Dual boot W7 with W10 preinstalled

[Gswiss]

Has anybody tried installing Windows 7 alongside a preinstalled Windows 10 in order to have dual-booting? As we did with Vista and Windows 8.

 

[mikeymikec]

Always install the older OS first (if we're talking about the same disk), unless you like having to sort out the boot loader yourself afterwards.

 

[Dahak]

Or if you have a spare drive, disconnect all the other drives install windows to the spare drive and use the motherboard boot selection to switch between the two

 

[Gswiss]

Always install the older OS first (if we're talking about the same disk), unless you like having to sort out the boot loader yourself afterwards.

If Windows 10 is preinstalled, I can't install the older one first... That's just the point!

I installed loads of Windows 7's with either Vista or Windows 8 preinstalled. Then I would use EasyBCD to adjust the boot loader.

I just wish to know if anybody went through the same process in the case of Windows 10.

 

[ninaholic37]

If Windows 10 is preinstalled, I can't install the older one first... That's just the point!

I have Windows 98, and when I ran the Windows 2000 install disk, I had the option of "upgrading" or "fresh install". Doing "fresh install" puts Windows 2000 on the same partition as Windows 98, and creates a boot menu where I can select either Windows 98 or Windows 2000. So yeah, if you can wipe the drive, then install the old OS first, this might still be an option when you do a fresh Windows 10 install.

 

[Underclocked]

Gswiss, several ways to get there but having separate hard drives is by far the easiest. No need to select from bios (unless you wan to do so) as EasyBCD makes it easy to create a dual boot menu. I recommend selecting the newer OS as the boot drive, then adding the older OS to the bcd. I also recommend you then hide each OS' drive letter from the other OS.

 

[Gswiss]

Thanks to all of you for your observations. Underclocked suggests an ingenious approach which I'll probably use if and when I decide to try out Windows 10 (which I don't need. It's only for educational reasons that it interested me).

I'm all for Windows 7 all the way till 2020 ... or later if people stick with it as they do today with XP. There are still about 180 million XP users (12% of pc users) out there as at Sept. 1st!!!

Watch out for the "stab in the back" approach Microsoft has by automatically upgrading Windows 7 users to Windows 10 without warning them.