Scoopy888 :
George Mulligan :
From your description, I think you have Windows 7 already installed on the SSD. When you install Windows, it takes control and owns the partition onto which it is installed. So, if your Windows 7 install is on the one & only partition on the SSD, then a new version of Windows will not be able to access it. You would need to "Shrink" your partition using "Disk Management" utility, then create a new partition in the newly available space. The new version of Windows should then be able to install on that new partition/volume.
Also, I'm not sure of this, but I think I remember once reading that you would need to install the older version of Windows first in order for the dual boot option (via boot manager I suppose) to operate correctly.
Thanks for the replies.
Correct. I have windows 7 installed already and wanted to dual boot off the same drive into windows xp. I already created the extra partion at the end of the drive with "disk management" by shrinking the drive and formating simple option to ntfs default setting.
I have read it's better to have xp installed first followed by win 7 but do not wish to lose my current win 7 setup. I have a paragon image of my windows 7 install. So I was thinking of formatting the whole drive, reinstalling xp first, creating a new partion for windows 7 to restore the backup image too and then using EasyBCD to enable dual boot. I'm no expert in this area and have a feeling this will not work?
On the current situation, I need to be clear. You've created a separate, formatted partition on the drive, yet a Windows install disk doesn't see it? Within Disk Management, did you assign the new partition a drive letter, such that you are able to see the clean drive within Windows File Explorer? If this is the case, I can only think that it has to do with the Windows vintage issue.
I would think you could find and add a Windows install via BCDEdit (or EasyBCD), so using the ISO backup/restore routine could definitely work.
But I found this resource...give it a try (option two in your case).
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/8057-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-xp.html