I have a dual boot (Windows 7 & 8 on separate hard drives) system that is performing flawlessly. I'm considering doing the free 8.1 update (updating Windows 8), but concerned that it might mess up my current beautiful dual boot configuration.
View 5 RepliesI cloned my existing Windows installation (8.1 pro, 32 bit) onto my new SSD. I got everything up and running, and I still have my old Windows installation on one of the partitions of my HDD.
Can I turn this setup into a dual boot?
I think this could be useful, in case the new installation gets borked, or in order to run an effective malware scan on the SSD, etc.
I have installed Blue 8.1 on a separate drive in my system along side 8.0. When I restart the 8.0 boots unless I manually select the 8.1 drive in bios. How can I alter the Boot menu to add the option to boot from either OS?
View 3 Replies View RelatedLate last Fall I bought a new Desktop, an HP H81414, with Windows 8 installed with the intention of installing Windows 7 on an SSD. I migrated Window 8 to an SSD, removed that from the system, installed new SSD and put Windows 7 on it. Both worked fine. I wound up with 2 SSD's. capable of running on the EFI BIOS machine with Secure Boot turned off. I later bought a new laptop with Windows 8. I found the Win 8 with Classic Shell to be very acceptable.
What I would like to do now ,if possible, is to mount both SSD's in the HP case and switch to either one of them at boot.
I had windows 7 running on my computer. When windows 8 came out I used a second harddrive as the windows 8 installation drive. Windows 8 automatically setup a dual boot system where every time I started the computer it took me a windows screen where I could select either windows 7 or windows 8. This has been going on since Windows 8 was released.
I decided it was getting old so I decided it was time to remove the old windows 7 harddrive. I tried doing it inside the windows 8 dual boot screen but could not find an option. So I decided to reformat the windows 7 harddrive. I did this in command prompt mode. After doing so when my computer restarted it said it could not find any harddrive to boot. Windows 8 is installed on the other harddrive, the one that was not reformatted. So how do I get it to start using that harddrive as the boot drive? I checked my bios and even physically disconnected the old HD that had windows 7 on it, but none of that seemed to work even though the Windows 8 HD is definitely in the boot order in the bios.
I've had Win 7 Pro on my laptop for over a year. I installed a 2nd hard drive to it recently and today I installed Windows 8 Pro on the 2nd hard drive. It's been a roller coaster of good & bad luck.
The first install went fine, until I tried to install the Windows 8.1 upgrade from the Windows store, then things went bad and I had to go into Windows 7 and eventually delete the Windows 8 volume and change it from MBR to GPT because of UEFI (no secure boot enabled). What a stretch of error messages telling me I can't install Windows 8 on the blank hard drive because it was or wasn't MBR or GPT, or the automagically made partitions weren't in the right order.
After spending over 7 hours twice in a row installing Windows 8, I finally find out that there's no boot option for Windows 7 anymore.
The only clue I have is to use a Windows 7 repair disk and use diskpart.exe and make the Win 7 drive "active" but that's a little foreign to me at this point.
I'm looking in Computer Management / Disk Management from within Windows 8.
Disk 0: SYSTEM D: 438 MB NTFS (lengthened from 199 MB with EaseUS because Acronis 2014 thought it too small while crashing), Healthy (Active, Primary Partition); Win 7 E: 930.98 GB NTFS Healthy (Primary Partition); HP_TOOLS F: 102 MB FAT 32 Healthy (Primary Partition)
Disk 1: 300 MB Healthy (Recovery Partition) {no letter}; 100 MB Healthy (EFI System Partition) {no letter}; C: 931.00 GB NTFS Healthy (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary Partition)
And several other external disks which don't deserve mention today.
I get as far as " a driver is needed to continue installation" not found, make sure its on the right media. Here is what i got done on my own..
1- BIOS setting "legacy" and U E F I" boot from USB.
2- F 9 to choose boot order.. selected USB device
3- Installation starts for WIN 7
4- Driver is needed to continue, and i have no clue what it is..some one pointed me to . f 6 f l p y-x 64 because its an HP Envy...
