Installing Windows 7 Pro, GPT/UEFI vs. MBR issues?

[DaveTN]

I’ve ask this on a computer forum, but I’ve gotten some good computer info here before so I thought I would throw this out…

I have an MSI GT70 that came with windows 8.1 (not Pro) it has a GPT disk with UEFI boot mode.

I want to install Windows 7 Pro. I do not care if I lose any data, as long as I can get through the install.

I have an Acronis TI2015 image of the drive (GPT).

I followed some instructions on the MSI website that told me to install Windows 7 choose “advanced”, pick the drive the OS was installed on and delete it. It said then windows would format and install on that partition. That didn’t work, windows just said it couldn’t install on that partition (after it deleted it). I recovered the partition with the Acronis image.

I have read so much conflicting info on how to go about this… I am at a loss.

It appears that I need to convert the drive to MBR and wipe out all partitions. I can do that with Acronis Disk Director (I think).
My concern is that I don’t know if the Acronis image will be able to reimage the drive back to GPT partitions if I screw up and need to reinstall it.

Thought I would ask here and see if I could get some better info or a better plan.

Thanks.

I have Acronis True Image 2015
Disk Director 11 Home
New Windows 7 Pro DVD

[JeffL]

You don't need to use GPT unless you've got a boot drive that is over 2TB. There's no reason not to use GPT if you can, though. Make sure you're choosing UEFI boot when you boot to the Windows 7 CD, otherwise you won't be able to set it up as GPT.

 

If all else fails, run recovery tools from the Windows 7 CD. Open an command prompt, type in diskpart and hit enter.

 

Then -> select disk 0

> clean

 

This will remove all partition info and data from the disk. Reboot to the Windows CD and do your install from there.

 

FWIW Windows 10 is good and you should upgrade to that.

[DaveTN]

I disabled “secure Boot” in the bios, used f11 for boot options, picked the DVD drive, it booted off the DVD, said “loading files”, now it’s just sitting there displaying the “Starting Windows” with the logo.

[Sam1]

UEFI causes some issues - I don't like it.

This should get it fixed by using an MBR instead of GPT:

 

 

 

From BIOS select to boot the windows dvd without UEFI
Go To repair Options
Select Command Prompt and enter this:
1. diskpart
2.list disk
3.select disk 0
4.clean
5.convert mbr
6.create partition primary
7.select partition 1
8.format fs=ntfs quick

 

After doing that, reboot to your windows cd - use the boot menu (usually press f11 on most systems at boot and it will open) and select the non- uefi drive that your cd is in, then go through a normal install.  If you do not select the non-uefi, the system may try to revert back to GPT and cause issues.

 

EDIT: to add, I think if you can't get to a repair screen, when you get to the install windows screen from the boot cd, you can press f12 and a cmd prompt will open.  It may be a different key, not 100% on that, it's been a while since I've had to do this.  Someone else here may know for sure.

Edited August 8, 2015 by Sam1

[DaveTN]

EDIT: to add, I think if you can't get to a repair screen, when you get to the install windows screen from the boot cd, you can press f12 and a cmd prompt will open.  It may be a different key, not 100% on that, it's been a while since I've had to do this.  Someone else here may know for sure.

Pick Repair...
"This version of System Recovery options is not compatible with the version of windows you are trying to repair. Try using a recovery disk that is compatible with this version of windows."

None of the F keys do anything. Pick OK and I'm back at the install now screen.

[DaveTN]

Moving on and picking “Install” I get…

Where do you want to install Windows?
NAME............................ TOTAL SIZE......... FREE SPACE........ TYPE
Disk 0 Partition 1: WinRE tools .600.0 MB ...........366.0 ............OEM (Reserved)
Disk 0 Partition 2: SYSTEM.......300.0 MB ...........247.0 MB......... System
Disk 0 Partition 3: .............128.0 MB........... 128.0 MB .........MSR (Reserved)
Disk 0 Partition 4: OS_Install ..549.5 GB ...........504.9 GB .........Primary
Disk 0 Partition 5 ..............451.0 MB ...........122.0 MB .........OEM (Reserved)
Disk 0 Partition 6:DATA .........366.4 MB ...........352.6 MB .........Primary
Disk 0 Partition 7:BIOS_RVY .....14.2 GB ............398.0 MB .........OEM (Reserved)

With "Partition 4: OS_Install" highlighted it says "Windows cannot be installed to Disk 0 Partition 4.

(Show details)
"Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style."

Last time I deleted the partition and was supposed to then be able to install to it. That didn't work; not only could I not continue the install I couldn't load the Acronis image of the drive. I had to restore from disks with a factory image.

Can I do anything from here, or have I hosed it again?

[ironsniper1]

Go into the bios and looks for any and all settings that can be changed to legacy and change them to legacy and I bet it will work


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[DaveTN]

Go into the bios and looks for any and all settings that can be changed to legacy and change them to legacy and I bet it will work


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

It was in legacy mode.

[jgradyc]

Have you considered loading Windows 10 instead? I added Classic Shell (it's free) and it looks and acts very similar to Windows 7, but a lot faster boot up time. You can completely bypass the Metro UI. I never see it. My laptop boots to a normal desktop. You can turn off Cortana. Windows 10 doesn't have that stupid charms pop-up... or if it does, it's turned off on my machine. I've had no problems with Windows 10. There was a link posted on another thread you can use to download the install tool. It took less than two hours to complete the install.

 

Oh, I also turned off all the notifications and data sharing with Microsoft.

 

EDITED: I can't help but think that MS will lag in their updates to Windows 7 to keep it safe. They have a vested interest in making Windows 10 better in all ways and one way to make 10 seem better is to make 7 seem worse.

Edited August 8, 2015 by jgradyc

[DaveTN]

Have you considered loading Windows 10 instead? I added Classic Shell (it's free) and it looks and acts very similar to Windows 7, but a lot faster boot up time. You can completely bypass the Metro UI. I never see it. My laptop boots to a normal desktop. You can turn off Cortana. Windows 10 doesn't have that stupid charms pop-up... or if it does, it's turned off on my machine. I've had no problems with Windows 10. There was a link posted on another thread you can use to download the install tool. It took less than two hours to complete the install.
 
Oh, I also turned off all the notifications and data sharing with Microsoft.
 
EDITED: I can't help but think that MS will lag in their updates to Windows 7 to keep it safe. They have a vested interest in making Windows 10 better in all ways and one way to make 10 seem better is to make 7 seem worse.

It’s not an issue of which system is better, I need to run some programs that will run in 7 but not 8. Also, once I have an image of 7 Pro I can do the upgrade to 10 Pro (instead of 10 home) to see if it will run stuff 8 wouldn’t run (which I doubt).

[Sam1]

Moving on and picking “Install” I get…
With "Partition 4: OS_Install" highlighted it says "Windows cannot be installed to Disk 0 Partition 4.

(Show details)
"Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style."

Last time I deleted the partition and was supposed to then be able to install to it. That didn't work; not only could I not continue the install I couldn't load the Acronis image of the drive. I had to restore from disks with a factory image.

Can I do anything from here, or have I hosed it again?

 

Need to start from scratch and clean the disk again.  You have to select the non-uefi cdrom/install from the boot menu or it will revert to GPT every time.