HOW TO EASIEST DUAL Boot into (2) Windows OS'es

[inquiring]

I installed Windows 7 on one HD and Windows XP on another HD.

I want to know how I can select either OS at boot up other than booting into my BIOS and having to select the HD that the OS is on.

Is there a key that I can press at start up that will allow me to boot into my desired OS without having to tell the BIOS which driver to boot to?


.

 

[JackMDS]

You can use EzBCD on one drive and install a Boot selector.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/8790/dual-boot-your-pre-installed-windows-7-computer-with-xp/

 

[inquiring]

I don't want to partition a drive-I want to keep XP on one hard drive and WIN7 on the other hard drive-two physically separate drives.
Will the app EzBCD allow me to select the drive to boot into when I startup my computer?

 

[ninaholic37]

grub4dos can do it also
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=37572034#post37572034

 

[JackMDS]

Will the app EzBCD allow me to select the drive to boot into when I startup my computer?

Yes.

Log here and go to the end of the page there is a free version to the left.

https://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/

 

[inquiring]

Thank you for suggesting the app-as long as I can select the OS to boot into after my computer starts up, then I'm a happy camper and this app appears to work that way. I will install the app today or tomorrow and report the results. I just did not want to go into my BIOS settings at start up and have to select the drive containing the desired OS each and every time I turned on my PC. Thanks again Pros!

 

[SimMike2]

You can always just change boot order in the BIOS. By the way, if you install two different installs of Windows on separate drives, disconnect all hard drives for the install except the drive you want to install to. Windows 7 will put hidden files on secondary drives. This can make it difficult to image the drive.

 

[Charlie98]

Thank you for suggesting the app-as long as I can select the OS to boot into after my computer starts up, then I'm a happy camper and this app appears to work that way. I will install the app today or tomorrow and report the results. I just did not want to go into my BIOS settings at start up and have to select the drive containing the desired OS each and every time I turned on my PC. Thanks again Pros!

When I'm running dual boot, I have my regular W7 SSD selected as the first boot drive. When I need to boot into the second OS, I just tap F12 at boot, pick the 2nd drive, and off I go... it's not really that hard, and I'm not having to go into the BIOS. YMMV

 

[inquiring]

Okay I have one SSD HDD with XP and one SSD HDD with MC Win 7 on it.The I am now unable to down arrow to select that my PC boot from WIN 7. I see both OSes but am only able to boot into the defaulted XP.
I unistalled EasyBCD.

Should I reintstall EASYBCD on the XP HDD or the WIN 7 HDD? (or both).
Should I tell my BIOS to boot from the XP HDD or the WIN 7 HDD?
The app worked for a few hours and now wont let me arrow down to WIN 7 upon boot up.
What am I doig wrong?

Thanks guys, this should have been a no brainer?

Is it possible that the BIOS is in conflict with the app re HDD selection upon boot?

I have the default drive as XP and the second drive as WIN 7. Should I reverse that order?

Yes.

Log here and go to the end of the page there is a free version to the left.

https://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/

 

[corkyg]

I use a hardware solution. I have three EZ-Swap4 racks installed. Each has a different OS. I choose 7, 8.1, or 10 just by keying the right drive. The other two are always inactive.

 

[Underclocked]

Select the Win7 drive as the bios boot drive. Install EasyBCD on the Win7 drive. Now you must add the XP boot entry being sure to use the drive letter for that drive as shown in Windows 7. (It might be anything with a letter other than C). Follow the instructions shown at https://neosmart.net/wiki/easybcd/dual-boot/windows-xp/ "Adding a Windows XP entry with EasyBCD" to add the entry.

Those instructions make it seem more complicated than it truly is.

Yes, it should be almost a no-brainer but there are a couple of steps there that might be omitted by someone unfamiliar with the program.

 

[inquiring]

I installed EasyBCD on the Win 7 drive and I think I specified the wrong drive names in that setup.

I need to go back into the win 7 drive but am unable to as the "select hard drive/OS" menu does not appear on boot up.

I also had to specify the drives as "IDE" in my BIOS because I was receiving a STOP ERROR message that would not allow me to boot into any drive.

How can I boot into my F drive (WIN 7) to change the drive locations on the EasyBCD app installed there? Both my C drive with XP and my F drive with WIN 7 are SATA drives and WIN XP is on SATA 1 and WIN 7 is on SATA 6.


Does the location of EasyBCD on any drive matter or does the boot order of the drives help make the drive selection easier?

What is the preferred drive location for EasyBCD and what is the preferred drive order for the bootup list when EasyBCD appears on bootup? I assume EasyBCD need ONLY be installed on one HDD and which would that be?

Thank you.

Select the Win7 drive as the bios boot drive. Install EasyBCD on the Win7 drive. Now you must add the XP boot entry being sure to use the drive letter for that drive as shown in Windows 7. (It might be anything with a letter other than C). Follow the instructions shown at https://neosmart.net/wiki/easybcd/dual-boot/windows-xp/ "Adding a Windows XP entry with EasyBCD" to add the entry.

Those instructions make it seem more complicated than it truly is.

Yes, it should be almost a no-brainer but there are a couple of steps there that might be omitted by someone unfamiliar with the program.

 

[inquiring]

What is an "EZ-Swap4" rack?

I use a hardware solution. I have three EZ-Swap4 racks installed. Each has a different OS. I choose 7, 8.1, or 10 just by keying the right drive. The other two are always inactive.

 

[corkyg]

What is an "EZ-Swap4" rack?

