I would do that, but in the archive there was a video that showed him formatting his USB using this tool. He de-selected "Quick Format" and selected "Create a DOS startup disk using files located at:". But, even though he-deselected "Quick Format" it still went by pretty fast. So far it has taken over 20 minutes and the loading bar is about half-way. However, my USB drive is 8gb, and I think it is formatting all 7.25 of those gbs Edit: Nevermind, I just canceled the formatting and did a Quick Format. So, now do I just shut down my computer and boot from the USB drive from the BIOS? Edit #2: I shut down my computer and put the USB as boot-priority #1. I started up my computer and nothing happened, I was just prompted to activate my Windows 7 before my desktop showed up... I am quite confused at the moment...
Did you set the BIOS for boot from USB as enabled? That has nothing to do with the Boot Order! Also normally you could have set the Boot Order to HDD and use the BIOS Boot Manager for to select to boot from USB while start the machine. It's one of the F-Keys (Acer Aspire uses F12) Check your BIOS Settings.
Doesn't your PC come with Windows 8?? then you have to disable Secure Boot in bios to able to boot from dos bootable media.
I forget that because I disable the secure boot at first start of the machine, I need many times to boot from USB Devices!
Yes, USB boot is enabled. I think it would be most helpful for me to take a quick video of my BIOS and its format. I will get back to you all with that video after I finish up a paper Also, I wanted to say that I never completed step number 3 in the MANUAL. That is: "3) in DOS type: MARKER.EXE /CLRMARK [ENTER] MARKER.EXE /SETMARK=SLP2MARK.BIN [pak ENTER] Perhaps I needed to do this? However, I am not sure what the DOS is...
Here it is! Please pardon the background noise, I am currently using YouTube's video manager to add in some crappy techno-music to drown out the original audio. youtube com/watch?v=TA-rAI4Yih8
Youtube link isn't working (for me). Anyway, check you WHOLE BIOS Settings please, mean: go to any single page and check the settings, special: USB legacy set to Enabled USB boot set to Enabled Secure boot set to Off BIOS Boot Manager set to Enabled Rapid Boot set to disabled I could not find detailed infos about the BIOS Settings of your Ideapad but the above must be set correctly. Check ALL other settings as well as I said before.
@pisthai: If you replace the space in the link with a dot, it works. @Issue: There is a Boot Priority setting in your BIOS. It's still set to ''UEFI first''. You may need to switch that one, too.
As said above, just put a period ('.') in place of the space located between the "youtube" and "com". I don't have twenty posts yet, so I am unable to post links... to anything. I went through your check-list, and so far I think everything is turned to its proper setting. I am not really sure what to do here. Is there any other way to activate my Windows? Thanks for continuing with your help, you all are great
Looked at your Video. On the 2. page under Configuration, set SATA Mode to IDE and test On the 4. page under Boot change the Boot Priority, if possible to externa/USB otherwise to harddisk. Try again.
Hey, I tried changing the settings around to these parameters, but no luck yet If it helps, I have a few CDs that are much easier to boot from, as the BIOS recognizes them much quicker and will boot to them no matter what. That way, I would know if there was a problem with the files inside of the CD or if it were a problem with just booting from the USB...
Curious: Have you try with an different USB Stick, best NO Kingston? If you have one prepare that one for to be bootable and try again to boot from USB. I had problems with Kingston 101 Stick's they were not recognised by MS Windows for to use as system bootable device. May you have an similar problem because the USB Stick used as you shot the Video is one of that Data Traveller 101 from Kingston.
