Help. Windows 7 and 10 dual boot guide

S

spike

Well-Known Member
I currently use Windows 7 on my desktop PC. Rather than go for the free upgrade I bought a Windows 10 disc and installed it on a second hard drive.
Being concerned that I might screw up the PC, I did this by unplugging the Windows 7 HDD first then plugged in the new HDD and installed Windows 10.

For a dual boot system I've been told to download 'windows boot media' and start the PC from it after connecting the second hard drive. Then it's just a case of re-install windows 10 on the new HDD. This should automatically set up the dual boot so I have the option of selecting Windows 7 or 10 on start up.

Only snag is I've read several articles on dual boot installs and the Windows guide on 'windows boot media' but still don't understand exactly what I need to do.

Can anyone provide a step by step guide on how to proceed

Cheers Spike
 
Try this:

Depends on how you want to choose which at boot up.

1. Choose via the Windows boot manager
Connect one drive
Install Win 7
Leaving the Windows 7 drive connected, connect the other drive
Install Win 8 on the new drive.
The Windows boot manager will appear when you start, and let you choose which to boot into

2. Choose via the BIOS selection
Connect one drive
Install Win 7
Disconnect that drive
Connect the other drive
Install Win 8
At bootup, you have to select which via the BIOS boot menu.
 
The problem with dual boot is that you can only have one or the other from a cold start (i.e. reboot). Another alternative is to run the least used operating system within a virtual machine.

I'm using Oracle VM VirtualBox (free) to run XP under 7. So to use XP I fire up VirtualBox, like any other application, and then fire up a predefined (i.e. installed) XP. XP runs in it's own window. By using shared folders it is possible to share data across the two systems and even both to access the internet and share printers. You can even set up multiple Operating Systems of the same or different type (e.g. XP install 1, XP install 2, 98, DOS, Unix, Linux). Setting these features is a bit technical but I found the flexibility well worth it.

So you could for instance run 8 under 7 or 7 under 8 (though I've no experience of 8 which has it's own peculiar desktop).

Just a thought.
 
running the operating system in a VM does indeed work, but a lot of the input / output does not work correctly as it still needs to go through the main operating system.
e.g. if you have a piece of hardware (printer / scanner etc) that say only as drivers made for it for Windows XP, so you have windows 10 as you main operating system and install a VM with windows XP running in the VM, the hardware is still connected to the PC through Windows 10. So even though you have windows XP drivers for the hardware the hardware will still not work as XP is talking to the hardware through Windows 10 which does not understand what the hardware is.
I have some car diagnostic hardware that is only supported under WinXP, I have to keep an old laptop running WinXP just to use with the diagnostic hardware.


If you are simply wanting to run different programs under multiple operating systems and your hardware as support (drivers) for all of the operating systems then the virtual machine(VM) route is very practical, equally Windows 10 as compatibility mode which so far for me as got all the software working that I have tried (most works in Win10 without issue, but older stuff needs WinXP or even Win98 compatibility selecting)

Cheers,
Paul (Depronman)
 
"windows boot media"? What on earth should that be?

Anyways. A couple of points from the start:
- as Paul commented, Win10 is very, very good at making sure stuff works. There should be very little software that was written for 7 that doesn't work on 10.
- If you're running XP, don't connect it to the Internet or surf unless you want to be hacked. There are several very severe security holes there that were not patched and will not be, so you are playing with security fire.
- Windows 10 is in my experience picky, very picky, about hardware. So make sure you're happy with using the disk you've installed it on for a while, or you're going to have fun moving it.

I would personally put both disks back in the machine and make sure that the one you want to boot as your main system is selected correctly in the BIOS as your boot device (F2, Del, F12 whatever to get in and then go through to boot devices, making sure the correct disk identifier (Sandisk, Seagate...) is top of the boot order list).

If you hit F12 during boot, you will get an option for various devices to boot from (it's the "one time boot menu"). If all you intend to do is revert to Windows 7 for specific requirements, this is enough, no? Just make sure you boot into it occasionally to make sure updates get installed.

I also can't recommend ninite enough for creating a decent package of frequently used software and making it easy to keep up-to-date.

- Bret
 
I would just reconnect both hard drives, then reinstall Windows 10 on the new hard drive. During the Windows 10 setup it should automatically set up dual booting so that you choose between 7 and 10 on startup. I don't think you need anything else in order to set up dual booting.

Tim
 
Thanks everyone for the advice.

The last post by Tim seems to suit my needs best so I'll give it a try first then work back through the other suggestions if needed.


Cheers Spike
 
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