Another very useful posting.
With Win8 coming out in about 1 month I am sure many users will be wanting to dual boot Win8 and Win7.
My situation is just a little different.
I have a dual boot system now with Vista and Win7 on different partitions on one of my HDDS.
I would like to install Win8 on the partition that is now occupied by Vista.
It looks like I would use this information:
For a multiboot setup, the steps are the same as in that guide. The only difference is that when you are asked to select where to install Windows 8, select the partition that you created and make sure you don’t select the partitions where other operating systems are installed.
Then when I select where Win8 will be installed I would just select the Vista partition.
Having created a lot of problems in the past because of not knowing some something that wasn’t obvious, I sure would appreciate if you could confirm that what I mentioned is the way to proceed.
You should format the partition where Windows Vista is installed (after backing up any valuable data you have on it).
Also, you will remain with an invalid boot entry for Windows Vista. Use the System Configuration utility we mention in the article to remove it.
Then, start the installation of Windows 8 on the partition where Windows Vista used to be.
mjgoulet
11 years ago
Does Windows 8 have to be installed onto the C drive? I currently have 2 partitions on my main drive, C and D. Some of win7 programs are installed on drive D but the OS is installed on c. Can I install win8 on d?
I installed vmware and installed W8 there. Just playing it safe. On another note, how does one find all the software that is loaded on their PC without a start button? Will there be a window for each one – if so, I’ll have many screens to scroll through to find what I want.
Dipsal
11 years ago
I’m trying to install Windows 8 Enterprise (RTM) alongside my Windows 7 SP1. Windows 8 will be on a separate partition. My question is how would I go about uninstalling Windows 8? Would I just delete the partition? If so, how would I bring back the original Windows 7 bootloader?
I used a Windows 7 DVD and launched startup repair to revert from Windows 8 boot manager back to the normal one.
Sudeepto Dutta
11 years ago
Hello Sir,
Nice tutorial . I have a question..
After dual booting windows 8 & trying it for a while , if I want to uninstall it … how will I remove it and restore the windows 7 boot loader since after dual booting win 8 its boot manager replaces the win7 boot manager ??
Does EasyBCD have that option ??
Secondly… how much space should I give to windows 8 ??
I am not a avid gamer who stores large sized files …& I have a 500 GB HDD … should it be 50-50 or should I give windows 8 a bit more ??
Please explain the steps for dual boot of Windows 7 and Windows Vista.
Robert
11 years ago
While being able to boot into W7 or W8, I would like to have some files that can be accessed from the one system of these two into which I have booted up. I would like to have these files in a third partition, called say, COMMON for example. If I have then three partitions: W7, W8, COMMON, is there a way, order, sequence in which I can place these partitions so that the COMMON partition appears as the same drive letter (e.g. F:) from the W7 boot as it does from the W8 boot?
Previous comments and information in this article, make clear that to double boot, the operating systems must be in different partitions. How about installing the second [in my case, Windows 8] in a second hard drive? Is there a step by step instructions? Could you please point in the right direction?
Thanks,
Dan
The same steps apply when using multiple hard drives too, as you do have multiple partitions available.
Brian
11 years ago
Adrian,
I am back again with the need of a little more help.
As mentioned I have a dual boot system now with Vista and Win7 on different partitions on one of my 2 HDDS.
After reading all the postings this is how I would like to end up:
Have W8 Installed from an upgrade from a download to DVD.
Keep W7 with out any changes in case I don’t like W8.
Delete the Vista partition since it is rarely used.
Install W8 on the reformatted Vista partition
Have W8 partition be the boot partition
Have a new dual boot configuration with W7 & W8 on different partitions.
I am thinking this is how I should proceed:
Download W8 to a CD
Backup any info I want to keep that is on the Vista partition
Reformat the Vista partition to eliminate it
Using the System Configuration utility remove the invalid Vista boot entry.
Install W8 on the old reformatted Vista partition.
As W8 is being installed it will designate W8 as the boot partition.
Reboot and make sure I can boot to either W7 or W8.
