Dual booting Win7 and 10

[spdfreak]

When I built my new Ryzen system, I simply moved my Win7 boot drive from my old PII X6 system to the new one and since it was a retail copy, it activated fine (although getting the USB drivers to work was a PITA). I need Win7 for media center and my TV tuners but I now want to add another SSD and install Win10 and dual boot. I've seen lots of articles about creating another partition on the boot drive to install the 2nd OS on but I'd like to just put in a new SSD and install Win10. Will there be any problems doing this or any special install instructions I need to be aware of?

 

[Billb2]

Dual booting has been available since the first Windows version. Everything is built into the install programs and automatically sets up dual booting for you.

The short version:
Insert the Win 10 install disk (or USB stick if you're installing from USB) and run the install. "Install to" a different drive or partition than the original (Win 7) was installed to. Everything will be taken care of automatically.

The long version:
Don't confuse "boot drive" and the drive that has the "Windows" folder on it.

When any computer starts up it takes a small amount of computer code from the first sector of the boot drive and loads it into memory and runs it. That code tells the computer (among other things) where the Windows folder is located so that the computer can start up the operating system.

When you add a second operating system its install program "sees" the previous Windows that is installed and modifies the code on the boot sector to point to both operating systems. From then on, whenever you start the computer, you will get a screen that lets you choose which of the installed Windows operating system you want to start up.

Note that you should not change the "boot drive" in the BIOS before the new install is run. If you do that you end up with two different "boot sectors" on two different drives, and then, in order to change which Windows version you want to boot up, you have to change the boot drive that is set in the BIOS to that one so that its boot sector is loaded into memory. The same problem occurs if you remove the existing boot drive and do the new install to a different (now boot drive) drive.

When you install a second copy of Windows the new Windows folder has to be put on a different partition or drive than the original Windows folder (or windows gets confused).

Note that when a Windows install program asks where you want to install to all it is asking is where you want to put the Windows folder (not what drive will be the boot drive, that is set in the BIOS).

The only caveat is that you can't install an older version of windows if there is already a newer version installed (ie, don't install Win 7 after Win 10 is already installed). The older install program (Win 7) will not "see" the newer installation (Win 10) and will overwrite necessary stuff and the existing version (Win 10) will not be there any more.

And, something few people know:
You can install as many copies of Windows (from the same install disk) as you want. Each and every install will automatically multi boot, authenticate, and actuate as genuine with your existing key. I always install a second copy (dual boot) in case the original Windows installation gets corrupted. That way I can still boot up, access all my files, and effect repairs.

 

[deustroop]

but I now want to add another SSD and install Win10 and dual boot. I've seen lots of articles about creating another partition on the boot drive to install the 2nd OS on but I'd like to just put in a new SSD and install Win10. Will there be any problems doing this or any special install instructions I need to be aware of?

If it is your intent to install the OS on the new drive there will be no problems. I would however disconnect the present ( Win 7 ) disk prior to, so the install goes naturally to the empty disk and avoids an issue which sometimes arises where part of the install goes to the intended empty disk and some goes to another disk in the system. Nasty work that . (There is some confusion on the term dual boot.The term dual boot is used where there are more than one OS on the same disk, in different partitions. It is a term also used as you do, where there are two disks in the computer each with separate OS .)

 

[Billb2]

I would however disconnect the present ( Win 7 ) disk prior to, so the install goes naturally to the empty disk...

If you do that the your existing (removed) boot disk won't have the correct information on its boot sector, you won't get the automatic dual boot choice screen, and, among other problems, changing OSs will be a PITA.

 

[JackMDS]

Actually the two SSDs solution is the cleanest easy way to do so,

So when ever physically possible to install two SSDs it is much better way to go. It is much more secure from errors and go Rouge then the antiqued solution of partitions on the same drive.

You put the two SSDs in and choose from the BIOS Setup Boot to boot into the Win10 SSD.

After Boot download the free Neosmart EZBCD install on the Win 10 SSD, and configure it to any way that you want.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/easybcd.html
-----------------
If later on One decides to remove or change the arrangement you change in one click EZBCD configuration to skip it during Boot.

Then with the next Boot of the computer you configure the Boot order to what ever you want to boot first now.

😎

 

[Billb2]

Install dual booting the way Microsoft intended it to be installed and you won't have any problems.

If you have two boot drives then anytime you want to start your computer you won't be able to just hit the power button and go get a cup of coffee. You'll have to hang around and mess with the BIOS first.