saw problem in bios in video. in boot SAYS UEFI FIRST.. WRONG!! also saw somethign intresting.. BIOS BACK FLASH ?? disabled (while u there might as well enable intel Virtual tech) and at the exit screen.. hmm other OS ?? see what other options it has
Made the changes, but there has been no change... Hey, I appreciate all the informative, constructive help I have received thus far from the members on this forum. It truly is a testament to the knowledgeable and kind users on here (believe me, I am not bull-s**tting you). However, as much as I love your advice, and as much as I want your suggestions to fix the problem, nothing seems to be working for me. I re-formatted the USB-drive using Rufus, as suggested, and instead of doing a 'quick-format' I took the time to complete a full-format of the device. After quite a while, the USB was successfully formatted as a bootable drive, and I proceeded as normal. I moved the necessary files that I downloaded to the USB drive, shut-down the computer, and booted into the BIOS. While there, I made all of the suggested changes for my BIOS settings (or at least I think I did) and I also made sure that the USB drive was set to the top of the 'boot-priority' list. After exiting, saving all of my changes of course, nothing seemed to change. My system wound up starting up in Windows 7, with the same Windows Genuine notification, and the same everything. I am really sorry that this hasn't been solved so far, as I am not to be incompetent and I am trying to give you all as much information as I can. Here is another video of the process I described above (it takes place after I formatted the drive and shut-down the computer): youtube com/watch?v=9ZVrPAalj_U&feature=youtu.be
Let me get this straight: Disable UEFI first in Boot of BIOS and set to Legacy Set SATA Mode to IDE (or Legacy) not AHCI Disable BIOS BACK FLASH Disable the Main HDD in BIOS an leave just the one for Windows 7 Enabled Partitioning for DAZ Loader to use MUST be MBR (not GPT) Do a new and Clean install of Windows 7 Install Daz Loader Check it works Enable your other HDD in BIOS again Boot to Windows 7 and see all is OK Do NOT change the SATA mode back to AHCI Test install apps in Windows 7 Retest the activation status In your clip it shows that you didn't changed the Boot Order for First Device and has leave that to UEFI. That will clearly not work! Also recheck the Partitioning of the W7 HDD, it MUST be MBR! GPT will NOT work with Daz Loader!
@Griffith Simple way is press F12 after power on & system will present you with all boot devices options....
Thanks for all your help, I believe I finally got it to work Here is what I wound up doing, but tell me if I missed anything: Disabled UEFI first in Boot of BIOS and set to Legacy Set SATA Mode to Compatible (IDE or Legacy weren't options) Disabled BIOS BACK FLASH Set the USB to the top boot priority Exited saving changes The computer booted to the USB and took me to a black, command-prompt "DOS" thing... I typed in the following: MARKER.EXE /CLRMARK [enter] MARKER.EXE /SETMARK=SLP2MARK.BIN [enter] It said that the process was completed successfully so I shut down the computer again I turned SATA back to AHCI mode and turned set UEFI first (if I didn't change these settings, it would only boot to the USB) I stared Windows 7 and ran the installer The installer seemed to have worked successfully and I now don't have a watermark and it says Windows is activated in control panel! So, in the end, I guess I never had to format my drive to MBR? Even so, I have no idea how to do that... Last question: I don't want to disable my second hard-drive, and because I have an mSATA, I don't want to use a ton of storage on it. So, how would I partition my second hard-drive to be able to run Windows 8 but also have me install programs to it that run on my Windows 7 64-Bit? Thanks for all the help, guys. Couldn't have done it without you. Maybe I should make some sort of detailed tutorial for those having my same problem...
I'm not a friend of dual boot using an software boot manager because of to many problems to get things back to work if that boot manager is damaged somehow. But you could do the following: save all data from your 2. HDD which should have Windows 8 on it because you'll have to re-partitioning it unplug your first HDD (with Windows 7) start Windows 8 installation use Custom Installation click Drive Options delete all Partitons click New Set the Partition size for the Windows 8 partition let say to 120GB or whatsoever click OK do NOT create an other partition, let Setup create the 350MB System Reserved Partition for Windows 8 so there will be free(unpartitioned) space left finish the Windows 8 Installation do not connect the other HDD yet after first full restart of Windows 8 open File manager right click on Computer and chose Manage click Disk Management Right click on the unpartitioned space and chose create simple volume and follow screen advice Close Computer management Shut down computer connect other HDD while start computer, press F12 for to open the BIOS Boot Manager chose from which HDD you like to start. That shut all works well, I use the same on all my computers and Laptop with no Problems. Something you may like to do: Using the Disk Management from within Computer Management in both OS (Windows 7 and Windows 8), you could fix some drive letters so you'll have the same drive letter doesn't matter from which OS you start. The newly created and now still free drive (2. Partition on the Windows 8 drive) you could give the Letter: A or B, assuming that your machine didn't has an floppy drive any more. In Disk Management, right click on that Partition and chose Change Drive Letter and Paths click Change click Arrow right from the shown drive letter chose the letter you want click OK and accept the changes do the same in both Windows 7 and Windows 8 using the same drive letter Also, delete the maybe existing drive letter from both System Reserved Partitions so you'll not see them in File manager and accidently copy/delete anything!! Any more questions?