I would really like to do that, but chameleon seems to have ruined the partition table or at least something important.

when i turn on the computer, a new interface appears: a graphic interface of chameleon. it looks like the boot selection at a normal mac (bootcamp/osx selection) but in colours.

when i try to start windows, it tells me that "the boot selection failed because a required device is in accessible". i google that right now but it seems that i have to reformat the whole disk and then install the partition images i have created earlier (i knew this would happen...).

Hi,
Good job for preparing the image. Is it of s1 and s2 only? What software are you using?
If only s1 and s2 then don't create s3 just yet. Because 3rd partition can be create as primary but not 4th (may have to force it).

That problem just MBR is took over by any os during installation. You can repair with win7 disc.

it's s1 and s2 only, the backups are on s3 (but of course also on external harddrive, that's what i will need if this last try does not work out).

I cant use the repair console on the windows disk, it does not work. now the command chkdsk /r /x runs, if that does not resolve the error, i use acronis for the image files.

then i have s1 and s2, that's just EFI + windows 7. then i will create the 3rd partition for OSX as a primary. again, how do i do this?

Originally Posted by XphX

it's s1 and s2 only, the backups are on s3 (but of course also on external harddrive, that's what i will need if this last try does not work out).

I cant use the repair console on the windows disk, it does not work. now the command chkdsk /r /x runs, if that does not resolve the error, i use acronis for the image files.

then i have s1 and s2, that's just EFI + windows 7. then i will create the 3rd partition for OSX as a primary. again, how do i do this?

Hi,
Good plan. I did not know that you already prepare these things. Well done.
I think you just use window7 to create it. 3rd partition can be primary, and when you create partition it will let you know. if not then use Gpart or whatever. Just to make sure that is primary, the format is not important. You will have OSX deleting it and reformat at the installer stage.

It took me quite a while to recover the system. the rescue dvd was broken and now i use the one of the professional acronis backup & restore 10 software. and i have to say: hands down this is the best backup software i have ever seen. and i did only use the recovery dvd, i did not even start the desktop version.

anyway, i just reinstalled the 100MB EFI partition, it took about 10 seconds and now windows starts up fine.

i have 4 partitions in the windows partition program: the 3 with ntfs (efi, windows, files) and one without a recognized file system. that is very strange, because it should be the osx partition from my tries before. but then it would be seen as "unformated space" and not as a partition. i cannot even delete it or view some more information.

anyway, all 4 partitions are marked as PRIMARY. in windows.

so i will look into the thing with 4 partitions and primary and stuff. just to be sure that the 4th partition is really active. because you said that only 3 can be active.

omg, i need to have this finished tomorrow morning, dualboot win7+osx. that will never work out, i am tired right now already.

/EDIT: Wikipedia says, a harddrive can contain 4 PRIMARY partitions, but then that is the limit. or it can contain 3 primary and 1 extended (the extended can contain more partitions). so i have 4 partitions now that are primary, thats okay i guess. i will try to install OSX again and i hope that the laptop won't turn off in the middle of the installation. i still dunno why this happened.

Originally Posted by XphX

It took me quite a while to recover the system. the rescue dvd was broken and now i use the one of the professional acronis backup & restore 10 software. and i have to say: hands down this is the best backup software i have ever seen. and i did only use the recovery dvd, i did not even start the desktop version.

anyway, i just reinstalled the 100MB EFI partition, it took about 10 seconds and now windows starts up fine.

i have 4 partitions in the windows partition program: the 3 with ntfs (efi, windows, files) and one without a recognized file system. that is very strange, because it should be the osx partition from my tries before. but then it would be seen as "unformated space" and not as a partition. i cannot even delete it or view some more information.

anyway, all 4 partitions are marked as PRIMARY. in windows.

so i will look into the thing with 4 partitions and primary and stuff. just to be sure that the 4th partition is really active. because you said that only 3 can be active.

omg, i need to have this finished tomorrow morning, dualboot win7+osx. that will never work out, i am tired right now already.

/EDIT: Wikipedia says, a harddrive can contain 4 PRIMARY partitions, but then that is the limit. or it can contain 3 primary and 1 extended (the extended can contain more partitions). so i have 4 partitions now that are primary, thats okay i guess. i will try to install OSX again and i hope that the laptop won't turn off in the middle of the installation. i still dunno why this happened.

Hi,
Thank you for sharing the experience with backup software.
Yes, your wiki is correct, and that is why I keep asking about the 4th partition being primary (that is the rule of MBR hard drive).
Because if you install OSX to a logical then bootloader can't work and will break your boot chain for dual boot, and need repair.
There is only one active partition in a hard drive at a time, but you will be more concern with primary vs logical.
Regards,

Alright, now the installation ran through without any troubles. but there is no sign of chameleon, the v2 was selected during install. just a blinking cursor in the upper left corner. i used a iatkos dvd to install chameleon v2 onto disk5s4 (thats where osx is), now i had the graphic selection again. but neither osx (restarted 1 sec after selecting) nor windows wanted to boot.

i found out that chameleon or the osx installation has set disk5s4 as ACTIVE. that way, windows can not start up. i used the new acronis dvd (i dont need gparted anymore, fantastic) to set the EFI partition ACTIVE again. then the windows disc repaired that. now i have that boot:0 or something like that showing up for a very very short moment and then windows starts up.

I would like to install a bootmanager now, then i can think about starting osx. i just want to be able to select what to start up. how do i do this?

You're doing very for fix windows bootloader.
I've heard many people got easyBCD v2 working. In dual booting forum, there are guide for it that you may want to take a look. However, I haven't got much luck with it.
Somehow, I'm still thinking your disk5s4 is a logical one

So, install your boot manager and look at guides there.
Regards,

All the partitions are marked as primary, i hope that will do.

Now i installed easyBCD, it uses the windows boot loader to simply add a entry for mac osx.

Now i can choose what to boot, but:

first there is the line boot0:done, then i can select windows/osx in the windows boot manager, and when i select osx, then the graphic interface of chameleon 2 shows up and i can select windows/osx again.

if i choose osx, then osx trys to start up (does not work, but i will deal with that later).

i do not want 3 different bootloaders! seems to be my own fault that i installed chameleon 2. how can i fix this?

I would delete the windows-entry in the windows bootloader. then chameleon 2 would show up first. so i have to select the system only once in chameleon 2. is that okay?

how do i enter advanced options for booting osx? i did not find a way to enter a console in chameleon 2.
/EDIT: Alright, with TAB i can do that. Starting up in verbose mode does not work, there is not even one line, it just resets the computer. when i want to type ?, it says File not found: bt(0,0)/Extra/Boothelp.txt. I will boot from the dvd again and select a driver, because when i installed osx, i did not change anything at the selection, and no drivers were marked to be installed. But i will wait until i get a response, just to be sure that this is the reason for a failed start.

Oh, boy!!!
You got me confused now.
In your windows7, go to disk management, see how it lists your partitions graphically.
s1, s2 on disk0, and s3,s4 on disk1?
I never got luck with that BCD, although many people using it.
Now, between chasing bootloader and your OSX installation things will be a bit harder.

If you install OSX and Chameleon to the correct partition, chameleon can be your bootloader for both OS's