It is a type of mobile rack that does not require and inner tray. One can insert and 3.5-n SATA drive, lock it, and that is the drive of choice.

I use three of them. Just change the last from XP to 10 and you can see how I can select any of these boot drives. They all have the exact same apps and link to a common data drive.

If you Google EZ-Swap 4 you can find them at Newegg and other places.

 

[Underclocked]

Inquiring, there should be a key you can depress during initial boot up to get a boot menu. It's usually F12 but sometimes it is the ESC key. Try to get to that menu. Select the XP hard drive as the boot source and see if it will boot. As long as bios is set to default to the 7 drive as boot the bcd entries you made there should have no negative impact on the XP drive booting.

You can then install EasyBCD on the XP drive. It should still look at and effect the Windows 7 drive as that drive is set as the bios boot drive. Carefully check your entries and make corrections. (Verify that the Windows 7 drive IS currently set as boot drive in bios.)

You should have made no changes at all to the entry for the Windows 7 installation when you did this the first time. Remember, those drive letters will change depending upon which OS you are in at the time. If you are IN XP, it will almost certainly be identified as your C drive but if you are in Windows 7... the Windows 7 drive will then be seen as C Drive. Make certain that any changes you make in EasyBCD reflect the drive letter assignment as seen in the operating system you are in at that time.

It is generally better to install EasyBCD to the newer OS. This avoids the problem often encountered because an older OS will see the newer one as having an inappropriate boot sector or unsigned drivers.

 

[inquiring]

Charlie-are you sing EasyBCD when you press that F12 key?

When I'm running dual boot, I have my regular W7 SSD selected as the first boot drive. When I need to boot into the second OS, I just tap F12 at boot, pick the 2nd drive, and off I go... it's not really that hard, and I'm not having to go into the BIOS. YMMV

 

[inquiring]

Thank you-Ive seen these before.

Funny thing--my PC case is a Coolermaster Storm and my SSD is 2.5" BUT a mounting frame/(adapter to 3.5") from Fry's that holds the 2.5" SSD is too narrow and I cant screw it into the side of the PC slot so apparently Coolermaster sells its own "slide" type mounting frame that holds a 2.5" SSD to 3.5" frame. I don't like proprietary hardware!

It is a type of mobile rack that does not require and inner tray. One can insert and 3.5-n SATA drive, lock it, and that is the drive of choice.

I use three of them. Just change the last from XP to 10 and you can see how I can select any of these boot drives. They all have the exact same apps and link to a common data drive.

If you Google EZ-Swap 4 you can find them at Newegg and other places.

 

[Underclocked]

What motherboard do you have?

 

[inquiring]

Msi h87-g43.

what motherboard do you have?

 

[inquiring]

So lets see if I got it right--XP is my physical SSD HDD C drive and 7 is my SSD HDD F Drive, currently.

Does that mean in EasyBCD that I must assign XP as my C drive and 7 as my F drive so that the drive letters match those in my BIOS?

Inquiring, there should be a key you can depress during initial boot up to get a boot menu. It's usually F12 but sometimes it is the ESC key. Try to get to that menu. Select the XP hard drive as the boot source and see if it will boot. As long as bios is set to default to the 7 drive as boot the bcd entries you made there should have no negative impact on the XP drive booting.

You can then install EasyBCD on the XP drive. It should still look at and effect the Windows 7 drive as that drive is set as the bios boot drive. Carefully check your entries and make corrections. (Verify that the Windows 7 drive IS currently set as boot drive in bios.)

You should have made no changes at all to the entry for the Windows 7 installation when you did this the first time. Remember, those drive letters will change depending upon which OS you are in at the time. If you are IN XP, it will almost certainly be identified as your C drive but if you are in Windows 7... the Windows 7 drive will then be seen as C Drive. Make certain that any changes you make in EasyBCD reflect the drive letter assignment as seen in the operating system you are in at that time.

It is generally better to install EasyBCD to the newer OS. This avoids the problem often encountered because an older OS will see the newer one as having an inappropriate boot sector or unsigned drivers.

 

[ninaholic37]

So lets see if I got it right--XP is my physical SSD HDD C drive and 7 is my SSD HDD F Drive, currently.

Does that mean in EasyBCD that I must assign XP as my C drive and 7 as my F drive so that the drive letters match those in my BIOS?

All version of Windows expect everything to be on the C: drive as far as I know. Not sure how EasyBCD does it, but the Grub4Dos example I posted shows how to "trick" Windows Vista (or 7) into thinking it's on the C: drive by hiding the drives before it, then unhiding them again when booting into XP.

 

[JackMDS]

I have a simple computer with two SATA HDs.

One drive is a Bootable Win 7. The other is a Bootable XP. Both with the regular default Boot as appeared after independent install.

The BIOS are set to Boot from the Win 7 Drive.

It boots from Win 7 and EzBCD is installed on it.

This is how the View Setting looks after configuration.

The process starts with the drives connected and ready for action while booting is from Win 7.

Start EZBCD and add the XP Drive using the Add Entry Menu.

Ignore the Portable lower part.

Then click on Edit Boot and configure it as shown bellow.

The way it set now the computer Boot and display the Boot menu for 12 Second if nothing done it boots to Win 7.

If needed you can either extend the time, or choose Wait for user selection.

Selection is done by using the Up Down on the Keyboard and pressing Enter.

Save the setting and Done.

The whole thing should not take more then few minutes.

 

[Underclocked]

JackMDS' explanation above should guide you very well.

According to your motherboard's manual - you must press F11 to enter Boot Menu (early in the boot process).