If this is correct the only clarification I think I need is, if Vista is eliminated via a repartitioning will, the W8 installer still recognize that Vista was a valid installation and it will then allow W8 to be install?
The way you want to do this is correct. You should not encounter any issues. Just remember to remove the boot entry for Windows Vista prior to installing Windows 8.
Brian
11 years ago
Adrian,
Thanks for the personal reply.
I can’t explain how much confidence I will have with this W8 installation knowing of the expert advise you offered.
One thing I forgot to ask.
I don’t think it is possible, but I thought I would ask, since if anyone knows of a way to do it I think it would be you.
Is there any way to end up with all my programs in both W8 & W7 after I do the W8 installation without having to install them individually them in W8?
There is no way for you to install applications once and have them available in both Windows 7 and Windows 8. They must be installed individually in each operating system. However, you can use Ninite to speed up the installation process for some of your programs.
Thanks for that clarification.
I was hoping that wasn’t the case.
Consequently, my plan to be able to revert to W7 if I didn’t like W8 would not be possible.
Sorry for all the questions; I know just enough to realize many things can go wrong, but not enough to know how to proceed to avoid those unknown problems with out some help.
I was thinking I could install W8 on another computer, so I reasoned instead I should be able to install W8 on a separate HDD in the same computer with W7 & Vista. And then would W7 & Vista still retain all their programs and features?
If they would then I could just use follow your posting and uninstall Vista, How to Uninstall Windows 8, Windows 7 or Any Other Version of Win http://tinyurl.com/b7y5flh, and end up with W8 as a clean install W/O any programs, but still have a fully functioning W7 that I could return to if I didn’t like W8.
Would this be a possibility?
Thanks for your patients with helping me sort out this for me.
Brian
Alain
11 years ago
Hi Brian
I have now triple-boot with W7, XP and Ubuntu. If i upgrade W7 to W8, will this action cause problem to my other O/S ?
Thank you
Alain
Brian Cornelius
11 years ago
Alan,
Regarding your question: I have now triple-boot with W7, XP and Ubuntu.
If I upgrade W7 to W8, will this action cause problem to my other O/S ?
I am sorry but I don’t have enough information or experience to know for sure.
This is what I think happens:
If you do an upgrade to W8 from Vista, you loose Vista, and keep only your Vista prior settings; and W7 is unchanged.
If you do an upgrade to W8 from W7, you loose W7, but keep all your settings AND programs from your W7 prior settings; and XP is unchanged.
Also I don’t think that Ubuntu is changed in either of those cases.
To keep all the programs and setting of your existing OSs I don’t think you can do an upgrade; it must be a new installation.
That is I was am thinking that may be the best in my case: I.E., a triple boot. I could keep all my setting from Vista & W7.
In summary:
I think if I don’t do an up grade to W8, just do a higher price new install, I could retain both Vista and W7 working with all of their settings, and W8 would be a new install so I would have to all any setting or programs I wanted.
Like I said I DO NOT KNOW for sure!!
May be some can comment about this.
Brian
Bryan
11 years ago
Hi sir, is it possible if i have my win8 installed first before win7? you mentioned that i need to install other versions first. Many thanks.
Hello Sir,
I have windows 7 before when i heard that windows 8 is out now I installed it to my PC. I have 2 Physical Drive(C:Windows Seven and D:Windows 8)…
Here is my problem i want to removed my windows 7, when i removed the HDD of Window 7, I have disk boot failure…
Here is my question how to transfer the boot record to my other drive…. thanks in advance
krishna g
11 years ago
dual boot of windows 8 with windows 7 problem
actually i bought laptop with inbult orginal windows 7 professional and i got windows 8 copy and right now i am facing a problem after installing windows8 in separate partition. actually it will restart and redirect to personalization screen instead of that i am getting a blank screen i have done the installation process of about 10 times with both cd and USB please help me what may be the problem
ankitbahal
11 years ago
hello, thanks for this idea,
i have a system with windows 8 preinstalled, but some of my softwares are not running on it and i need to install windows 7 or xp to run them. kindly suggest how to proceed… thanks
what kind of features do not run in Windows 8 but run in Windows 7?
