Dualbooting... With windows 7!

[Bz33tt]

Yes windows 7 shoot me now haha.. I'm wanting to dual boot with windows 7 just for aspect of Needing for anything at all.. So Right now I have Ubuntu 12.04 i've done some of my own research on this but still confused at to witch method to take Boot via Flashdrive, CD, Grub etc..... So what’s the easiest way to do so..... I Have a cd/dvd copy of windows 7 but no Key code.. I have missed placed mine. To make things simple how do i go about doing this with what I Already have. Any help will be appreciated

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

I'm afraid without a Windows key you're stuck  .. it's not our place to help anyone bypass the Windows licence and key.

I CAN tell you that by far the easiest method to set up a dual boot system would be to install Windows to half your hard drive FIRST (before Linux), leaving the second half of the drive unpartitioned .. then Linux will do the rest (during installation), offering to install to the empty space and setting up the bootloader to offer you Windows or Linux at bootup for you.

But you still have the Windows key issue .. which you're on your own with I'm afraid.

Once you have a valid key, install Windows to half of your hard drive, then come back and we'll help you through the installation of Linux if you wish.

It IS possible to resize the current partitions to leave room for Windows, but you asked for the "easiest" method .. which is to install Windows FIRST.

[BkS]

The easiest way to dual boot with Windows 7 would be ideally to install W7 first, then Ubuntu. This avoids having to reinstall GRUB, which is the bootloader for most Linux distributions.

If you want to install Windows 7 after Ubuntu, then the easiest way would be to burn a copy of GParted and allocate a new space. [NOT A NEW PARTITION!]

Once you've got your new empty space, pop in your W7 DVD and then select the new space. Format it, and then install W7.

When you've finished installing W7, you'll need to use a LiveCD or a LiveUSB and boot into the desktop. Typically you'd be better using a Ubuntu LiveUSB/CD.

Open a terminal, and then type the following commands:

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sudo fdisk -l

To find what the partition Ubuntu is on, is called. e.g. [color="red"]/dev/sdb[/color]

You'll what to reinstall GRUB to the MBR, which is where your root partition is normally installed.

Typically, if your system contains just Ubuntu your root partition would be called /dev/sda1 and your home folder [/dev/sda2[/b]

 

When you've found out what it's called, you'll need to do the following command:

Code: [Select]

sudo grub-install /dev/XXX

Where "XXX" is the name of the partition.


Hope this helps ya Matt.

[Bz33tt]

Right on.. I must say Mr Bally over here talked me into it of course me not thinking it i Formated the hard overtop of Ubuntu (Stupid of me but bally knows this already) Haha.. So i'm satisfied with Ubuntu I havent had anything come across where i need or wish i had a Windows (THANKGOD!). This year i will be Building a comp to host Servers for Minecraft Etc.. Photo/Video editing and rendering.. So when the future comes when i Build one i will simply just Dualboot the easyer way instead of the hard way... haha


Bally  I'm seeing your advise as simple but when booting from my live disk I wont need a Key Why is that? I recall you saying W7 is a patcher right? 

Also I've done some research and i've seen people booting Virtual Box to use some Applications in windows Without having to "Re-Boot" What is your guy's take on that?!?

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

Careful .. I've already said this is NOT the place to be discussing what legally amounts to Windows piracy.

This is a public Linux forum, so feel free to discuss dual booting, or Linux .. but not the bypassing of the Windows licence.

.

[BkS]

Careful .. I've already said this is NOT the place to be discussing what legally amounts to Windows piracy.

This is a public Linux forum, so feel free to discuss dual booting, or Linux .. but not the bypassing of the Windows licence.

.

This ^

In regard to you asking about VirtualBox, I would say "meh." Simply because if you haven't got the power in your machine in the first place, it's going to be slow, and generally just an awful experience. Perhaps it would be better with KVM, or WINE (depending upon the application ofcourse.)

I would say that you should buy a copy W7 though, especially if you're going to shell out money on a PC build. It's only like 10-20 bucks for a copy of W7 now that W8 is out. Plus you'll be fully legit and won't have any other experiences that you would if you were to pirate it. (WHICH YOU SHOULDN'T!)

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

I'm not necessarily judging anyone that pirates Windows .. I'm just saying here isn't the place to discuss it .. nobody here either needs or wants to know.