Tweaking Lenovo IdeaPad S12

I bought Lenovo IdeaPad S12 for $400. This little laptop has 12.1" display, VIA Nano processor, 1GB memory and 160GB hard drive. It's shipped with Windows XP, but I want to install Windows 7 alongside XP, so as to have a dual-boot system.

Shrinking the Recovery Partition

I booted IdeaPad S12 with my own Linux Live CD. In Xterm, I typed the following command:

fdisk -l -u /dev/sda

I got the following output.

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312581808 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xee8a96be

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *        2048   217909247   108953600    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2       217909248   281638911    31864832    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda3       281638912   312581807    15471448   12  Compaq diagnostics
/dev/sda5       217911296   281638911    31863808    7  HPFS/NTFS

The last primary partition /dev/sda3 seems to be Lenovo's recovery partition. I was able to boot the recovery partition with the following GRUB commands:

root (hd0,2)
chainloader +1
boot

Once I boot into Lenovo's OneKey Recovery System, I can use OneKey AntiVirus to scan the laptop for virus or use OneKey Recovery to restore the laptop to the factory state. I rebooted the laptop with my Linux Live CD. Then, I used GParted to shrink /dev/sda3 and changed its partition number to /dev/sda4:

1. Shrink /dev/sda3 to 6 GB.
   
2. Duplicate /dev/sda3 to a new primary partition /dev/sda4.
   
3. Remove the partition /dev/sda3.
   
4. Change the type of the new partition /dev/sda4 to 12.

After that, my partition layout looks like this:

Disk /dev/sda: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 19457 cylinders, total 312581808 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xee8a96be

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *        2048   217909247   108953600    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2       217909248   281638911    31864832    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda4       299997810   312576704     6289447+  12  Compaq diagnostics
/dev/sda5       217911296   281638911    31863808    7  HPFS/NTFS

I restarted my laptop. I was able to boot Lenovo's OneKey Recovery System using the following GRUB commands.

root (hd0,3)
chainloader +1
boot

Moving Lenovo's pre-installed Windows XP to a logical partition

To reserve primary partitions for other crucial operating systems, I moved the Windows XP partition to the extended partition. This technique is explained in this post. Roughly speaking:

1. Shrink the Windows XP partition (/dev/sda1) by half using GParted. Space is created between /dev/sda1 (Windows XP, type 7) and /dev/sda2 (extended, type f).
   
2. Enlarge the extended partition (/dev/sda2) to the left. A space is created at the beginning of the extended partition.
   
3. Make a copy of Windows XP partition in the space of the extended partition. The new partition will become /dev/sda6.
   
4. Fix the partition numbers with fdisk (switching partition numbers of /dev/sda6 and /dev/sda5). Previously, /dev/sda6 came before /dev/sda5.
   
5. Fix BOOT.INI of the new XP partition (/dev/sda5).
   
6. Boot the new XP partition (/dev/sda5) in safe mode using GRUB or SYSLINUX. Change drive letters in the registry.
   
7. Reboot Windows XP (/dev/sda5) normally and remove the old partition (/dev/sda1).
   

Starting Windows XP with SYSLINUX

Recently, I switched to SYSLINUX. I created a 100MB primary partition (/dev/sda1) formatted with FAT16. Then, in Linux, I installed SYSLINUX.

syslinux /dev/sda1

A new MBR had to be installed, too.

install-mbr /dev/sda -v --drive 0x80 --enable +14

I copied chain.c32 from the SYSLINUX package to the SYSLINUX partition (/dev/sda1). Then, I copied NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and BOOT.INI to the SYSLINUX partition (/dev/sda1), too.

I created a text file named SYSLINUX.CFG with the following instruction.

TIMEOUT 30
DEFAULT chain.c32 ntldr=NTLDR

This will let you boot Windows XP in a logical partition.

Installing Programs on Windows XP

I removed the following programs from factory-installed Windows XP of Lenovo S12:

• Symantec Norton Internet Security
  
• Diskeeper
  
• Veriface

Then, I installed the following software:

• Avast Anti-virus
  
• MyDefrag

Installing Windows 7 Home Premium

I created a new NTFS partition (/dev/sda2) using GParted. I set its bootable flag and hid all other FAT and NTFS partitions. Then, I installed Windows 7 Home Premium.

After that, I moved the Windows 7 partition into the extended partition as /dev/sda6. Then, I removed the original partition (/dev/sda2). I rebooted with Windows 7 installation DVD, clicked the Repair option and opened the Command Prompt. I typed the following commands to make the new Windows 7 partition bootable.

