Dual Boot Windows 8 Safely On An Existing Windows 7 Install?
Nov 11, 2011
I have a install of Windows 7 on my computer which I am not willing to remove and reinstall. I would like to try out the Windows 8 developer trials, it seems logical given my situation to dual boot, allowing me to keep my current install and test Windows 8 simultaneously. I have a spare 80gb hard drive I could use, or I could create a partition on one of my existing hard drives, but a partition is much less ideal. I have tried dual booting linux on the hard drive before, but the linux drive over rode my dual boot set up (I obviously did something wrong), and I could only boot to linux.
How can I safely dual boot Windows 8 on this hard drive (or a partition if necessary), while keeping my Windows 7 install and data in-tact? Just to let you know I have over a TB of data spread over 2 drives but only 2 TB of hard drive space, so I can't back up a lot of my data, just a heads up.
I have an HP quad core machine with OEM Vista Home Premium 32-bit installed. It has never been connected to the internet (only my home network) since I have only used it for video editing and a few other particular tasks that do not require internet access. My thinking was that by keeping it "virgin" I would maintain fast boot times and that out-of-the-box snappiness. Set it up with several specific types of software, remove everything that isn't important (like AV software), and only install things via USB when necessary. For three years I've succeeded and the box is as fast as the day I set it up. It sits sequestered in its tower still wearing its chastity belt, oblivious to the evils of the outside world.
Unfortunately my main online machine (Vista 64-bit) just suffered the indignity of a failed motherboard. It's not worth repairing. Luckily the hard drive is intact. Here is my plan of action. I'd like to know if it makes sense, if it's doable, and, if so, the best way to go about it.
I'd like to set up a dual boot system. A year ago I purchased a full Windows 7 installation using the student discount available at the time. My virgin machine is capable of handling Windows 7 64-bit, so I'd like to install that (have already downloaded the ISO and burned it to a dvd). What I want to do is throw in an entirely new hard drive and install Windows 7 64-bit on it. I would then leave the Vista 32-bit existing installation intact and untouched. I would end up with three SATA drives in the HP tower -- 1) main drive with the existing, virgin OEM Vista 32 installation, 2) brand-new drive on which I would install Windows 7 64-bit, 3) drive I pulled from my dead Vista 64-bit machine, including lots of data and settings.
I would gradually set up the Windows 7 to mirror what I was doing on the machine that just died (I still have access to all of the important settings I need on the hard drive). When I want to do my regular stuff on the net I'll use the new Windows 7 64-bit installation. When I want to do the video and photo stuff I've been doing the last three years I'll boot to the virgin Vista installation (maybe even unplugging from the net while doing so).
So, can I do this? Will I maintain the snappiness of my current setup by making sure that when I boot to the existing Vista 32 install that I stay offline? If all answers are yes, how do I do it? For example, do I just install a new hard drive and then tell the machine to boot to the dvd drive and then install Windows 7 to that new drive from there? If so, how does the dual boot part of it go (or is it automatic and I'll be asked each time I turn on the machine?)
I was going through the instructions on TweakHound for a clean install of Windows 7. 1 -oot up from the Windows 7 installation disc.2 - Choose Repair your computer.3 - In the System Recovery Options screen, choose Use recovery tools...and click Next.4 - Open the Command Prompt.5 - Type diskpart and hit Enter.6 - Type list disk . Find the disk you wish to install Windows 7 on. If you only have one disk then it will show as disk 0. If you have multiple disks find the drive you wish to install 7 on.7 - Type select disk 0 (or use the number of the disk you wish to install Windows 7 on)(note - that is a zero)8 - Type list partition. There shouldn't be any.9 - Type create partition primary.10- Type select partition 1.11- Type active.12- Type format quick.13- When finished reboot and begin your installation.I got to step 8 and when I did a "list partition" there are 4 partitions on my machine. Partition 1 - OEM 47MBPartition 2 - Primary 51GBPartition 3 - Primary 17GBPartition 4 - Primary 4753MBWhere do I go from here? Do I use the current configuration? Delete partitions (if I do that how do I do that?) Which partitions to keep?
