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I am facing a problem installing Windows Vista on my laptop. Let me tell the actual scenario in detail.

I already had Windows 7 installed on it but I wanted to have Vista for my own reasons. So I started of with the booting from the genuine Windows Vista disc when installing it detected Windows 7 and said that Windows 7 will be replaced by Vista and you will no longer be able to use 7 but the files will be stored in Windows.old folder. I clicked yes and it started with the installation. It completed installation successfully but after it nothing is starting. Windows starts loading but crashes soon without opening...

It is showing error on startup that Windows detected error while opening and you should insert the installation cd and try repair. But the problem is that now it is not booting from the cd. I have tried like a hundred times trying different things to boot it from cd but unsuccessful.

Can anyone help me in this scenario, my laptop is now simply a red box. Its doing nothing other than crashing.

I did use the ubuntu live CD and tried so look into my drives but it was not showing any other than the C drive....even at the time of booting it is only showing the 96 Gb space of C drive.... It is not booting from the windows vista cd......

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1 Answer

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I would recommend that you download a live linux distribution and use it to copy any files that you want to keep on the machine onto an external hard drive. Then use the liveCD to reformat your laptop's hard drive. Perform a clean install of Windows Vista and then restore whatever files you need.

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@zackg....I hav done all the installation of windows on the c drive itself keeping the other two drives distant.... would it be possible to only format the C drive keeping the other two safe.... What exactly do you think the problem has occured..? – Abhimanyu Srivastava Jun 10 '11 at 6:04
If you have no data of interest on the partition/drive you wish to install your new copy of windows on, then perform a full format (also possible from a live linux distro, or a utility like the ultimate boot cd) and then begin the install process again, choosing the newly formatted disk as the target for the OS install. – MaQleod Jun 10 '11 at 7:26
@maqleod....So u mean that i should only format the partition i m interested in installing the windows in and then installing windows in in thus the other drives will remain safe??? – Abhimanyu Srivastava Jun 10 '11 at 9:48
Only the partition you select to format and install Windows on will be affected, the installer won't touch the rest. – MaQleod Jun 10 '11 at 22:12
I have tried the thing but actually it is still not showing the drives....leaving the not booting from the CD aside it is not even showing my 200 GB drive even in the installed Ubuntu 9.04...... – Abhimanyu Srivastava Jun 11 '11 at 5:36
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