[SOLVED] How to reinstall Windows 7 on dual-boot system w/o deleting Linux?

[asidewalk]

Hi, everyone, I need some advice.

I am dual-booting Gentoo Linux and Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) on a Lenovo Thinkpad T530. Recently, Windows has become unbootable (BAD_SYSTEM_CONFIG_INFO error; BSOD every time I attempt to boot, even in safe mode). My research indicates that I'll probably have to reinstall Windows.

Unfortunately, I found out that the Lenovo recovery disks I ordered will automatically reformat the whole hard drive and restore it to factory settings. (The Lenovo tech support guy I spoke to blamed my Windows problem on Linux! Typical.)

I have since acquired a Windows 7 installation ISO directly from Microsoft and burned it to disk, though I don't really know what to expect from this DVD. I am worried that it too will just indiscriminately wipe my hard drive, obliterating my Linux partition.

Is there a way to make sure that Windows 7 is only reinstalled on the NTFS partition I've already reserved for it?

Thanks.

[mizzle]

I recently had to reinstall Windows vista from recovery partition.

It only installed to the Windows partition, it did not overwrite the partition table.

I imagine Windows 7 install disk will do the same. Likely you'll be able to select which partition you install into.

After you reinstall Windows, ntloader will over right grub, and you'll have to boot off Live CD and reinstall grub so you can access linux.

[asidewalk]

I recently had to reinstall Windows vista from recovery partition.

It only installed to the Windows partition, it did not overwrite the partition table.

I imagine Windows 7 install disk will do the same. Likely you'll be able to select which partition you install into.

After you reinstall Windows, ntloader will over right grub, and you'll have to boot off Live CD and reinstall grub so you can access linux.

Thanks for the tip. Fortunately, I ended up fixing my Windows problem with Startup Repair on the Windows 7 installation DVD, so no reinstall was necessary. (Phew!)

[atreyu]

But as mizzle suggested, did your Linux boot-loader (i.e., Grub) get over-written?

[asidewalk]

But as mizzle suggested, did your Linux boot-loader (i.e., Grub) get over-written?

Actually, no. GRUB was fine after I performed the repair!

[atreyu]

Excellent, I'll go ahead and marked this thread as Solved then. BTW, in the future you can do that yourself using the Thread Tools link at the top of the page.