Can't boot to Win8

Astonishing.

I would have thought that *any* person manning the tech-help phones for Microsoft would have known that it is possible to change the download location for Internet Explorer.

All of my downloads go to the desktop with any browser I use.

 

So, how do you change the location for IE? I can't see a place on the new IE that allows for options or tools.

As far as my OS partition that doesn't show active, I wonder if it is an issue of partition version number. Different operating systems have different partition version numbers, and they can only be merged or altered by a system that has the same version number. I had this problem when I wanted to adjust partitions using Partition Magic. Maybe I need to delete the partition from Win 8 and then create it again from that site. I realize this means starting all over again, but do you think this might be what is keeping me from being able to dual boot?

 

Are you accessing IE from your desktop in win 8? If so right click an empty space next to the address bar then click Menu Bar. MS isn't going to help much when it comes to Win XP. They're trying to get users off that OS.

 

How to Change Default Download Location in IE9, IE10, and IE11​

There are some special notes included for users of Windows 8.

 

Thank you. I'm still lost when it comes to navigating this OS. I'm sure there is an easy way to get to the desktop, but I have to use search to find it each time. Once I found the right IE, the solution was as easy as in the past. Any suggestions on the dual boot issue?

 

Thanks Pete, but I want to get this computer stable before doing too many changes. I disconnected this drive and opened my other one. When I went into disk management, I noticed my OS partition says Healthy (boot, page file, crash dump, logical partition), whereas my storage partition says Healthy (system, active, primary partition). I believe this is my problem. The wrong partition is listed as system, active and primary. How can I fix this? I don't want to delete my storage partition, as it has a lot of files saved on it, but I could delete and then create a new OS partition, but I'm not sure if that will let me take over the system, active and primary aspects. Any suggestions?

 

Pete, thanks for the suggestions. I may have to reinstall my original OS, as both drives weren't connected during the process. I did figure out a way to eliminate my storage listed as system, active& primary. I resized the partition, cutting it in half. I then cut and pasted the files to the new partition I had just created and formatted. After that, I plan to delete the original partition and then expand the new one I made. Hopefully, that will allow the computer to see the OS partition as system, active and primary. Later today, I'll delete the OS partition and start from scratch. I'll read your links before I do that, but I have to get to work, now.

 

I am dual booted now, though it is a bit different than how XP did it. Let me know if this is normal. When I click on my backup drive, my computer restarts and then directly enters that drive. When I click on my primary drive, my computer directly enters that drive without restarting. With XP, it was a direct opening, no matter which drive I chose, with no restarts. Is this just how 8 works, or does it have something to do with running a 64 bit OS, or did I do something wrong?

 

I understand I can't switch from one OS to another without restarting, but I'm talking about the boot menu when I boot up my computer. I am given a choice between the two drives, though it goes straight through for my primary drive and restarts and then goes straight through for my backup. Has anyone done this on Win 8? Is this the normal process for 8?

 

Everything looks fine in BCD. If I choose my backup drive, my primary drive doesn't load first. What happens is my computer reboots and then opens with my backup drive (skipping the boot choice window). It isn't a significant problem, but it just seems odd, when I compare it to what I experienced with XP.

 

To confuse the situation even more, on occasion the boot screen is black and white rather than blue. When it is black and white, it allow direct opening into my backup drive. When it is blue, it reboots first. I can't predict when the screen will be blue and when it will be black and white. The black and white screen also offers safe mode and other options, more of what would come up in XP when the OS didn't shut down properly.

 

Win 8 is a completely different animal than XP. Get used to the fact that XP is going to be done away with April 8,2014. Unless MS changes its mind. Which wouldn't be to surprising. I skipped Vista and when Win 7 was released I immediately dumped Win XP Pro in favor of Win 7 Ultimate.