[pollok]

After untold installs and reinstalls using every guide on the web, I gave up and tried it one more time. This time I tried to just logically attack the disk problem I was having and respond using some of the info I had come across somewhere in my exhaustive search for answers. Many thanks to Sir...

Click here to read the entire tutorial

[mario65]

Then continue the guide again.[/QUOTE]

GREAT How to:
Did this on a 10v. I did a standard OSX install making 2 partitions 80g and for OSx and one fat32 30G. After making the OS x update to 10.5.7 and getting it working properly I used a Win7 DVD to load W7 into the 30 G using a 32 bit download. It was way too easy to do W7. I just followed all the prompts. I later used that nice free download to select between the 2 systems. Works like a charm thanks.

[samfisher]

To all of the awesome people who post info here at mydellmini.....

I recently purchased a Mini 9 for its ultra portability aspects. Great battery life and small size were at the top of my list. Being a network admin, I like the fact that I can stay in touch with my network without having to lug around a full size laptop everywhere I go. Now add all of that to the fact that the overall performance of the stock system was impressive........I decided to throw a little money at it and see what else it could become. After reading many posts here I attempted a dual boot setup with windows 7 and OS X.

My first step was to tackle the hardware upgrades. I purchased a Super Talent 128gb Double Wide MLC SSD and a 2gb stick of ram. The swap was by far the easiest hardware upgrade I have ever attempted on a laptop. A whopping total of 4 screws and it’s all done?!? I think it took less than a minute.

Once everything was alive I tackled the OS X installation as outlined here in the forums. I used a USB stick with the boot123 bootloader on it and a USB DVD ROM Drive with a purchased copy of OS X. It took a couple of reboots to get my mini to recognize the DVD Drive but it finally took off. Yes, I changed the boot order in the BIOS but it didn’t catch on right away for some reason. It could have been something to do with my DVD ROM…..ah who knows. Once it completed, I had to do the usual stuff listed in the guides here. Like deleting and re-installing my wireless card (worked fine after that). I also had to reinstall the Dell EFI ware after fully patching OS X (got the garbled grey screen). But, everything in OS X now works great! It boots faster than my buddies Mac Book Pro! He was kind of mad about that…he he!

Next, I installed Windows 7. Nothing unusual about it. Just download it burn the .iso to a disk or USB Drive and your off and running. There are few drivers you have to manually install but all of that is outlined in the forums just look around for it and you’ll find it. I have to say Windows 7……WOW! This is what Vista should have been!! Great performance and it is actually easily networkable?!?! Vista is a complete pain in a network environment (Which is why we don’t run it at all at work). I gotta say, I believe Microsoft has finally hit the nail square on the head with this OS. That added to the fact that it runs great on a net boot….well it’s a definite winner in my book! And it’s about time too

If you can’t tell, I am very impressed with my Mini 9 netbook. I could not have successfully dual booted this thing without all of you guys who posted information in this forum. I thank you for being so willing to help others and post your knowledge here. You guys are great!!

[samfisher]

Remark: in OSX desktop I see the WIN7 partition labeled as "Untitled" HD. Unfortunately there is no way to hide it. But i can live with that. This is the best set-up so far until Apple releases their own netbook/tablet

.

You can name your C: drive in Window 7 and it will show that name on the Mac side. I named my drive Windows 7 and it shows up fine. Looks more professional

[rlee]

Hello, can you provide links for the following 3 guides, I think it'll help newbies:
USB Thumb Drive with Win 7 32 bit Installer (you can find out how to make this in other posts)
USB 123 Boot Thumb Drive (you can find out how to make this in other posts)
USB Thumb Drive with OSX Disc Image (you can find out how to make this in other posts)

thanks

[rodain]

After two attempts using your process and the YouTube "Dell Mini 10v – os x/ Windows 7 Dual Boot" videos, I was able to successfully install and operate.....then I installed the OS X updates and DellEFI. This corrupted on restart and killed the OS X install. Now I can't force a reinstall on that partition using the SysLinux boot so OS X isn't working and I'm facing a possible 3rd installation process. Any suggestions? Also, I never got the 10v to boot from USBs and had to use an external DVD drive. I would like to figure out how to just reinstall/repair OS X in case this happens again during an update.

[rodain]

My problem was whatever i tried i was not able to create a boot123 thumb drive. Instead I booted into OSX with the Dellefi App bootmaker thumb drive

Surprisingly, it really does matter which USB port you select. Boot123 would only run in the USB closest to the power connector. I was also able to install both Win7 and OS X from an external DVD, but only when Boot123 was in the USB closest to power and the extrnl DVD in the adjacent slot. Give it a shot. You can also force a USB port boot by disabling boot (Shift+1) on the HDD in the Mini 10v BIOS.

[rodain]

I was able to sufficiently wipe out the corrupted OS X partition by using the partitioning tool in the Win7 O/S to "list volume", "select volume 1"(the corrupted OS X part), and then "format fs=ntfs label="OS_X" quick". I then rebooted the Mini 10v with only the OS X install disk plugged into the first USB port. The OS X install started and proceeded.

[prodigee]

Where do I get the 123 loader? And how exactly is OS X correctly put onto the flashdrive I am finding it difficult to find this information.

[soul]

Type 'create partition EFI size=200'

As of now windows 7 RC2 7201 only requires a EFI size of 100. Tested and worked on my installation, in fact it was set to 100 by default by windows.

TO: AUGNISH!!

[captainkrypto]

I've looked at several guides on dual booting OSX and Windows and I ran into problems on all of them. Here is the way I've done it and it has worked 2x so far on my 10v. I just used 2 bootable USB sticks (1 with OSX installer - 8GB, 1 with Win7 install - 4GB) and an external HD.

1) -Boot from OSX USB stick
-Install and configure OSX on single partition on local HD (lots of guides on how to do this)

2) -Boot from OSX USB stick
-Use Disk Utility to "restore" the OSX install on the local HD to the external HD (Basically backing up your OSX install to the external).
-Use Disk Utility to create 2 partitions of your desired size. 1st should be FAT32 for Win7, and the 2nd should be HFS+ (Extended Journeled) with GUID partition table.

3) -Boot from Win7 USB stick
-Use Drive Options (Advanced) to format the 1st partition using NTFS
-Select the 1st partition as target for Win7 install*

4) -Boot from OSX USB stick
-Use Disk Utility to "restore" the OSX backup on the external HD to the second partition of the internal HD
-Use Terminal to make the 2nd partition active. Enter "fdisk –e /dev/rdisk0", then "f 2", then "w", then "q"
-restart

5) -Boot from OSX USB stick
-Press 'enter' when starting and select your OSX partition to boot.
-Run DellEFI and select "Reinstall bootloader"
-Remove USB and reboot. You should now be presented with an option to select OSX or Windows.

I know these steps aren't very detailed, but you should be able to find all of the necessary info on this site, and probably even within this post.

I'm sure there are more "elegant" ways to do this, but I was having problems trying to get Disk Utility to re-format the FAT32 partition I created in Windows as HFS+, so I just prepared the partitions prior to installing Win7.

Anyway, I hope this sames someone a few hours of their time.

*I know on a default install, Win7 creates an extra 100MB partition called system reserved. This is not necessary as Win7 will use the primary partition for these files if the 'System Reserved' is not available.