Multiboot win8 Win7 xp possible?

[mini]

I had already partioned the hard drive prior to installing win 7 but it kept telling me somthing about uefi and Microsoft grs. So after going through the win7 setup prior ro easy bcd it would always fail. I never did try intsallling it after eqasy bcd.

[mini]

I have managed to get back onto win8, I'm resetting laptop and starting from beginning and following yuor instructions. It still comes up woth 'refer to micrsoft grs'. Stil wont lwt me install win7, it all goes wellbuntil the end and says error. Should i use easybcd after all that including error or? I have made 5 partitions juat unfer 100gb each. Any fither advixe?

[mini]

Still unable to boot win7 drom cd at start up. Tried changws in bios but no affect.

[m9g]

The problem seems to be with the new secure boot feature built into new pc's which is called UEFI - this needs to be disabled. This is the first I've heard of it so a bit blind too it.

Personally i would go down the virtual drive route, its soooo much easier and works fine

Read this article and see what else you can find on disabling UEFI.

Secure Boot has arrived

A few weeks ago one of my computers, a desktop machine, called it quits after many productive years of service. Following a respectful period of mourning, I decided to go out and get myself a new desktop computer. Nothing fancy, just a nice low-end box. I settled on HP's Pavilion P6-2310. The machine arrived in a timely manner, I hooked it up and realized that in my haste to get my shopping over with I had forgotten one important detail: Secure Boot.

Secure Boot, in case you missed all the excitement earlier, is a technology which is supposed to protect computer users from malware by insuring only trusted software can boot on the machine. How this works is, essentially, the computer comes with a security key (or keys) and any operating system or boot loader which we want to run on the machine needs to have a corresponding key. The idea is malware won't be able to sneak onto the computer and get loaded into memory before the operating system. A side effect, which many do not believe to be a coincidence, is operating systems other than Windows 8 are prevented from booting too. For some reason these details had slipped my mind when I was shopping on-line. When I hooked up the new computer and booted for the first time I was suddenly reminded in an unpleasant way.

The first symptom was that I could not boot from any device except the hard disk. I was thrown into the Windows 8 set up process. The manuals which came with the computer do not mention, in any fashion, accessing the BIOS/UEFI, changing boot order or disabling Secure Boot. Typically in the past computers have displayed hints, such as "Press F1 to edit settings" or "Press F9 to change boot device" when they power up. Not in this case, no hints are given and we're left to trial and error. F10, I found, would grant me access to the machine's start-up configuration, but getting my thumb drive to boot took a few steps beyond that.

First I tried to simply change the boot order and was told this was not possible while Secure Boot was enabled. Hunting through the menus I finally found the Secure Boot feature and, selecting it, I was informed (via a big, red warning box) that disabling Secure Boot was dangerous and not recommended. Then I had to disable Secure Boot and re-enabled "Legacy" boot options in the proper order and then, finally, I was able to enable specific devices from which I wanted to boot. After that I was able to boot from my thumb drive only if I knew to hold down F9 while the computer was starting up, we're not given that information.

In short, to get to the point where we can attempt to boot an alternative operating system we need to know our way through six steps:

• Boot machine while pressing F10
• Find Secure Boot in the menu tree, ignore warnings
• Disable Secure Boot feature
• Enable legacy boot options
• Enable specific legacy devices, such as USB devices
• Save and reboot while holding down F9

[mini]

Got it to boot from cd but now it says 'windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is not of dthe gpt partition style.' Ggggrrrrrrrr

I'm ripping my hair out

[mini]

How do I disable the windows gpt thinamebob

[m9g]

I dont think its a case of disabling it, from what i've read its a partition type.

This might help....

Sample: Configure UEFI/GPT-Based Hard Drive Partitions by Using Windows PE and DiskPart

[m9g]

This UEFI and GPT stuff is all new to me but i'm easily finding the information you want in google

Although the virtual drive route with WMware workstation would have been up and running by now I am guessing your a bit like me and dont like to be beaten.

[mini]

Is there no partition software that could resolve this issue???

[ifred]

Might be Paragon Partition manager -when they release the windows 8 fix, yes it means Bill gates emipre strikes again ;-(