Louis
11 years ago
Adrian-
I have new Dell with Win 8 – which I really do NOT like. I am a part-time developer and many products such as Visual Studio, SQL server versions used on Vista do not install or work well on Win 8. Can I purchase a retail copy of Win 7 and setup dual boot?
Yes you can. This guide should help with the dual boot setup.
Robert Webb
10 years ago
Hello Adrian,
I have bought a new computer with windows 8 pre-installed, i use it for school and my tests for school are online proctoring, the software that is used for this doesn’t support windows 8 yet. I want to duel boot so i can take my tests on vista, i do not currently have a back up disk of my windows 8. I have already created the partition but have not loaded windows vista yet because you mentioned that it will overwrite the boot manager. Any suggestions as to how i should proceed. I appreciate any advice you can offer.
HI, I want to add win xp pro onto a laptop with win 8.1 pro using separate hd’s I have read this string to the end and if I understand this correctly I should be able to add the 2nd hd (and partition) and load win xp onto it, get the easybdc software and change win 8.1 pro for dual boot please let me know if I understand this correctly or I need help… thanks in advance for your all your help
GT Koh
10 years ago
How to dual boot-
Press WINkey, Right Click Computer, Click Manage, Click Storage>Disk Management
Shrink D: Drive, Create B: Drive
Name the drive.
Buy Windows 8. Install on B:Drive
Reboot.
You got it!
John NAL
9 years ago
Ηi,i have a new laptop with pre installed windows 8.1.
Unfortunately some old programs are not run on win 8,and is absolutely required to have and the windows 7 on my laptop,with dual boot.
Everything is ok ,but i want after install windows 7,to have the new beuatifull boot manager from win8.
Hi, i have a new PC with W7, and a option to upgrade to W8. W8 will overwrite W7. Now i want to use a new HD to make W8. After that is done insert the drive with W7. And make it dual boot, will this work. And what do i have to do to make it work?
Angella
9 years ago
Please help me! I have a triple boot system with 3 drives. Win7, Vista and XP. I want to replace XP with Win8. Do I follow your instructions for a dual boot and see it work? or is there another set of instructions for this approach?
David
9 years ago
How do you fix the system restore problem. Windows 7 destroys Windows 8 restore points and when booted in Windows 8 windows 8 destroys Window 7 restore points. How do you fix this problem?????
Kiran
8 years ago
I have installed windows xp and then windows 8.1 in another Drive. But,dual boot option menu is not appeared in beggining for selecting the OS. When I start my PC it booted to windows 8.1. Also, in multiboot config window there is only win 8.1 is shown default. Pls solve my problem. How can I able to access dual boot menu at startup?
Stephen Davidson
8 years ago
G’day All!
I have Win XP, 7, 8.1 and another 8.1 (that I want to update to 10 when it comes out), each in its own separate primary partition on an SSD.
I want to be able to hide the other OS’s when I boot into a particular OS, ie if I boot into XP I want 7 and the 8.1’s hidden. Likewise if I boot into 7 I want XP and the 8.1’s hidden.
Is there a way to do so in Win7/8.1 BCD, or by using EasyBCD?
I haven’t been able to find a way of doing so or if it is possible.
Adrian,
Another very useful posting.
With Win8 coming out in about 1 month I am sure many users will be wanting to dual boot Win8 and Win7.
My situation is just a little different.
I have a dual boot system now with Vista and Win7 on different partitions on one of my HDDS.
I would like to install Win8 on the partition that is now occupied by Vista.
It looks like I would use this information:
For a multiboot setup, the steps are the same as in that guide. The only difference is that when you are asked to select where to install Windows 8, select the partition that you created and make sure you don’t select the partitions where other operating systems are installed.
Then when I select where Win8 will be installed I would just select the Vista partition.
Having created a lot of problems in the past because of not knowing some something that wasn’t obvious, I sure would appreciate if you could confirm that what I mentioned is the way to proceed.
Thanks for all the wonder postings.
Best Regards,
Brian
You should format the partition where Windows Vista is installed (after backing up any valuable data you have on it).
