Running Windows on Ubuntu?

Hey everyone 🙂
Got a bit of a headache here... I have Ubuntu installed on my PC, but I'm trying to switch over to Windows 7. Every time I start the Windows installer, it claims it can't find a compatible hard drive. I go ahead and wipe the partition, then it finally recognizes it, but once the installation gets near the end, it just hangs and fails. Honestly, it's pretty frustrating 🙂
If anyone knows what I'm doing wrong, let me know. Really want to get this sorted out 🙂

Cheers and Merry Christmas 🙂

Are you booting from a DVD or a USB drive?

What kind of error message are you seeing?

Obviously, Windows can't read a Linux file system, but if you've wiped all the partitions, it should work...

It doesn't even throw an error. It just freezes right at the end of the installation and stays stuck there.
Tried it via both disc and USB.
I wiped one partition—the biggest one—but I haven't touched any of the others. 🙂

Just wipe every single partition and let Windows handle making new ones during setup. Basically, start with a totally blank drive and just hit "new" when the installer asks.

Just a heads-up, you really shouldn't go deleting those recovery and system partitions that Windows creates... I mean, they're pretty vital, I guess. And just so you know, Windows can be super picky about having other operating systems sitting alongside it... if you've got Ubuntu on those other partitions, you're probably gonna have to convert them over to an NTFS file system while you're inside Ubuntu, or maybe just wipe them out entirely when you run the Windows installation...

Since we're looking at Ubuntu up there, I doubt it has a built-in recovery mode. Honestly, it might be best to just wipe everything like wiredcyclist82 suggested. If it still hangs right at the end of the installation, then they should probably try a different boot drive. Otherwise, it could be an issue with the HP hardware...

Windows just generates those automatically during a fresh install when you go ahead and format the partition... I mean, I'm thinking he probably wiped them out right before hitting next...

Thanks for the help, guys, but I've hit a snag.. I can't seem to wipe all the partitions during the installation process...

Got access to another PC? If you do, grab this and burn it to a CD or throw it on a thumb drive. Run the wizard, wipe every single partition, and then just dive straight into the Windows installation.

electricharbor30 said:Windows actually generates those itself during a fresh install once you hit the format partition option... I suspect they were deleted right before clicking next...

Windows only creates the system partition; you can safely delete that one during installation since a new one will just be created anyway...

Drew Allen77 said:Basically, Windows just makes that system partition, and honestly, you can just wipe it during the install process since a new one will just get generated anyway.

But yeah, Windows 10 also goes ahead and creates a recovery partition too.

So, if I've got this right, I just start the installation, wipe the partitions when I get to that screen, hit new, and it'll just auto-format everything to NTFS?

neontrucker30 said:So, if I’m getting this right, I just run the installer, and once I hit the partition screen, I basically just wipe everything out, click "new," and it’ll just automatically format itself as NTFS?

Yeah, pretty much. Just delete all those partitions until you're left with one big chunk of unallocated space, then hit next on that last one and you should be good to go...

electricharbor30 said:Windows 10 also handles the creation of the recovery partition...

Recovery for what exactly...?

It's not showing up on my end either—I just see that 500 MB system partition, and everything else belongs to me...

neontrucker30 said:So, if I'm following this correctly, I just run the installer, wipe the partitions when I get to that screen, hit "new," and the system automatically formats everything as NTFS?...

Yeah, if you don't want to deal with manual partitions, just wipe everything until you're left with one big block of unallocated space, then just hit "Next." The installer will handle everything by creating a single partition and formatting it automatically...

Drew Allen77 said:What recovery for?

On my machine, I don't even see that stuff, just a 500 MB system partition; everything else is just my own personal space.

Yeah. If you don't want to mess around with manual partitions, just wipe the whole drive until you're left with one big empty block of space and hit "Next." The installer will just handle creating a partition and formatting it all on its own.

Windows XP
•Setup creates only a single Windows partition.
•The Windows Recovery Console is not part of the default installation, but can be easily added to the Windows partition where it gets installed in a directory and takes roughly 7MB of space.
•Only 512-byte native (512n) drives supported. Advanced format (AF) 512-byte emulation (512e) and 4K native ($1.25) drives not supported officially and not recommended.
•No GPT support for booting. XP 64-bit can use GPT drives for data only.

