I'm having a lot of trouble installing win7 onto a SSD. I can add a volume and partition onto it but I during boot it just doesn't want to be recognized. I've tried on my laptop and my new PC (home build).
So I want to boot SLAX from a flash drive and install win7 or xp pro but I'm a total novice with linux.
I have the ISO image on a external hard drive.
Can someone please tell me what modules I'm going to need and how to actually mount the ISO or install windows from an ISO in SLAX?
If you are installing window to the ssd while slax is on the flashdrive , and if you have the actual window 7 installation disk , then its actually easier to install window 7 (disregarding slax) , the dual boot slax and window 7 afterward.
If you burn your window 7 iso to a cd , it's it bootable , and can you do the installation from there ?.
@horrorific: I'm not quite understanding you. If you're serious about what you're doing, I might be able to offer a few pointers.
In Slax, you can start by opening Konsole. Now, you should be root--the equivalent of an Administrator on Windows. Type parted -l, then press enter. Slax sometimes locks when reading the disks (at least on newer PCs I've worked on)--if this happens to you, close Konsole, reopen it, and try fdisk -l instead.
You will need your drive label to get setup, provided Slax sees it--i.e. /dev/sda1. It will show in both fdisk and parted. In both cases, type parted /dev/sda, for instance, if you saw /dev/sda. Now, you will need to mktable. If you have a UEFI computer (most 64-bit computers now are), it'd be a great idea to choose the GPT table with the gpt option if you're going to install Windows 8/Fedora 15+/Ubuntu 12+. Otherwise, for Windows XP or 7, I'd use the msdos table, so mktable msdos should work. Reboot into Windows Setup on your Windows CD/DVD and see what it does now.
If Windows Setup can't find the driver for your SSD, and Slax can, then I would honestly forget installing Windows conventionally and would install Fedora or Ubuntu as my "real" OS, then install & run Windows XP Professional or Windows 7 inside VirtualBox with Guest Additions. To get VBox, in Ubuntu, you can just "sudo apt-get install virtualbox-ose"; in Fedora (at least in 16 "Verne" where I last tried it), you'll need to install VirtualBox from a downloaded .rpm package and set things up from there--alternatively, I think there's an extra mirror you can add, but I wouldn't recommend that to stay secure.
Now, if neither Windows 7, XP, or Slax can see your SSD, I would honestly wait for Windows 8, or load the driver for your disk in Windows 7 Setup when you do advanced options for formatting, or otherwise start by following my earlier suggestion of installing a more powerful OS like Fedora or Ubuntu.
Also, just as an extra hint, you can download the Windows 7 USB Tool from the Microsoft Store and boot Windows Setup from a flash drive. I'm not sure where the page is; you may need to google it.
I hope all this helps. Let us know where you're at & good luck. :)
Thanks agreimann, I'm going to try doing this through ubuntu. I wanted to use slax because its quite literally the most user friendly USB install I've ever had, hopefully ubuntu will won't be much different.
And yes I'm fairly serious, my optical drive isn't working and I need to get an OS onto the only HD (SSD actually) I have available to boot up my new computer to test it (primarily the SSD), while my new optical drive is still being shipped.
The win7 usb tool would be nice if I had a big enough flash drive (only have my old 2GB)
Ubuntu is going to be rather different from Slax, because Slax is a lightweight and completely live system, and while Ubuntu can run live from a CD/DVD/USB, it's meant to be installed to disk ultimately. Now, if you're new to Linux, Ubuntu has a higher learning curve because of the Unity shell--I would recommend using Linux Mint with Cinnamon if you are going to go "the Ubuntu route". Both support the same hardware--just with a different spin.
From what I read earlier, it sounds like you can't dual-boot, because it sounds like Windows 7 cannot see (i.e. detect & mount) your SSD during Setup, in which case I would either try to get your correct driver from your support site for Seagate, or Hitachi, etc., wait for Windows 8, or install Ubuntu.
Since I'm guessing at this point that you're going to be using Ubuntu, you might want to back up and reformat your SSD completely using the installer when it asks what you want to do, unless your .iso is on a separate partition or you want to try and split the disk in half, if it has a proper table. If not, let Ubuntu wipe it clean (make a new partition table for you). For advanced partitioning control, if you're familiar with it, use parted in the shell or the Disk Utility app.
Now after installing Ubuntu, you *still* can install your copy of Windows XP or Windows 7 in VirtualBox. Understand, however, that you will need a valid license to do so, and that installing in a VM will be considered by the activation service to be a new computer/install, which is rather... unfair, so you will need something like either an OEM/VLK copy of 7, or otherwise have a copy that supports installing up to 3 computers.
Outside of that, to get VirtualBox installed once you have Mint/Ubuntu up and running, make sure you're connected to the Internet and open Terminal. Type (with no quotes) "sudo apt-get install virtualbox-ose" and press enter. Type your password (nothing will appear) and press enter. Once again, press enter (or y) at the install prompt. From there, once it's installed (no more output is appearing and the prompt appears again, type "exit" (no quotes), open VirtualBox, and set up your "virtual" computer. To get Windows running fullscreen with graphics support, etc., download and install Guest Additions from virtualbox.org.
This should get your laptop (and Windows) running for you.
Hope all works well for you. If you need more assistance, that's what this forum's for. :)
Wow, this is amazing thanks to you I've made more progress in the last few hours than I've made in the last 2 day XD
I got ubuntu and win xp (through virtual box) running so I know the SSD can run windows, so now I need to duel boot ubuntu and windows (I have win7 and xp pro sp2). This is the part where I'm currently stuck on, I know how I would duel boot through windows (partition the hard drive, format, and install) but I have no idea how to do it in linux (ubuntu) and on an SSD and without a optical drive (so I can't use my win 7 cd)
Any thoughts? I can figure out how to partition the drive but the part I really need help with is figuring out how to run the windows set up from ubuntu, while I do have the cd I do not have the optical drive in which to run said cd from.
