In a recent newsletter, subscriber Clif wrote that he was going to install Windows 7 in a dual-boot configuration. I wrote some tips for him to make that installation a little easier.
After he did his installation, Clif wrote back to report on how it went:
Hi Terry,I’ve got Win7 running now. Setting up the partitions after your advice was no problem. As usual, the problems come at me from a direction I hadn’t foreseen.
I thought I had a good ISO file from Microsoft. I burnt a DVD. It would boot, but it would stall with the statement that it needed me to load CD/DVD drivers. After a bit of research, I found that my ISO file did not match the published MD5 checksums.
This was bad. After all, the time to get the downloads from Microsoft had passed. I was forced to find a bit-torrent download but I finally ended up with a good copy. Even though it was downloaded from an illegitimate source, I do have a legitimate activation key to use it until June of next year.
Even then, a copy burned from the new ISO would not boot. I finally decided to try mounting the ISO file as a virtual drive while running XP. That actually worked very nicely and the install allowed me to choose a new partition for Win7′s new home.
I’ve had it running for a couple of days now and it’s becoming my primary OS.
Thanks for your help.
Clif
I responded to Clif with a warning that was specifically about the Windows 7 RC (Release Candidate version:
Be aware that you can not upgrade from Win7 RC to the real Win7.
You’ll have to do a full install on the actual Win7 or install as an upgrade over Vista (most gurus recommend against upgrading over a previous copy, but some people just want to do that…)
Terry
Clif wrote back to voice his appreciation:
Thanks for the warning Terry. I wasn’t aware I’d have to install a clean copy again. I do keep backups and reinstalling a new Win7 copy won’t be a problem in the future. I’ve had enough hard drive crashes over the years to learn a hard lesson or two.BTW, I wasn’t impressed with CloneZilla backup program. It’s far too geeky for even me. It’s all command line and very complex. I’ll probably use Macrium Reflect next time.
Oh, I also mentioned that I needed to get checksums on the ISO to verify it. I found a nice freebie for that which places this function in your file (right click) context menus. It works very well.
Flyingbit Hash Calculatorhttp://www.flyingbit.com/products/hash_calculator/
Thanks for the mention and link in your email newsletter.
Clif
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