Thinkpads Forum

Currently running Ubuntu 9.10 on my X41, but I want to install W7, for some reason its not letting me boot from disc to install W7..I have reason to believe this has something to do with Linux partitions. CD drive is set to priority.

So I need LInux off my HD before my computer will read my windows boot disc, have no idea how to do this, even after extensive searching

(odd thing though, my XP boot disc IS being read when i put it in at startup, but my W7 disc isnt)

Ubuntu is not your problem. You should be able to boot the DVD regardless of what is on the hard drive. You need a DVD reader to boot Windows 7. If you have a DVD reader that normally works, perhaps the technology is too old for the Windows 7 DVD.

Hi thanks for the reply, I have actually now managed to install W7. I think the problem was I was using the the same disc twice (i had already used to disc to install on other computer), so I re burned the ISO, and it installed!

Glad you solved your problem.

Just for others: Sometimes Windows refuses to install to a partition with Linux. In this case you need to boot from LiveCD (such as Knoppix) and delete partitions using fdisk. You can also zero beginning of the drive (dd if=/dev/null of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1).

Utwig wrote:Just for others: Sometimes Windows refuses to install to a partition with Linux. In this case you need to boot from LiveCD (such as Knoppix) and delete partitions using fdisk. You can also zero beginning of the drive (dd if=/dev/null of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1).

GParted works well for this task also. Boot from the LiveCD, remove all Linux partitions, expand the Windows partition. Once it finishes, boot from the XP disc, go into the recovery console, and fix the MBR

It'd be easier to simply use Windows PE included in installation disc.
Hit Shift+F10 when it has finished booting or navigate through menus to get command line.
DISKPART
SELECT DISK 0
CLEAN
It effectively wipes your partition table.