp what you guys are calling a "boot item". If boot item is one of the 3 available primary partitions then as far as I can remember, this last time I didn't set up any boot item using BIBM other than delete the two extra partitions, and make two new empty ones as I said above.


And CyberSimian, I appreciate the link. I have read your instructions and I will try this out.

[Brian K]

plain,

If you are willing I can take you through this slowly and it will work. It seems your understanding of "Boot Item" is the issue.

This works better with Unlimited Primaries as you don't have to hide partitions, you just remove the entry in the partition table. The partition hasn't been deleted and the entry can be put back into the partition table at any time you desire. So start by clicking Settings (on the BIBM desktop) and remove the tick from Limit Primaries. On the BIBM desktop click Boot Edit. You might have one or two Menu Items. Select the correct one, the one that boots your Win7 and click Edit. On the right side is MBR Details. Select the BIBM slot and click Clear. You now have an empty slot. Leave the correct Win7 partition alone and select each of the other two partitions in turn and click Clear. Select the Win7 partition, the only remaining partition slot, click Move Up and put the partition in Slot 0). The top slot. Click OK and OK again and you should be back on the BIBM desktop. Click Resume and boot Win7. In Win7, check Disk Management and you will only see one partition.

Get back to us and report your progress. We can then go through the steps of installing Win7.

[plain]

Okay Brian I'm with you so far. I think what was throwing me was I couldn't find "Boot Items" but finally figured out on my BIBM it is "Boot Edit". I have removed all from the next box "Menu Items.." except for Win 7 I am using right now. And Glory Be, yes Windows sees all but my Win 7 as "Unallocated". Thank You! It was driving me crazy. So now I have to ask will the install DVD also see the disk this way?

Anyway I'm ready to go! It will be a few days but I will get back. Work always seems to interrupt important things.

Thanks, plain

[Bob Coleman]

plain wrote:

> So that upon finishing my new Win 7 install, my partition 2 install had
> seen a new Windows 7 neighbor and pushed BIBM out of the way and the
> partition 2 Windows 7 wanted to be my boot manager.

This is probably at least partly because the installation process and now the newly installed Win7 both saw/see the original Win7, so the so the installation created a boot menu for choosing which Win 7 to boot.

You may have been able to get BIBM working again by booting BIBM media and choosing reactivate BIBM, but that would have still left you with an unwanted boot menu when you booted the new Win7 via BIBM.

[Brian K]

plain wrote:
>
> So now I have to ask will the install DVD also see
> the disk this way?
>

plain, yes it will. Windows Disk Management and the Windows install DVD only see the partitions you have in BIBM MBR Details. (The partitions you selected to have in the partition table) Let's say you have 20 partitions on HD0 and only 2 partitions in MBR Details, then Windows and the install DVD only see 2 partitions.

So I'm clear on what you want to do, can you list your current partitions? Name and size? How much data in each? How do you want to have the partitions for the new Win7 install? Will you have one or two Win7 partitions?