5- Driver not found / wrong driver..
6- Shut down restart.......................
My DVD is Windows 7 ultimate X 32, X 64..
No matter what i cant boot form my USB /U E Fl /WIN 7 pen drive.seems like its not recognized or drivers for the USB chip set not installed.. Of course using the O E M DVD of win 7 fails. because of the G P T style.
I'm trying to dual boot Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit and Windows 8 Pro. I want to have each OS installed on separate Hard drives. I want the default OS to be Windows 7 (loads automatically) or goes to the boot manager screen and choose either Win 7 and Win 8.
I've been running Windows 7 on an SSD hard drive with a UEFI Boot. I'm looking to install Windows 8 on a WD Caviar Black 1 TB drive.
Steps taken:
-Burnt Windows 8 to DVD to boot and install from.
-Re-ordered boot order to boot from DVD
-Windows 8 install starts
-Windows 8 drive screen - format the WD Caviar Black 1 TB to install Windows 8 on.
-ERROR Message appears - Can't find media location (I didn't write it down but will on next install I will update). Something like 0x00007B. The solution I found was to disconnect my Windows 7 drive (and all other hard drives).
(Issue: won't that affect the set up of the dual boot?)
-Disconnected Windows 7 drive and was able to install Windows 8.
-After successful install of Windows 8 I re-started my system expecting to see the dual boot menu options. However, Windows 8 loaded directly.
-Changed boot drive order to SSD (with Windows 7) then WD 1TB Drive (with Windows 8). However, Windows 7 then loaded directly.
-I rebooted into Windows 8 and went to the boot order menu in Settings > Control Panel > System > Startup and Restore > (might be a few other tabs). The drop down box shows Windows 8 but no Windows 7.
So, I'm sure I did something wrong on the install. Any thoughts?
If the SSD is a UEFI boot should the WD 1TB (Win 8 install drive) be the same? Is it critical to have the Windows 8 drive connected while installing Windows 8 to the other hard drive? If so, I will have to solve the error message I get after formatting the WD 1TB drive during the Win 8 install. (I know not having the specific error code doesn't work - will update tonight with that info).
Also, I have a 2TB drive that I think has a MBR partition. Would that affect things? Should I even have that? I'll confirm that too. Just hoping to possibly get the ball rolling with answers.
I had my system set up for Dual boot (on separate hard drives) for both Win 8.1 and Win 7. Win 8.1 developed a problem and unfortunately the only back up I had (my fault) was for Win 8 before I installed Win 7 and the dual boot.
I reinstalled from the backup and then updated Win 8 to 8.1. Both the Win 8.1 64 bit and the Win 7 64 bit work OK but the dual boot is now missing in Win 8.1.
Is there any way of repairing/creating the dual boot, either in Win 7 or Win 8, without using BCD Edit?
Laptop came with Windows 8 and has been updated to 8.1
Installed Ubuntu on a new partition, but no matter how many times I try, I can't get the machine to load Grub at power-on. If I boot Super Grub Disk/Rescatux, I see the installed Ubuntu, but other tools (like EasyBCD) only see Windows.
Apparently, we're no longer using MBR? Everything I used to know about computers seems to have become false in the last year or 2. How do I get Grub working on this new EFI thing?
just want to check that i can duel boot win 8? in short unplug my win 7 drive and install win 8 on a separate new drive. plug back in and choose between 7 or 8.
View 3 Replies View RelatedI have sony vpceh3aen laptop with windows 7 home basic. I have IOS file of embedded windows 8.1 industry pro with update via dreamspark.com. just now I run windows 8.1 upgrade assistance and its says "your pc's firmware doesn't support secure boot so you won't be able to use it in windows 8.1". Some persons says that not a problem. I not like to upgrade my OS but I want create dual boot with windows 7 home basic and embedded windows 8.1 industry pro.
my questions:
1. can I possible to dual boot? if possible how to create it and what are changes(in BIOS and windows 7 settings) needs to make in my laptop?
