[Mashiro]

[...]
For Question 2:

I’ve noticed that the installation wizard only lets you install windows on a specific partition and won’t let you touch the rest. I also found several different partitions on my laptop, but it would only let me install on one. [...]

Unfortunately, this statement is incorrect.

In the Windows setup, during the disk & installation partition setup, you have all options or rather said tools to delete partitions and create new ones. Once you are done with that you can select the partition you want and install Window on it by simply clicking on it to have it selected/highlighted and going to the next step of the setup. I can say this safely and with confidence as I have performed so many Windows installations from XP to 10 (excluding Vista) over all the years privately and also during my job.

Since I never really used or installed Windows Vista on a computer I can only say that since Windows 7 you always had the necessary tools during the setup of Windows to do the basics of disk and partition management and be able to select the partition/disk you want to setup Windows on. From XP to 7 (and probably Vista) the whole installation process has evolved by so much and it now stays the same with minor theme changes to the design of newer Windows versions like 10.

The current installation environment that Windows uses is basically a small live Windows with all necessary tools to do the installation or repairs (remember you can start cmd or do system restore / repair on existing installations). All that happens during the installation can be easily broken down into a few basic steps.

Anyway.