A while ago I was using Windows XP Pro on my laptop. I was then forced to switch completely to Windows 7, but because I had so many application and configurations done on the XP, I created a VHD from it (using this) before replacing it. Now, I want to know if its possible to set that VHD beside my current OS as dual boot.I searched and found solutions, but those are either to add a new VHD (Windows 8 mostly) to the dual boot, or loading VHD in virtual machines.Also, if it is possible, can I copy the VHD on my external HDD and load it every time from there?The whole idea is because my laptop is not so powerful and it wouldn't handle VMs very well. Because of the same reason, XP Mode is not an option.Normal dual boot also is not preferred for two reasons:
1. I want my configurations which are already set on the VHD,
2. My laptop's HDD is only 150GB which does not have too much capacity left already. I can spare like 20-30GBs for XP, but I really cannot deal with the dual booting mess now! I will rarely use the XP for specific tasks, so VHD would be much easier if I will have the option.
With this setup, W7 booted every time, with no dual boot menu appearing. If I pressed F12 during startup, I got to a boot menu where I could choose to boot either W7 or XP, with W7 being highlighted. However, this is how I want it to look like:At startup, the boot menu appears every time, with XP highlighted, and W7 as an alternative.
After installing Win 7 ULT 32 and 64 several times
- I am able to install either 32 or 64 version as a first OS, but when trying to install it as a second OS on the SEPARATE PARTITION OF THE SAME SATA3 HD, it fails once the install starts at app 30 min to complete the install. Tried it several times and it always fails.
- XP Pro fails to install as either first or second OS (can not install it at all). It gives me blue screen.
When working with one OS only (either Win 7 32 or 64 ULT) all drivers install with no issues and system is stable so I assume my issues are not hardware related.
Here is hardware config: - AMD 6 core 1920T - SATA3 WD 1TB hard drive - Western Digitac Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 - Sapphire HD 5770 Varor X video card - 2x4GB of Kingston RAM -Asus M4A89GTD Pro USB3 motherboard -CoolMaster UAF920 case with 750W power supply (750GTX)
I'm really having fits trying to dual boot a friends computer with xp home SP3 after windows 7 pro 64 bit. I slipstreamed all the drivers for his board (asus P8Z77 V LK) into the disc and xp disc gets to the point of choosing the partition to install on. The partition created using windows 7 does not show up. Just shows C disk (corsair nuetron ssd) as one partition having the entire space. None of the commands to create or delete the partition work. Booting back into 7 and going to disk manager shows the disk to be correct : 100 MB system reserved, then the partition for windows 7 as "C", then the 20GB partition XP as "D". I have read that windows XP needs the partition to be "active" in order to install but don't know if this is true. At this time the "D" partition is not active, the "C" partition is. Tried to do this with all other drives (two 1TB western digital HDD) disconnected but that didn't work either.
I've been trying to install Windows 7 Pro upgrade as dual boot with XP Home, and keep getting the message (something like) "Disk read error - press ctr-alt-del to restart" at the first boot during the installation processHave checked the hard drive for errors, and there are none. Have replaced the hard drive with a brand new one, and get the same result.[I also tried installing Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade, and get the same result.] [code]
I have a Windows 7 installation (x64). I wanted to install windows xp 32 in a dual boot scenario for some backwards compatibility hardware issues (video stuff).Anyway, I read the various tutorials and I have used nlite to put sata drivers into my win xp install iso/cd.My problem is that windows xp won't I get the hard drive error message DURING the install (ie, the first time xp asks you to reboot, but long before it tries its various installation things) have tried the various things associated with this, Easybsd, a Windows 7 restore and using fixmbr/etc. I can get BACK into windows 7, but setting up the menu is pointless because xp never installs correctly to begin with. It seems that the guides on fixing this error message are assuming you get it after xp completes its install and tries to boot -- instead, I am getting the error DURING the install. I get a /windows directory on my partition, but it clearly isn't a complete install because I never see the windows install screens with the pictures, estimated time, etc.
