My Win7 computer is multi-boot with the Vista partition being the OEM drive C.
Recently I had a serious stop error (BSOD on boot). Could not even boot in Safe Mode. Out comes the disaster recovery disk and no problem, I will just do a return to a Restore Point created that morning before disaster struck.
The Win7 System Restore thinks the Vista drive is drive C: for the restore point and refuses to restore. There is no choice. The only way around this, from the recovery console, is to go to the DOS command line and execute System Restore off line in the E:\windows\system32 directory rstrui.exe /offline:e\windows
Turned out the Restore Point didn't rescue me. A System Image restore from the Win7 backup utility was smart enough to recognize the right partitions to restore both Vista and Win7, to. Since the system images were > 1 week old, before restoring, by booting into Vista and accessing my Win7 partition, I copied all my user data files < 1 week old to an external USB drive using the file comparison utility Beyond Compare 3, then copied them back using the "Show Newer and Show Orphan" filter in a file comparison between the restore User folder and the < 1 week old backup.
Seems those people who write the multi-boot setup for Win7 don't talk to those people who program System Restore points.......
My little tale illustrates the advantages and disadvantages of having a multi-boot system in recovering from a trashed OS.
__________________
-Jim-
Use every part of the buffalo - Brad Bird
Last edited by Jim Lewis : 10-25-2009 at 02:03 PM.
My Win7 computer is multi-boot with the Vista partition being the OEM drive C.
Recently I had a serious stop error (BSOD on boot). Could not even boot in Safe Mode. Out comes the disaster recovery disk and no problem, I will just do a return to a Restore Point created that morning before disaster struck.
The Win7 System Restore thinks the Vista drive is drive C: for the restore point and refuses to restore. There is no choice. The only way around this, from the recovery console, is to go to the DOS command line and execute System Restore off line in the E:\windows\system32 directory rstrui.exe /offline:e\windows
Turned out the Restore Point didn't rescue me. A System Image restore from the Win7 backup utility was smart enough to recognize the right partitions to restore both Vista and Win7, to. Since the system images were > 1 week old, before restoring, by booting into Vista and accessing my Win7 partition, I copied all my user data files < 1 week old to an external USB drive using the file comparison utility Beyond Compare 3, then copied them back using the "Show Newer and Show Orphan" filter in a file comparison between the restore User folder and the < 1 week old backup.
Seems those people who write the multi-boot setup for Win7 don't talk to those people who program System Restore points.......
My little tale illustrates the advantages and disadvantages of having a multi-boot system in recovering from a trashed OS.
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Why would have multi-boot of Vista and Windows 7 ? It seems like redundancy to me....
I would setup windows XP and windows 7 as a mufti boot
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Why would have multi-boot of Vista and Windows 7 ? It seems like redundancy to me....
I would setup windows XP and windows 7 as a mufti boot
On buying my computer 5/31/09 or so, Vista was the officially supported OS with all the official drivers from Dell and supported under warranty for that OS by Dell. Win7 was only RC, use at your own risk. Check it out: when you boot into XP, it will delete System Restore points of either Vista or Win7 unless you take special measures. Why would anyone want to run XP as a primary OS? I have both VMware Workstation 6.5 and Virtual PC under Win7 and keep XP in a tight little sandbox under those vm's. XPM mode of Win7 is awesome in my limited test of that. You essentially get a free copy of XP with Win7.
You have to be running the Professional or Ultimate Edition of Win7. And you need a Processor that supports hardware virtualization, which you must turn on first in the BIOS before installing XPM mode, then Virtual PC.
I can run an application that refuses to install under Win7 in XPM mode. As a "virtual" application, it appears to have access to the files and folders of my Win7 host. The main drag I've encountered so far is that you have to manually install any printers that you want to use independently in XP and if you want to print to PDF, you'd better have another license of Acrobat or whatever because you'd have to install the application again under XP.
P.S. If you want to protect your computer, you'll want anti-virus software, too, for your virtual machines. So I've installed a copy of NIS 2010 under VMware and Virtual PC.
__________________
-Jim-
Use every part of the buffalo - Brad Bird
Last edited by Jim Lewis : 10-25-2009 at 07:29 PM.
.... if you want to print to PDF, you'd better have another license of Acrobat or whatever because you'd have to install the application again under XP.
Forgot this trick. Just created a drawing under Micrografx Designer, a 1990's vintage program. Runs only under XPM mode in Virtual PC, not Win7. Select ALL in drawing. Copy and paste from XP mode into Acrobat under Win7. Pick Create PDF, From Clipboard Image.
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