2. I have pen drive and DVD, which is best for create dual boot with IOS file?
3. I have 100GB free logical partition. that is enough for embedded windows 8? if not how much need to increase?
So I have a Toshiba laptop with win 8 preinstalled in it I want to dual boot it with win XP However I managed to boot to the CD after some research but when I reach to installing win xp to my virtual partition I can't seem to find it I just see my HDD as one without a partition... what can I do?
View 8 Replies View RelatedDual boot... I installed a new SSD and want to install a clean copy of Windows 8 Pro 64 bit on it while retaining Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit on my existing HHD. I have an upgrade copy of Windows 8. Will I be able to dual boot with this set-up?
View 4 Replies View Relatedi have installed windows 7 and xp in dual boot, but i want to delete both os without leaving any traces and install only one os that is windows 8. i got the tutorial for deleting any one os but how to delete both os and install a fresh windows eight . ?
View 9 Replies View RelatedCurrently I have dual boot Windows 7 & 8 on my 500GB SATA HDD.
I am planning of installing/adding new 1TB SATA HDD.
How to I copy the dual boot Windows 7 & 8 from the 500GB HDD to the 1TB HDD (My plan is to use the 500 GB HDD as data files back-up only)
Ok, I have an SSD. Windows 8 Consumer preview was installed on it. I then partitioned it in half in Consumer Preview. I then installed Windows 7 on the newly partitioned fresh half of the SSD. When I'd boot up I would get the usual BIOS black type screen asking whether I wanted to boot W7 or Windows 8 with a 30 seconds timer. PERFECT.
So today I installed Windows 8 Pro, I formatted the Windows 8 Consumer Preview half of the SSD using the install disk before installing Windows 8 Pro.
So now I have Windows 8 Pro on one half of the partition, W7 remained untouched on the other half. HOWEVER, when I boot now it automatically boots to Windows 8 Pro and gives me no option to choose what OS I want to load !_!
I have both 7 and 8 installed in a dual boot system and have now decided that I no longer need Windows 7.
I have read and re-read the tutorial on removing Windows 7 so I am very familiar with the method however, it does not work for me. In disk manager I select the partition to be deleted and right click on it as instructed in the tutorial. In the drop down menu the option to "delete volume" is greyed out and not available so I am stuck.
How come the thread has been marked solved?
There are several videos on youtube explaining how, here is just one:
How to Install Ubuntu 12.04 to Dual boot alongside Windows 8 - YouTube
I have a sony vaio vpcyb3v1e. I have windows 8.1 installed and i tried using a bootable usb to install as multi boot, the xp black edition on a separate partition. After doing that i couldn't be able to login in the windows 8.1 OS. I got the message Load needed DLLS for kernel.
View 9 Replies View RelatedI already have a W7-Windows 8 dual boot machine.I want to upgrade Windows 8 to Windows 8.1
Are there any major considerations I need to be aware of when upgrading Windows 8 to Windows 8.1? Does the Windows 8.1 upgrade handle and cope with an already dual-booting machine? I don't want to wreck/lose my w7 installation at all.
I have a question on the best way to install Windows 7 as a dual boot on an existing Windows 8 installation on a new Asus Laptop. Most of the tutorials I've seen assume the pre-existing installation is Windows 7, and say that Windows 7 needs to be installed first, not an option when your Windows 8 comes pre-installed.
I have an Asus F75, and here is the partitioning:
1. 300 MB EFI System Partition, FAT32
2. 900 MB NTFS Recovery Partition (would seem to be the MS Reserved partition, is that correct?)
3. 279 GB NTFS OS Partition
4. 398 GB NTFS Data Partition
5. 20 GB NTFS Recovery Partition
It sounds like after installing Windows 7, the boot menu will be the Win7 text boot selection menu if you use that as the default OS, which is what I plan on doing, so I believe there isn't anything I need to do to that, is that correct?