I have a PC with XP Home and wish to upgrade it to Win 7-64. I purchased the Win 7 upgrade version. Will ditch XP when happy with getting programs installed in Win 7.I also have a new drive that I wish to do the install of Win 7.My plan is to hookup new drive, place Win 7 DVD in drive and run the install in Custom mode. This should install Win 7 on new drive and preserve Win XP on the old drive.To register Win 7, I have the serial info from the Win XP system and will insert when asked. I'm concerned about whether this method to register will work correctly as I was told that Win 7 must find a windows.old file on the installation drive. Will it work OK?
i have just installed a new motherboard/cpu/ram and i am just trying to start windows 7 from an existing hard drive, with it already installed. i have heard that if windows 7 was pre installed on your computer then it will not work. is this true?if needs be, i have a brand new copy of windows 7 that i can make a new start from. question 1. how do i make a new install of windows 7 if it wont boot in the first place. question 2. will i be able to keep my programs/files on this hard drive?
specs
mobo: biostar n68s3+ cpu: amd athlon ii x4 3.0ghz os. windows 7
I have a 1TB drive I want to install windows on. There is no existing windows installation on the drive, only music, movies, and other files and documents. Is it OK to install windows without formatting this drive? I don't have anything to back up all they data.
i have a windows7 laptop and i have to install windowsxp. but the problem is that there is an error screen after showing the ''SET UP IS STARTING WINDOWS'
As part of the chipset driver installation, it also installed the RAID and SATA drivers that Nvidia provides.I have a 300GB HDD on the primary IDE channel although I currently boot from one of my SATA hdd's.How would I go about transferring my OS to a RAID 0?Would it be possible to just system image my current OS onto the IDE drive and then format my two SATA hdd's, enable RAID in BIOS and then use Seagate Disc Wizard to install the system image onto the RAID 0?Is seagate disc wizard capable of transferring to a RAID drive??Have the RAID drivers definitely been installed with the Chipset drivers and will Windows recognise the RAID array?Have heard that you have to set up a boot partition the same size as the image on the RAID 0, would it then be possible to expand that to use the entire RAID partition
dual booting windows 7 home premium x64 with linux fedora 14 on dual independantly dedicated drives. i am a college student with moderate computer (windows) knowledge but am doing software development and would like to play around with some linux for a class. i have no prior experience with linux and have minimal knowledge of operation. i am currently running windows 7 and would like to keep it as my primary os. i do not wish to share media files across drives or os's, windows does that just fine as is and i dont want to get into a third drive. my current drive is a 1tb wd black caviar hdd. it is also currently 2/3rds full and the desktop is about 6 months old so i would rather not partition the drive for a dual boot. i would think that there are some other advantages for the os's operating independantly off their own drives other than if one hdd dies i should still have the other with its os still ok. i have read some topics about RAID configs with dual boot setups with dual drives like this but am not very familiar with RAID. is there a RAID config that would be beneficial in this situation? i currently do not have a RAID card. my tower internals are not very accessible and i dont like the idea of disconnecting drives depending on which os i want to operate.
I have Windows 7 installed in C , Now I want to install XP in other partition (D) in the same HD, to work on dual boot.
I ask help from you because I could not do the installation by the obvious method: installing XP by booting its installation CD and choosing the D partition for the system, my Windows 7 stopped to work, I had to repair it with Windows 7 installation CD.
So, i've been using Windows 7 for a few months, and i decided to install XP on another HDD, which is completely empty. It all went well, except fot the dualboot thing, cause i can only boot XP. I've tried changing the boot sequence, and still only XP boots.