Also, you will remain with an invalid boot entry for Windows Vista. Use the System Configuration utility we mention in the article to remove it.
Then, start the installation of Windows 8 on the partition where Windows Vista used to be.
Does Windows 8 have to be installed onto the C drive? I currently have 2 partitions on my main drive, C and D. Some of win7 programs are installed on drive D but the OS is installed on c. Can I install win8 on d?
It doesn’t matter how the partition where you install Windows 8 is labeled.
You can install it on any partition you have available.
I installed vmware and installed W8 there. Just playing it safe. On another note, how does one find all the software that is loaded on their PC without a start button? Will there be a window for each one – if so, I’ll have many screens to scroll through to find what I want.
I’m trying to install Windows 8 Enterprise (RTM) alongside my Windows 7 SP1. Windows 8 will be on a separate partition. My question is how would I go about uninstalling Windows 8? Would I just delete the partition? If so, how would I bring back the original Windows 7 bootloader?
Thanks.
You already have another version of Windows 8 installed or you plan to uninstall Windows 8 Enterprise after you install it or use it for a while?
I’m pretty sure he’s talking about uninstalling it after trying it for awhile. I’d really like to know the answer to this as well.
I used a Windows 7 DVD and launched startup repair to revert from Windows 8 boot manager back to the normal one.
Hello Sir,
Nice tutorial . I have a question..
After dual booting windows 8 & trying it for a while , if I want to uninstall it … how will I remove it and restore the windows 7 boot loader since after dual booting win 8 its boot manager replaces the win7 boot manager ??
Does EasyBCD have that option ??
Secondly… how much space should I give to windows 8 ??
I am not a avid gamer who stores large sized files …& I have a 500 GB HDD … should it be 50-50 or should I give windows 8 a bit more ??
My hardware specifications…
4 GB corsair XMS3 DDR 3
500 gb seagate hdd
asus p8h61-m lx3 rv2.0
intel i5 3550
Hi,
At the end of the article we recommend some “Related articles”. One of those articles answers your questions. It can be found here:
http://www.digitalcitizen.life/how-uninstall-windows-8-windows-7-or-any-other-version-windows
Please explain the steps for dual boot of Windows 7 and Windows Vista.
While being able to boot into W7 or W8, I would like to have some files that can be accessed from the one system of these two into which I have booted up. I would like to have these files in a third partition, called say, COMMON for example. If I have then three partitions: W7, W8, COMMON, is there a way, order, sequence in which I can place these partitions so that the COMMON partition appears as the same drive letter (e.g. F:) from the W7 boot as it does from the W8 boot?
Use this tutorial to assign the same drive letter to that partition in both operating systems: http://www.digitalcitizen.life/how-manage-your-disks-using-disk-management-utility
Previous comments and information in this article, make clear that to double boot, the operating systems must be in different partitions. How about installing the second [in my case, Windows 8] in a second hard drive? Is there a step by step instructions? Could you please point in the right direction?
Thanks,
Dan
The same steps apply when using multiple hard drives too, as you do have multiple partitions available.
Adrian,
I am back again with the need of a little more help.
As mentioned I have a dual boot system now with Vista and Win7 on different partitions on one of my 2 HDDS.
After reading all the postings this is how I would like to end up:
Have W8 Installed from an upgrade from a download to DVD.
Keep W7 with out any changes in case I don’t like W8.
Delete the Vista partition since it is rarely used.
Install W8 on the reformatted Vista partition
Have W8 partition be the boot partition
Have a new dual boot configuration with W7 & W8 on different partitions.
I am thinking this is how I should proceed:
Download W8 to a CD
Backup any info I want to keep that is on the Vista partition
Reformat the Vista partition to eliminate it
Using the System Configuration utility remove the invalid Vista boot entry.
Install W8 on the old reformatted Vista partition.
As W8 is being installed it will designate W8 as the boot partition.
Reboot and make sure I can boot to either W7 or W8.
If this is correct the only clarification I think I need is, if Vista is eliminated via a repartitioning will, the W8 installer still recognize that Vista was a valid installation and it will then allow W8 to be install?
