dual boot

[tek33]

hi i ve always had just 1 os on my system but i am wondering if anyone can point in the right direction .i would like to learn how to set up a dual boot vista and windows 7 never did it before can i get some laymans advice on how to set it up and what i need to do .thanks alot.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: tek33
hi i ve always had just 1 os on my system but i am wondering if anyone can point in the right direction .i would like to learn how to set up a dual boot vista and windows 7 never did it before can i get some laymans advice on how to set it up and what i need to do .thanks alot.

Any particular reason why you want to dual boot Vista and 7? Do you have something specific that works in Vista but you don't think (or perhaps know) will work in 7?

Anyway, the method is quite simple and direct.

You first want to make sure that you have either an empty drive or empty partition on your computer.

You want to make a note of the capacity of it since once you get into the setup you may not have the volume labels or drive letters as you did in Vista.

So, make sure that you have made note of the capacity of said empty drive/partition, then toss in your 7 disk and begin the installation. So long as you install Microsoft OSes in order of release (so 2000 before XP, before Vista, before 7) you don't have much to mess with and then, everytime you boot up your computer you will get to choose which OS to use.

 

[tek33]

i would like to keep my vista on there because of my games for awhile not ready to erase vista . thank you i am probably going to add a second drive and put 7 on second drive .so your saying with lets say 7 installed on second drive when i boot instead of coming to vista welcome screen it will somehow come up with a choice of either os ? is there anything i need to set up besides just installing the win 7 on other drive?

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: tek33
i would like to keep my vista on there because of my games for awhile not ready to erase vista . thank you i am probably going to add a second drive and put 7 on second drive .so your saying with lets say 7 installed on second drive when i boot instead of coming to vista welcome screen it will somehow come up with a choice of either os ? is there anything i need to set up besides just installing the win 7 on other drive?

No, that should do it. When you install 7 it will be able to tell what OSes are currently installed and then, as you said, instead of it booting straight to Vista, it will instead give you a simple screen from which you choose your OS between Vista and 7.

 

[her209]

In addition to having separate partitions, you should install in the order from oldest to newest.

 

[AFurryReptile]

Even if you don't install from oldest to newest, you can use a 3rd party boot manager like EasyBCD to fix any boot problems. Easier to just do it the right way though.

 

[tek33]

thanks for the help i would like to purchase the oem 64 bit version of windows 7 i currently have vista home premium 64 bit havent had any problems with install . if anybody gets the oem 64 bit windows 7 let me know if any problems u might or might not have with install. thanks again.