ASUS P7P55D-E EVO 2X80gb Western Digital SATA Drives 2x2TB Samsung Spintpoint SATA Drives
I have already been using the machine with another 80Gb Western Digital SATA Drive with Windows 7 Pro 64Bit installed and now want to convert to RAID 5 for redunancy in case of Drive failure (We all say we will back up but we are all lazy when it comes to it LOL).I have taken out the original OS drive and plugged it into the E-SATA connector on the MOBO, gone into the BIOS, turned on RAID for the SATA Ports on the MOBO, and connected the 2 X 80Gb Boot drives. Entered the Hardware RAID Controller POST, and created the RAID 5 Volume from the 2 X 80Gb Discs.Now boot with Acronis Wester Digital edition.Clone the Original 80Gb Disc to the new Raid Array.Shut machine off, remove original OS 80gb Disc from E-SATA port.Boot machine.It starts to boot, and gets as far as the Windwos 7 Microsoft 4 Colour logo and then I get an error and then have to boot into Windows 7 from DVD and go through the repair process.When the Repair has run it reports the following:
The following startup option will be repaired:
Name: Windows Boot Manager Identifier: {9DEA862C-5CDD-4E70-ACC1-F32B344D4795}
The following startup options will be added:
Name: Windows Recovery Environment (recovered) Path: Recoverye52d0bc2-1f15-11df-af10-d764fe3715b8Winre.wim Windows Device: Partition=D76190 MB)
A copy of the current boot configuration data will be saved as:C:BootBCD.Backup.0001 However it fails to do the update How do I get this RAID to boot successfully? I *don't* want to have to re-install the Operating System as that is just too painful a thought?
I have seen the great tutorial for doing a clean install. In this case I am looking for another tip. My computer is already Windows 7 with lots of software. Performance has come to a point I want to do a clean install and start all over.The question? The Windows 7 install should be a piece of cake, but I think keeping track of all the software and reinstalling it can be a pain.
i have a new work laptop with xp sp3 on it. I want to install w7 64 bit as a dual boot, but only have 1 physical drive. i cannot remove my current installation as it is pre-build from work, but can partition the drive etc. However on trying to install w7 64 bit I get a message saying cannot install windows 7 on efi drive with mbr, not gpt. Can I do what I want without screwing up my xp installation?
I have lost the ability to dual boot after installing windows XP.
I Originally had windows XP. I partitioned the drive in order to install windows 7. Installed windows 7 fine, no problems, was able to dual boot. After getting data from XP partition. I decided to do a clean install of xp. After doing that my machine only boots into XP, I no longer have the dual boot option.
I have tried booting off the windows 7 dvd and 'repair computer'. It said it found some problems and fixed them. Rebooted, still only booted into XP. Tried booting off DVD again ran 'Startup Repair option' Again, said it fixed some things, still only boots into XP.
I also tried EasyBCD and it said it fixed the problems, but everything is still the same. I can only boot into windows xp. No dual boot.
My boot.ini, ntldr and ntdetect are all on partition that has windows 7 installed.
Saw the posts about Vistabootpro but wanted to make sure i went that route before i purchased it and wanted to make sure of the correct steps to follow.
I'm wanting to install Windows 7 as a dual boot alongside my existing XP set up and have been trying to follow the excellent guide at Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP
But I'm stuck at resizing the existing partition as described at Partition or Volume - Shrink
I get as far as the command prompt and selecting the drive, but as soon as I type "shrink querymax" or "shrink desired=15360" or even just "shrink" I get the message
"Diskpart has encountered an error: This service cannot be started in safe mode"
Now I can't see any way of getting a command prompt WITHOUT starting in safe mode.
Well i am currently running Vista Home Premium sp2 and Windows 7 Ultimate (build 7100) in a dual boot config for about 2-3months and loving it. I was wondering if i could upgrade my Windows 7 install to RTM without affecting my Vista install? Do you get a choice which OS you want to upgrade or does it go by what OS you load the upgrade disc from?
I have on my desktop a dual boot Vista64 and Vista32.
BCD is via Vistabootpro.
I would like to overwrite the Vista32 install with Windows7.
Anything I should be aware of?
I hestitate for example to set the Bios to boot from DVD while installing Windows 7 or will the Windows 7 install when rebooting during installation automatically default to the Vista32 partition?
I currently have Vista Ultimate x64 and Windows 7 RC1 x64 running in a dual boot setup. Each OS is installed on a separate disk drive. If I preorder Windows 7 Professional upgrade ($99) will I be able to do a clean install on a partition of my choice or will it force me to clean install over my existing Vista Ultimate partition ?? I understand that I cant do an upgrade in place from Vista Ultimate to Windows 7 Professional. My question is will the preorder Windows 7 upgrade force to me "kill" my Vista Ultimate partition ?