Windows Vista
•Setup creates only a single Windows partition in both BIOS/MBR and UEFI/GPT (for 64-bit only) modes.
•The WinPE-based WinRE made its debut on the Vista DVD but there is no easy way to install it on the hard drive since no installation routine is provided for it. Instead tools and scripts provided as part of WAIK need to be used to do this manually.
•WinRE must be installed on a separate partition from the Vista system partition. Can be combine with BitLocker Drive Encryption (BDE) partition if required.
•Recommended WinRE partition size is around 1GB when it is installed as an expanded image.
•AF 512e drives supported with some updates/hotfixes but AF $1.25 not supported.

Windows 7
•Setup in BIOS/MBR mode creates a 100MB System Reserved partition and a Windows partition. 1
•In early pre-RTM builds (until at least 7057) the System Reserved partition was 200MB in size.
•The System Reserved partition contains boot manager (bootmgr), Boot Configuration Data (BCD) and startup files used for BDE. Can also contain WinRE.
•The System Reserved partition minimum size is 100MB, but it can be larger. It is marked active and must not be encrypted. In BIOS/MBR mode it can be formatted as either FAT32 or NTFS (Setup uses NTFS).
•If WinRE is not installed in the System Reserved partition (for example if the partition is never created because Windows is installed on a pre-partitioned drive), it is installed in %SystemDrive%\Recovery instead.

•AF 512e drives supported with some updates/hotfixes but AF $1.25 not supported.

•Setup in UEFI/GPT mode (for 64-bit only) creates a minimum 100MB EFI System Partition (ESP), a 128MB Microsoft Reserved Partition (MSR) and a Windows partition. 2

•The ESP contains the NTLDR, HAL, Boot.txt, and other files that are needed to boot the system, such as drivers. The MSR is used by the OS for disk management.
•The ESP must be formatted as FAT32.
•Same rules apply for WinRE in UEFI/GPT mode as in BIOS/MBR mode.

Windows 8
•Setup in BIOS/MBR mode creates a minimum 350MB System Reserved partition and a Windows partition. 3
•The System Reserved partition contains WinRE and BDE-related files. In BIOS/MBR mode it can be formatted as either FAT32 or NTFS (Setup uses NTFS).

•AF 512e drives supported in both BIOS/MBR and UEFI/GPT modes.

•Setup in UEFI/GPT mode (for 64-bit only) creates a minimum 300MB WinRE partition, a minimum 100MB EFI System Partition (ESP), a 128MB Microsoft Reserved Partition (MSR) and a Windows partition. 4

•The ESP has gotta be formatted as FAT32. If you're messing with AF $1.25 drives, the ESP needs to be at least 260MB because the math for the FAT32 partition works out to the sector size (4KB) multiplied by 65527, which gives you 256 MB.
•Just a heads up, those AF $1.25 drives only work if you're running in UEFI/GPT mode.

Windows 10 * I mean, this might change before the final RTM release, obviously.
•If you go with the Setup in BIOS/MBR route, it'll set up a 100MB System Reserved partition, the main Windows partition, and a 450MB WinRE partition (though it could be as small as 300MB). 5

•Those AF 512e drives should work fine whether you're using BIOS/MBR or UEFI/GPT modes.

•When you're doing the UEFI/GPT setup (which is just for 64-bit systems, I guess), it builds a 100MB EFI System Partition (ESP), a 128MB Microsoft Reserved Partition (MSR), the Windows partition, and a 450MB WinRE partition (which can be as low as 300MB). 6

•Again, the ESP has to be FAT32. For AF $1.25 drives, the smallest the ESP can be is 260MB since the FAT32 partition size is basically sector size (4KB) times 65527, hitting 256 MB.
•And yeah, AF $1.25 drives are only compatible with UEFI/GPT mode.

That’s great. I don't have that on my end either—just a 500MB system. It looks like they stripped it out in the IBM version, which matches what the notes say about potential changes...