From what I can gather, Ubuntu is installed fully on your computer and Windows XP is installed virtually in VirtualBox. If so, congratulations!
Let me see if I can address all your points... On dual-booting Windows 7, the normal (usual) case is to install Windows 7 first, then install Ubuntu. Grub (the bootloader Ubuntu uses) automatically detects 7 in most cases from there and allows you to choose between the two systems--doing it backwards like you're requesting could be done; however, if you do install Windows 7 from here, Windows Setup *will* replace/erase the Grub bootloader installed by Ubuntu and make a hidden partition with a newer version of NTLDR that will default to Windows 7. In some cases, Windows 7 may ask you to re-partition the drive in Windows Setup--whether or not that happens, after installing Windows 7, you will need to either reinstall the Grub bootloader by starting from the Ubuntu live CD/USB and entering a few commands into Terminal or reinstall Ubuntu altogether. You can risk this, but you will need either a bootable USB or DVD anyway to get to this point. While waiting for your new optical drive, you could prep your drive for Windows 7 by using several tools in Ubuntu to set up your drive--parted, fdisk, GParted, and Disk Utility (which may be called Disks in Gnome 3.4/Unity 5.12 with Gtk+3.2.1). But if 7 can't see your SSD, why would you reformat? You would need to load your driver in Windows Setup, and for that, I would go to Microsoft Answers--*not* here. I hope all this is not confusing; I'm trying to explain it the best I can.
Now, to get to the second point--you can install Wine, which on a very basic level, can allow you to run some win32 programs on operating systems foreign to them (such as Linux-based or BSD systems). You can install Wine with the shell by opening Terminal and typing in "sudo apt-get install wine" or by using the Ubuntu Software Center (or Centre, colloquially). However, I would *not* expect Wine to be able to open the Windows Setup file because Wine simply is not designed to.
You can install Windows 7 (or upgrade it) in VirtualBox as well, I believe, by selecting the .iso, in which case you do not need to burn a DVD. You may need to turn on hardware assisted virtualization (VtX) for 7, but I'm not sure, because it varies by platform. If you wish to run it on the real hardware, you will need to have either a bootable USB or DVD with Windows Setup. You can't install Windows 7 from inside Ubuntu otherwise; ironically, with the Wubi project, you can install Ubuntu from Windows 7. Please understand so far in the case of installing Windows virtually, it's not that XP can actually see your SSD in VBox, but rather, it can see the virtual HDD that you setup. You can, in the Storage pane of your virtual machine settings, choose to emulate a SSD in VBox if you wish.
I hope this clears things up for you. Good luck; let me (or others) know if you need further help. :)
Well, good news. I'm posting this from my new PC running win7 with ubuntu as a 'hidden' partition.
I really appreciate all your help :)agreimann wrote:
From what I can gather, Ubuntu is installed fully on your computer and Windows XP is installed virtually in VirtualBox. If so, congratulations!
Let me see if I can address all your points... On dual-booting Windows 7, the normal (usual) case is to install Windows 7 first, then install Ubuntu. Grub (the bootloader Ubuntu uses) automatically detects 7 in most cases from there and allows you to choose between the two systems--doing it backwards like you're requesting could be done; however, if you do install Windows 7 from here, Windows Setup *will* replace/erase the Grub bootloader installed by Ubuntu and make a hidden partition with a newer version of NTLDR that will default to Windows 7. In some cases, Windows 7 may ask you to re-partition the drive in Windows Setup--whether or not that happens, after installing Windows 7, you will need to either reinstall the Grub bootloader by starting from the Ubuntu live CD/USB and entering a few commands into Terminal or reinstall Ubuntu altogether. You can risk this, but you will need either a bootable USB or DVD anyway to get to this point. While waiting for your new optical drive, you could prep your drive for Windows 7 by using several tools in Ubuntu to set up your drive--parted, fdisk, GParted, and Disk Utility (which may be called Disks in Gnome 3.4/Unity 5.12 with Gtk+3.2.1). But if 7 can't see your SSD, why would you reformat? You would need to load your driver in Windows Setup, and for that, I would go to Microsoft Answers--*not* here. I hope all this is not confusing; I'm trying to explain it the best I can.
Now, to get to the second point--you can install Wine, which on a very basic level, can allow you to run some win32 programs on operating systems foreign to them (such as Linux-based or BSD systems). You can install Wine with the shell by opening Terminal and typing in "sudo apt-get install wine" or by using the Ubuntu Software Center (or Centre, colloquially). However, I would *not* expect Wine to be able to open the Windows Setup file because Wine simply is not designed to.
You can install Windows 7 (or upgrade it) in VirtualBox as well, I believe, by selecting the .iso, in which case you do not need to burn a DVD. You may need to turn on hardware assisted virtualization (VtX) for 7, but I'm not sure, because it varies by platform. If you wish to run it on the real hardware, you will need to have either a bootable USB or DVD with Windows Setup. You can't install Windows 7 from inside Ubuntu otherwise; ironically, with the Wubi project, you can install Ubuntu from Windows 7. Please understand so far in the case of installing Windows virtually, it's not that XP can actually see your SSD in VBox, but rather, it can see the virtual HDD that you setup. You can, in the Storage pane of your virtual machine settings, choose to emulate a SSD in VBox if you wish.
I hope this clears things up for you. Good luck; let me (or others) know if you need further help. :)
Well, good news. I'm posting this from my new PC running win7 with ubuntu as a 'hidden' partition.
