ok, Here's the scoop;
Dell M1330 Laptop, 160gb drive. Most partitions have been cleaned up,
now I have the following;
sda1 - ext3 (fedora)
sda2 - swap
sda3 - linux boot
sda4 - ntfs (47GB avail)
The NTFS is new, I can boot the vista DVD, get to the drive section. I
see all 4 partitions, space is all correct, yet when I select partition
4, Total Size 47.6 GB Type Primary I get the following;
"Windows is unable to find a system volume that meets its criteria for
installation"
I can blow away the partition, reformat, etc. all the same results.
I read numerous posts about people unplugging the spare drives,
create/format/reboot (normal windows fix) but that didn't work. Since
it's a laptop, I don't have spare drives installed to unplug, etc. so is
there a "fix" or way to install vista to a single hard drive with
multiple partitions?
Download the free trial version and run it, then install Vista,
assuming you have a "Full Version" of Vista and not the "Upgrade Version". http://www.iolo.com/ds/3/
--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience -
Windows Vista Enthusiast
"xlancealotx" <guest@unknown-email.com> wrote in message news:f0751040cb32ea50f492bc0d349b5420@nntp-gateway.com...
ok, Here's the scoop;
Dell M1330 Laptop, 160gb drive. Most partitions have been cleaned up,
now I have the following;
sda1 - ext3 (fedora)
sda2 - swap
sda3 - linux boot
sda4 - ntfs (47GB avail)
The NTFS is new, I can boot the vista DVD, get to the drive section. I
see all 4 partitions, space is all correct, yet when I select partition
4, Total Size 47.6 GB Type Primary I get the following;
"Windows is unable to find a system volume that meets its criteria for
installation"
I can blow away the partition, reformat, etc. all the same results.
I read numerous posts about people unplugging the spare drives,
create/format/reboot (normal windows fix) but that didn't work. Since
it's a laptop, I don't have spare drives installed to unplug, etc. so is
there a "fix" or way to install vista to a single hard drive with
multiple partitions?
Sorry, ignore next post (that I need to wait for a moderator to view and
approve!) What's that all about? I'm already registered, gave a real
email, posted, now to reply have to wait!
Well after re-reading the post, I will try the drivescrubber (provided
it will only do the one partition that I need it do delete) as I am not
removing my existing OS.
**Update** The Free trial is not an .iso to boot off, but a local app.
I already said I am not running windows, so this app (from my looking
around) really will do me no good (unless I have to install, then make a
bootable cd from there which would seem, well, not logical to put it
nicely)
** Update 2** Nice, option there to make a bootable disk (not available
on free trieal).
So back to step1. I have a 160gb HD, 4 partitions, 1 46gb clean,
formatted as ntfs, boot off vista install, but it can't install on that
partition (with really no helpful message).
"xlancealotx" <guest@unknown-email.com> wrote in message
news:beacf663869caada90fdef94ed5bbd4a@nntp-gateway.com...
>
> Sorry, ignore next post (that I need to wait for a moderator to view and
> approve!) What's that all about? I'm already registered, gave a real
> email, posted, now to reply have to wait!
>
> Well after re-reading the post, I will try the drivescrubber (provided
> it will only do the one partition that I need it do delete) as I am not
> removing my existing OS.
>
> **Update** The Free trial is not an .iso to boot off, but a local app.
> I already said I am not running windows, so this app (from my looking
> around) really will do me no good (unless I have to install, then make a
> bootable cd from there which would seem, well, not logical to put it
> nicely)
>
> ** Update 2** Nice, option there to make a bootable disk (not available
> on free trieal).
>
> So back to step1. I have a 160gb HD, 4 partitions, 1 46gb clean,
> formatted as ntfs, boot off vista install, but it can't install on that
> partition (with really no helpful message).
>
>
> --
> xlancealotx
I think you have too many partitions. I don't think Windows will boot from
a fourth partition. But I will be pleased to be corrected by someone more
experienced with this type of configuration.