Thanks again for the help.
Brian
The way you want to do this is correct. You should not encounter any issues. Just remember to remove the boot entry for Windows Vista prior to installing Windows 8.
Adrian,
Thanks for the personal reply.
I can’t explain how much confidence I will have with this W8 installation knowing of the expert advise you offered.
One thing I forgot to ask.
I don’t think it is possible, but I thought I would ask, since if anyone knows of a way to do it I think it would be you.
Is there any way to end up with all my programs in both W8 & W7 after I do the W8 installation without having to install them individually them in W8?
Thanks again for the expert help
Brian
There is no way for you to install applications once and have them available in both Windows 7 and Windows 8. They must be installed individually in each operating system. However, you can use Ninite to speed up the installation process for some of your programs.
You can learn more about this product from this article: How to Keep Applications Up-to-date with Ninite Updater & Ninite Free.
Adrian,
Thanks for that clarification.
I was hoping that wasn’t the case.
Consequently, my plan to be able to revert to W7 if I didn’t like W8 would not be possible.
Sorry for all the questions; I know just enough to realize many things can go wrong, but not enough to know how to proceed to avoid those unknown problems with out some help.
I was thinking I could install W8 on another computer, so I reasoned instead I should be able to install W8 on a separate HDD in the same computer with W7 & Vista. And then would W7 & Vista still retain all their programs and features?
If they would then I could just use follow your posting and uninstall Vista, How to Uninstall Windows 8, Windows 7 or Any Other Version of Win http://tinyurl.com/b7y5flh, and end up with W8 as a clean install W/O any programs, but still have a fully functioning W7 that I could return to if I didn’t like W8.
Would this be a possibility?
Thanks for your patients with helping me sort out this for me.
Brian
Hi Brian
I have now triple-boot with W7, XP and Ubuntu. If i upgrade W7 to W8, will this action cause problem to my other O/S ?
Thank you
Alain
Alan,
Regarding your question: I have now triple-boot with W7, XP and Ubuntu.
If I upgrade W7 to W8, will this action cause problem to my other O/S ?
I am sorry but I don’t have enough information or experience to know for sure.
This is what I think happens:
If you do an upgrade to W8 from Vista, you loose Vista, and keep only your Vista prior settings; and W7 is unchanged.
If you do an upgrade to W8 from W7, you loose W7, but keep all your settings AND programs from your W7 prior settings; and XP is unchanged.
Also I don’t think that Ubuntu is changed in either of those cases.
To keep all the programs and setting of your existing OSs I don’t think you can do an upgrade; it must be a new installation.
That is I was am thinking that may be the best in my case: I.E., a triple boot. I could keep all my setting from Vista & W7.
In summary:
I think if I don’t do an up grade to W8, just do a higher price new install, I could retain both Vista and W7 working with all of their settings, and W8 would be a new install so I would have to all any setting or programs I wanted.
Like I said I DO NOT KNOW for sure!!
May be some can comment about this.
Brian
Hi sir, is it possible if i have my win8 installed first before win7? you mentioned that i need to install other versions first. Many thanks.
Edit your boot entries with EasyBCD.
Hello Sir,
I have windows 7 before when i heard that windows 8 is out now I installed it to my PC. I have 2 Physical Drive(C:Windows Seven and D:Windows 8)…
Here is my problem i want to removed my windows 7, when i removed the HDD of Window 7, I have disk boot failure…
Here is my question how to transfer the boot record to my other drive…. thanks in advance
dual boot of windows 8 with windows 7 problem
actually i bought laptop with inbult orginal windows 7 professional and i got windows 8 copy and right now i am facing a problem after installing windows8 in separate partition. actually it will restart and redirect to personalization screen instead of that i am getting a blank screen i have done the installation process of about 10 times with both cd and USB please help me what may be the problem
hello, thanks for this idea,
i have a system with windows 8 preinstalled, but some of my softwares are not running on it and i need to install windows 7 or xp to run them. kindly suggest how to proceed… thanks
what kind of features do not run in Windows 8 but run in Windows 7?