I have turned of Fast Boot in Windows 8, and disabled Secure Boot in the system BIOS.
What should I do about the existing Data partition, which will be the Win7 partition. Should I:
a. Leave that intact and simply install Win7 to it, or
b. Delete the partition, install Win7 and allow the install to manage the unallocated space?
Do I have any other considerations other than collecting all the Win 7 drivers for the laptop (which I have already done)?
Thats what the tittle says, got a laptop that came with windows 8 pre-installed. I really need to use windows xp, and no, virtual machine won't work with the software I'm using.
Only options I got is either get dual boot to work with xp and 8 or I'll just get rid of 8 and install xp. Don't really want to get rid of 8 but if theres no choice...
I just received an Asus Zenbook with 8 preinstalled.
It was configured with static IP and my office configuration, I would like to split the existing partition, create a new primary partition and clone the Win 8 installation in the new one.
Then set up a dual boot configuration, so I can have a clean "office config" and an "home config" with the same licenses and software in which I can mess with the configuration and setup my home stuff (DLNA server, access to home headless server, software to flash android handset, etc).
I have a dual-boot system with Windows 8 and Windows XP. Now, I need to uninstall Windows XP so that I can install Ubuntu.
But the problem is the partition having XP is active and it is the system drive. I think even the MDR is located in XP partition.
Here's a screenshot of my Disk Management window: to uninstall XP.
I have a windows 8 machine that I want to install windows 7 hp on. It wont get past the starting windows screen when I boot off the dvd.
View 2 Replies View RelatedI was wanting to dual boot Win7 and Windows 8 but I just want to switch out the SDD's to this. Is this possible? Or will the secure boot thing mess up the Windows 8 installation?
View 4 Replies View RelatedI have Win 7 on a 60gb ssd hard drive. I would like to put another 60gb ssd drive in my computer and run win 8 off of this. Is it possible to run this as a dual boot system. Will I get the option to boot into either when I boot up.
View 4 Replies View RelatedWindows 8, linux, Partition....I would like to use my new laptop with windows 8 pre-installed to the following:-
Create a Dual Boot Windows 8 / Ubuntu- Create on my C drive (unique drive on my laptop):*a partition for the system*one for Windows 8*one for Data and *last one for Ubuntu OS
My aim is :-to install VmWare on Windows 8 and run Checkpoint Splat with virtual machines to perform CCSA labs.- to install GNS3 on Ubuntu for CCNP labs but with GNS3 accessing files in the Data partition.
I have a Toshiba Satellite with 750Gb and 8 Go RAM.According to you what's the best size for my partitions?Is there a better way to partition my C drive regarding my aim?
I have been researching installing Ubuntu alongside Win 8.on my daughters laptop. I already boot Ubuntu & Win 7 on my desktop pc, but I have read some horror stories about installing Ubuntu with Win 8., mostly in regard to the uefi boot system in Win 8., as well as, its a laptop as opposed to desktop.
I have been told that i must enter the bios first and disable secure boot. Most of the tutorials I have read are very complex. Then i read a tutorial from this website, dated 2011 that appeared to be simple, and similar to my own Ubuntu/Win 7 installation, however it was dated 2011.
Dual Boot Windows 8 And Ubuntu : Windows 8 Guides
The only difference with my intended installation is that I will use a dvd as my Pc does not have a USB Boot option.
Windows 8, 64-bit.
Used to run Win 7 on our main drive, and used a second one for storage (mainly games), however something happened, making us unable to boot. So we decided to upgrade to Windows 8, which we put on our secondary drive, and that's now the main one (boots from here, is Disk 0). When I turn on the PC, it asks me whether to run on Windows 7 or 8 (8 is the default). C: contains Windows 8, D: Contains Win 7.
MAIN PROBLEM: Since we're going to use the old main drive as storage (the one with Windows 7), I wanted to format it, but it won't let me because, I suppose, of the System files still on it (System, Active). Picture of Disk Management below. How do I format it?