Windows 8 dual boot gone horribly wrong

[Guest]

So I have this problem that I've been dealing with for the past few hours, and its gotten to the point where I'm so pissed off i'm about to through the computer out the windows and go to a mac.

Basically, I decided that I would try Windows 8 by setting up a dual boot... everything was going fine, I set up the partition and installed Windows 8 via a thumb drive, and have it up and running as we speak... the problem is that there is no longer any option or way to access my Windows 7 partition. It only gives me options for Windows 8 and "Windows Setup" (I have no clue what this is and it says there is problems and wont allow me to boot it) I checked in the System Manager and its there... all 500GB of it... it just wont give me an option to boot to it. (and for some reason its been renamed D:, when my Windows 8 partition was supposed to be D

I am desperate and have no clue what to do... somewhere I read it has to be part of the C: drive to register at the boot menu but windows 8 wont let me rename its own partition which it decided would be C...

I don't have a CD as Windows 7 came pre-installed and though I have a backup partition its HP's crappy setup that basically only gives me the option to restore to factory setting... and I don't see why I should have to erase everything when its right there on my computer just waiting for me to find a way to access it.

 

[kyllien]

Don't get to hung up on drive letters. Each OS gets installed to the C: drive. The C: drive on Windows 8 would be D: (or E: ...) on Windows 7. (drive letters are logical mappings local to the OS)

Did you purchase an upgrade version of Windows 8? If so it doesn't support setting up a dual boot with Windows 7. The upgrade needs to consume the Windows 7 license.

In order to roll back to Windows 7 may require that you restore to factory settings. You can't roll back to an earlier OS without starting clean anyway. And you should have made a backup before starting the upgrade.

 

[Guest]

Okay... I did purchase the early upgrade version but still Windows 8 was going to give me the option to transfer settings and some apps over can I still do that through a different avenue? I can still sort-of access some of the data... its not lost, its just a matter of getting them into a place where they work with windows 8, cause I know it said most of my apps were compatible, but I don't know if at this point if I copy and paste them over from the programs folder if they will be...


It also gives me no option to delete the partition of my computer with what used to be windows 7 on it... is it really just 500gb of wasted space? The drive that windows 8 is under is something called a "logical drive"

 

[mhine022110]

Try opening Disk Management and make the Windows 7 partition as your Active Partition. See if it helps.