Adrian-
I have new Dell with Win 8 – which I really do NOT like. I am a part-time developer and many products such as Visual Studio, SQL server versions used on Vista do not install or work well on Win 8. Can I purchase a retail copy of Win 7 and setup dual boot?
Yes you can. This guide should help with the dual boot setup.
Hello Adrian,
I have bought a new computer with windows 8 pre-installed, i use it for school and my tests for school are online proctoring, the software that is used for this doesn’t support windows 8 yet. I want to duel boot so i can take my tests on vista, i do not currently have a back up disk of my windows 8. I have already created the partition but have not loaded windows vista yet because you mentioned that it will overwrite the boot manager. Any suggestions as to how i should proceed. I appreciate any advice you can offer.
Install Windows Vista on a different partition. When you are done, it will overwrite the boot manager and you will boot only into Windows Vista.
Then, download EasyBCD and use it to repair the boot manager and be able to choose which operating system you want to load at boot.
EasyBCD can be found here: http://neosmart.net/forums/showthread.php?t=642
My system comes with Windows 8 pre-installed and I want to multiboot it alongside win XP. The challenge for me is that I do not have a Win 8 CD.
What do I do?
Need immediate Help!!!
Windows 7 Was Pre Installed on ‘C’ Drive .
then Windows 8 installed on ‘D Drive’
Now not able to Use Dual boot Option.
As referred here I have opened SYSTEM CONFIGURATION in windows 8 and find BOOT option for Windows 8 Only. Cannot see option to boot ‘Windows 7’
Please help me Dear friends .
Also My Other Drives (E,F,G,H) didn’t shown here… which contains important data(I haven’t format these drives)
Use EasyBCD to add the Windows 7 boot entry:
http://neosmart.net/forums/showthread.php?t=642
HI, I want to add win xp pro onto a laptop with win 8.1 pro using separate hd’s I have read this string to the end and if I understand this correctly I should be able to add the 2nd hd (and partition) and load win xp onto it, get the easybdc software and change win 8.1 pro for dual boot please let me know if I understand this correctly or I need help… thanks in advance for your all your help
How to dual boot-
Press WINkey, Right Click Computer, Click Manage, Click Storage>Disk Management
Shrink D: Drive, Create B: Drive
Name the drive.
Buy Windows 8. Install on B:Drive
Reboot.
You got it!
Ηi,i have a new laptop with pre installed windows 8.1.
Unfortunately some old programs are not run on win 8,and is absolutely required to have and the windows 7 on my laptop,with dual boot.
Everything is ok ,but i want after install windows 7,to have the new beuatifull boot manager from win8.
Is this possible??And how?
The answer is in our article. Use EasyBCD to restore the boot manager:
https://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/#comparison
Hi, i have a new PC with W7, and a option to upgrade to W8. W8 will overwrite W7. Now i want to use a new HD to make W8. After that is done insert the drive with W7. And make it dual boot, will this work. And what do i have to do to make it work?
Please help me! I have a triple boot system with 3 drives. Win7, Vista and XP. I want to replace XP with Win8. Do I follow your instructions for a dual boot and see it work? or is there another set of instructions for this approach?
How do you fix the system restore problem. Windows 7 destroys Windows 8 restore points and when booted in Windows 8 windows 8 destroys Window 7 restore points. How do you fix this problem?????
I have installed windows xp and then windows 8.1 in another Drive. But,dual boot option menu is not appeared in beggining for selecting the OS. When I start my PC it booted to windows 8.1. Also, in multiboot config window there is only win 8.1 is shown default. Pls solve my problem. How can I able to access dual boot menu at startup?
G’day All!
I have Win XP, 7, 8.1 and another 8.1 (that I want to update to 10 when it comes out), each in its own separate primary partition on an SSD.
I want to be able to hide the other OS’s when I boot into a particular OS, ie if I boot into XP I want 7 and the 8.1’s hidden. Likewise if I boot into 7 I want XP and the 8.1’s hidden.
Is there a way to do so in Win7/8.1 BCD, or by using EasyBCD?
I haven’t been able to find a way of doing so or if it is possible.
Many thanks in advance!!