C:
bcdedit /store C:\Boot\BCD /enum
bcdedit /store C:\Boot\BCD /set {bootmgr} device partition=C:
bcdedit /store C:\Boot\BCD /set {default} device partition=C:
bcdedit /store C:\Boot\BCD /set {default} osdevice partition=C:

Then, I added the following entry to SYSLINUX.CFG.

LABEL win7
KERNEL chain.c32
APPEND hd0 6

To make sure that SYSLINUX can boot Windows 7, I typed the following command at the boot: prompt.

chain.c32 hd0 6

Now I am able to boot Windows 7 from a logical partition.

Booting Windows 7 with Software SLIC emulation

There are many ways to emulate SLIC so that Windows 7 can be activated. In my case, I've set up a boot sequence like this.

MBR -> SYSLINUX -> GRUB -> Windows 7

GRUB was patched for the loadslic command which is crucial for Windows activation. The SYSLINUX command to invoke GRUB is like this.

chain.c32 grub=stage2 grubcfg=(hd0,0)/win7.cfg

Then, I created a file WIN7.CFG with the following contents.

hiddenmenu
timeout 0
default 0

title Windows 7 Home Premium
loadslic (hd0,0)/lenovocb-01.bin
chainloader (hd0,5)+1

Linux: Using dd To Back Up Hard Drive Partitions

I am going to use the omnipresent and omnipotent tool called dd to back up a hard drive partition. I am working with the drive /dev/sdb. First, I save a text file that has information on the partition table layout.

fdisk -l /dev/sdb > hdpt.txt
fdisk -l -u /dev/sdb >> hdpt.txt

Then, I choose the compression format to use for the backup archive.

• gzip
  
• bzip2
  
• lzma
  
• xz

My choice for the compression format is lzma which provides superior compression and faster decompression. The following command backs up a partition at /dev/sdb1 with dd and lzma.

dd if=/dev/sdb1 | lzma -9c > backup01.bin.lzma

To restore this backup later, use the following command:

lzcat backup01.bin.lzma | dd of=/dev/sdb1

To Convert a FAT16 partition to FAT32 in Windows 98/ME

To convert a FAT16 partition to FAT32 in Windows 98/ME, you need to reboot with the emergency book floppy created by Windows. To create a boot floppy:

1. Open the Start menu, open the Settings submenu and click the Control Panel.
   
2. Click Add/Remove Programs.
   
3. Select the Boot Disk tab in the pop-up window, and choose Create.
   
4. Insert a blank floppy into your floppy drive and let Windows do the job.
   
5. Then reboot your PC.
   

Once you're in DOS, change to C:\Windows\Command. Run CVT.EXE which will convert your FAT16 drive to FAT32.

C:

CD \WINDOWS\COMMAND

CVT C:

Using GParted To Create Dual-Boot Vista Partitions

Have you ever wished to have multiple Windows installed on your computer? Having a multi-boot system has many applications, such as:

• Set up one Windows system for your work or school, and set up another Windows system for your family and kids, all in one single computer
  
• Use one Windows installation for your sensitive data, and use another installation for gaming and the Internet
  
• Set up multiple Windows for different languages, for example one for English and another for Spanish
  
• Try different Windows versions, one for Vista, one for XP and another for Windows ME.
  

In order to set up multiple installations of Windows in a single computer, you need to slice your hard drive into several partitions using a partitioning tool such as GParted. Get a GParted live CD and boot your computer with it.

Partitioning Advices

Here's what you need to know about multiple Windows installation:

• One primary partition must be set up with Windows Vista or XP and set active. This partition will be used to boot itself and optionally other Windows partitions, primary or logical.
  
• If multiple primary partitions have Windows installed, then only one of them should be active and the others should be hidden.
  

GParted in Action

Once you booted GParted live CD, launch GParted.

In most case, you'll see a Windows partion (type ntfs) as the first primary partition. If you need to resize it to make space available for the second Windows partition, you can use GParted, but I recommend you to use ntfsresize.

Now hide your existing Windows partition by right-clicking it and choosing Manage Flags.

Clear the boot flag and set the hidden flag. Then click Close.

Click the unallocated area and click New on the toolbar. Create new Partition dialog appears on screen. Set the size in the New Size box, create it as a Primary Partition and make it ntfs. Click Add.

Look at the GParted window and make sure the new hard disk layout is okay. Click Apply on the toolbar.

A confirmation dialog appears. Click Apply.

If everything goes well, a dialog appears saying All operations successfully completed. Click Close.

Right-click the newly created NTFS partition and select Manage Flags from the right-click menu. In the Manage flags window, only set the boot flag and click Close.

Quit GParted. Put your Windows installation DVD into your CD-ROM and reboot.