And, yes BCDEdit and EasyBCD are fantastic tools, for everyone except nOObs. It leads to... "I did bla, bla, bla with EasyBCD and now my computer won't start. What should I do?"

 

[spdfreak]

Cool, I'll get another SSD and do the Win10 install on it. Will I need to initialize it first or will it show up as an option for where to install Win10?

 

[JackMDS]

If it clean Install you have to boot for the USB (or DVD) and as part of the prepare process it will detect the Drives available and you have to choose the new SSD.

That said, in order to avoid trouble you might want to connect the existing SSD until the install is finished.


😎

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Install dual booting the way Microsoft intended it to be installed and you won't have any problems.

If you have two boot drives then anytime you want to start your computer you won't be able to just hit the power button and go get a cup of coffee. You'll have to hang around and mess with the BIOS first.

And, yes BCDEdit and EasyBCD are fantastic tools, for everyone except nOObs. It leads to... "I did bla, bla, bla with EasyBCD and now my computer won't start. What should I do?"

After something of an odyssey between September 2016 and May of this year, I was absorbing the opinions of several colleagues here who usually know what they're talking about. Or, maybe they have a hot-swap bay for either of two OS boot-system-disks, and they will tell you such is better than dual booting -- and -- if dual-booting, you should use separate physical disks. But as Billb2 explains, the boot sector remains on the drive where the first of the two OSes was installed.

I've installed my Win 7 (for legacy WMC) to my NVMe M.2 PCIE 960 Pro, and then added Win 10 with its UEFI 500MB stub and its own system volume. I think if -- for some reason-- you wanted to install Win 10 first and Win 7 thereafter, you'd have to use some software utility to make it work, but that should be a possibility. It's just not the simplest path.

I've shrunk my Win 7 system volume and expanded the volume for Win 10. I've even used a partition/volume on the same physical NVMe drive for SSD-caching of SATA SSDs and HDDs.

However, someone told me that I could have trouble removing Win 7 entirely from the drive. It isn't exactly a looming difficulty that needs attention.

 

[Billb2]

if -- for some reason-- you wanted to install Win 10 first and Win 7 thereafter, you'd have to use some software utility to make it work, but that should be a possibility. It's just not the simplest path.

However, someone told me that I could have trouble removing Win 7 entirely from the drive. It isn't exactly a looming difficulty that needs attention.

If you install an older OS (Win 7) after a newer OS (Win 10) the newer OS becomes unbootable. It's all still there, but the boot sector of the boot drive no longer points to it. It's a simple task to use BCDEdit (a utility that that Win 10) always installs, but since Win 10 is nonbootable you'd have to download and install it) or download the much easier to use EasyBCD and use either of those to rewrite the boot sector to point to both installs.

Conversely, if you're dual booting, either of the above can rewrite the boot sector to not point to an OS you want to delete. Then you just delete it (actually, its Windows folder).

 

[spdfreak]

So, I have a new 128GB Intel SSD I can use for Win10. Will I be able to use the data on the Win7 SSD and use it when I'm booted into Win10? Stuff like My Doc, Pictures, Music, etc? I know I'll have to reinstall programs, but data should be OK on either drive, right?

 

[Billb2]

Correct. Be aware that Win 7 and Win 10 will both have their own My Documents, My Pictures, etc. folders.

 

[JackMDS]

I tried it on one of my sysyems and it ended with a Disaster using the Org Windows scheme.

So I built my own system and it works very well.

I made under D: a Folder named D:\Jack and under it a sub folders " like My Doc, Pictures, Music, etc".


😎

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I tried it on one of my sysyems and it ended with a Disaster using the Org Windows scheme.

So I built my own system and it works very well.

I made under D: a Folder named D:\Jack and under it a sub folders " like My Doc, Pictures, Music, etc".


😎

I was concerned about offline writes to disks that are cached under PrimoCache -- something the Romex people mention as a cautionary warning.

To set it up, I chose to remove drive-letters of the Win 7 volumes from the Win 10 installation so they're invisible, and vice-versa. If it comes to sharing data, it has to be on an uncached disk. But those were merely cautionary measures looking forward. I don't even work in Windows 7 anymore. I just maintain the OS installation for some minor reasons relating to HTPC functionality of all my systems. I'm taking note of Billb2's remarks above, and will eventually remove Win 7 and the dual-boot configuration. Then I'll have to use a tool to expand the Win 10 volume on the disk.