"xlancealotx" wrote:
> ok, Here's the scoop;
> Dell M1330 Laptop, 160gb drive. Most partitions have been cleaned up,
> now I have the following;
> sda1 - ext3 (fedora)
> sda2 - swap
> sda3 - linux boot
> sda4 - ntfs (47GB avail)
>
> The NTFS is new, I can boot the vista DVD, get to the drive section. I
> see all 4 partitions, space is all correct, yet when I select partition
> 4, Total Size 47.6 GB Type Primary I get the following;
>
> "Windows is unable to find a system volume that meets its criteria for
> installation"
>
> I can blow away the partition, reformat, etc. all the same results.
>
> I read numerous posts about people unplugging the spare drives,
> create/format/reboot (normal windows fix) but that didn't work. Since
> it's a laptop, I don't have spare drives installed to unplug, etc. so is
> there a "fix" or way to install vista to a single hard drive with
> multiple partitions?
>
> Thanks.
> --
> xlancealotx
What utility did you use to create each of the partitions?
Timothy Daniels;773078 Wrote:
>
> What utility did you use to create each of the partitions?
> *TimDaniels*
Not sure if it's the forum, or the vista forum knows I am trying to
post in Linux (FF 3 browser), but typed a long response, submit nothing
(should have copied). Anyway, rather than re-typing the whole thing,
Partition was an old ext3, removed using fdisk (in fedora). Booted
into the install of vista, clicked the parition and got the error. So I
deleted it, created (new, then format) same error. Restarted computer
back into vista install (a few posts, people reported vista doesn't make
the drive active on the fly), but even rebooting, still the same error.
Also on this forum, you login, the thanks autoforward sends you to the
newreply.php which is a 404.. just more comedy.
As for the other post about vista not being able to boot off a 4th
parition, (which is still considered a primary partition), that would be
another classic story for the OS.
"xlancealotx" answered:
> Timothy Daniels asked::
>>
>> What utility did you use to create each of the partitions?
>> *TimDaniels*
>
> [.....,.]
> Partition was an old ext3, removed using fdisk (in fedora). Booted
> into the install of vista, clicked the parition and got the error. So I
> deleted it, created (new, then format) same error. Restarted computer
> back into vista install (a few posts, people reported vista doesn't make
> the drive active on the fly), but even rebooting, still the same error.
> [....]
> xlancealotx
I advise not using a mix of Vista (and/or Vista's installer) and
pre-Vista utilities to create your partitions. Vista uses a different
offset (2,048 sectors) from the start of the partition to the data than
do pre-Vista OSes and 3rd-party utilities (this includes cloning utilities,
with the exception of the most recent versions of *some* 3rd-party
utilities). (See: http://www.multibooters.co.uk/partitions.html.)
If you have a clone or image file of your installed Vista, you can
use that to fill a partition made with either style of partitioning, and with
the possible need to run "bootrec /rebuildbcd" from the Command Prompt
in the Vista installation CD's Repair facility, I have found that to work
fine. Just be consistent with your use of partition editor, using either
Vista's Disk Management or the Vista installer CD, or pre-Vista utilites,
such as Gparted. I use Gparted from a live USB stick, and it has a facility
to set the "active" flag in any partition (called the "boot" flag by Gparted).
Gparted is Linux-based, but it uses a GUI, so you don't have to know
Linux to use it. It's free for download, and the Hewlet-Packard software
used to format a live USB stick is also freely downloadable. Otherwise,
if your computer can't boot from a USB device, you can download an
ISO file that you can use to burn a live CD containing Gparted. Here's
the Gparted Home Page: http://gparted-livecd.tuxfamily.org/ .
Hey Tim, thanks for keeping up on the post. Ironically I used gparted
to move the partition around, in the past I had the win partiton already
done, let grub take care of the booting, so this is a bit backward for
me. But I will try what you said, knowing you can only have one
bootable flag (I am running f9 right now) I just made the change so
fdisk shows the following;
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 13 104391 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 14 523 4096575 82 Linux swap /
Solaris
/dev/sda3 524 13246 102197497+ 83 Linux
/dev/sda4 * 13247 19458 49890304 7 HPFS/NTFS
I am going to pop in the vista intaller, select partition 4 and see
what happens. If nothing, gonna have to do a knoppix or so livecd boot
and fix that flag (no biggie) but I will report back.
MultiBoot attempt - vista won't install 
Linear Mode
