On Thu, 12 May 2016 09:29:46 +0100 Chris Walker alug_cdw@the-walker-household.co.uk wrote:
[snip]
I grabbed a couple of programs yesterday for Windows but isodumper is available in Mageia5 (that's also what I'm running here) so once I buy myself a USB stick, I'll give that a go. I think I might also have a crack at generating some sort of install media for Windows, perhaps reinstalling the original 120GB SSD, so that I can build the system from scratch, just in case the original install done by my late friend was carried out in non UEFI mode. I can tell that from looking at the disc in Windows though - this page gives more information on that - https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Mageia_in_dual_boot_with_Windows8_and_over
Once I'd read that page I could see that the Windows installation wasn't using UEFI. I could have carried on with the installation but decided that I wanted UEFI so I've now updated the BIOS. I wiped the new SSD again and restarted the Windows installation using a 64GB USB stick on which I'd created installation media from the 120GB SSD.
That went well and as soon as the installation started I could see that it wanted to create an EFI partition. Windows is now installed but I have lost access to the DVD drive and also the ability to boot from USB. So something weird (or at least, something else that I don't understand) is going on and which I'll have to investigate further.
There's also this page to help me with installing from USB - https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Installation_Media#Dump_Mageia_ISO_on_a_USB_flash...
I've created the USB linux install using dd and that appears ok when viewed on this machine. I just need to resolve the problem on the new machine and can then complete the installation there.