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Dual Boot Windows 7 with XP/Vista in three easy steps

Discussion in 'Articles and Reviews Comments' started by Julio Franco, Oct 19, 2009.

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  1. Julio Franco TechSpot Editor

    Windows 7 has proved to be quite the drastic improvement over Vista, enough that it even has XP stragglers crawling out of the woodwork to check it out. Your chance to test drive the release candidate is now running thin, in fact, if you haven’t tried the new OS until now you are better off postponing your plans for a week and installing the real thing. The final version of Windows 7 has already been sent to partners and is scheduled to debut publicly later this week on October 22.

    Read the full guide at:
    http://www.techspot.com/guides/143-dual-boot-windows7/

    Please leave your feedback here.
    Julio Franco, Oct 19, 2009
    #1

  2. guyver1 Newcomer, in training

    How about a windows 7 & Linux dual boot feature?

    For example, I intend to run win7 x64 and Ubuntu 9.10 x64 in a dual boot scenario but i want to use the windows 7 boot laoder and not grub. How do i got about doing that?

    Do i simply install Ubuntu first and then Win7 so that Win7 takes over boot loading?
    guyver1, Oct 19, 2009
    #2

  3. TorturedChaos TechSpot Chancellor

    Dual booting xp and win7 is really easy. I used gpart live cd to make a 25gig partition (btw, if you have a 500 gig hdd like I do, set this up to go, and go to bed. I didn't quite realize it would take about 5 hours to do. Should have thought of it, but I didn't).
    Burn Win7 RC to a dvd, and installed it. Was very simple. Win7 even installed drivers for just about everything on my computer. It was very nice to to have to scramble around on another machine trying to find my ethernet driver like i always seem to end up doing when i do a clean install of xp.

    As for your question guyver1, i have no idea, but i love your screen name! :D
    TorturedChaos, Oct 19, 2009
    #3

  4. Per Hansson TechSpot Server Guru

    There is also the possibility to resize the disk inside the Win7 installation, on the second screen press **** + F10
    This brings up the command prompt, in it you have access to microsofts command link "diskpart" tool, maybe not the most user friendly but it gets the job done...
    Per Hansson, Oct 19, 2009
    #4

  5. Guest

    Use EasyBCD, it's free... to make this possible set grub or lilo to load from the linux install partition or the Linux boot partition if you created one.
    Guest, Oct 19, 2009
    #5

  6. Guest

    I don't think that the Windows boot loader can recognize a non Windows OS.
    Grub should work fine. You can alter the grub boot sequence after you install Ubuntu if you want to boot Windows by default.
    Guest, Oct 20, 2009
    #6

  7. Guest

    >I don't think that the Windows boot loader can recognize a non Windows OS.
    Grub should work fine. You can alter the grub boot sequence after you install Ubuntu if you want to boot Windows by default.

    I currently have 2 Ubuntu installs that I launch from the windows boot menu ... I used EasyBCD to set it up... I set the Linux boot info to the Linux partition so the when i install another window os I don't have to edit the BCD again (Linux is still available)...
    Guest, Oct 20, 2009
    #7

  8. Guest

    That's great. I'll give it a try. Sounds like the best way to use a multiboot system.
    Is it possible to use easyBCD after both Windows and Linux are installed and Grub is the boot loader?
    Guest, Oct 21, 2009
    #8

  9. Guest

    I just found the answer to my question. There is a 5 min YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdjNfXZjRxs that gives a good introduction.
    Guest, Oct 21, 2009
    #9

  10. Guest

    Once I am comfortable with Windows 7 (after having setup a dual boot XP and Windows7) what is the process of removing XP? What problems would i run into that I should be thinking about?
    Guest, Oct 22, 2009
    #10

  11. Julio Franco TechSpot Editor

    Julio Franco, Oct 22, 2009
    #11

  12. w3design Newcomer, in training

    windows 7:haha:
    w3design, Oct 23, 2009
    #12

  13. Guest

    If you dual boot Vista and W7, do you need a full version of the latter or can you do it with an upgrade version?
    Guest, Nov 2, 2009
    #13

  14. Julio Franco TechSpot Editor

    As far as I understand, Microsoft stipulates that you would need a full retail version for a dual boot setup. The reason is that when you purchase an upgrade license for Windows 7, it will deactivate the license key from the OS you are upgrading from.
    Julio Franco, Nov 3, 2009
    #14

  15. Kadir Newcomer, in training

    Used this. Amazing. Worked.

    But I can't seem to create more than 30GB of space for the new partition, from my current Vista Partition.
    Kadir, Nov 3, 2009
    #15

  16. red1776 Omnipotent Ruler of the Universe


    and that means what?
    red1776, Nov 3, 2009
    #16

  17. Crossbow Newcomer, in training

    How about no partition?
    I want to buy an ssd and load it with W7 and some games. Nothing else. Clean and fast. But I also need to work with information I already have on a hard drive (WD Raptor) with XP.
    I don't want to partition the ssd and clutter it with files/photos/etc that are on the XP drive.
    Can I make the XP disc my "D" drive on the W7? Would that keep the ssd and W7 clean and fast?
    If not, is there any way to get the two different drives attached to the same computer/motherboard but in a dual boot configuration?
    I own both the XP and the W7(pro) discs.
    Thanks.
    Crossbow, Dec 31, 2009
    #17

  18. Matthew TechSpot Editor, Community Manager

    You can install Windows 7 on the SSD as you would normally and boot off either drive independently. When you turn on your system, look to see if you can bring up a boot menu or select your boot device (it's generally just a button like F10 and then you're given a list of available drives).

    If you don't have that option, you can manually adjust the boot order in your BIOS (again, look for a message about entering setup or something when you first turn on your PC).

    You should be able to access the data on your XP drive from within Windows 7 without any configuration.
    Matthew, Dec 31, 2009
    #18

  19. Crossbow Newcomer, in training

    Hi Matthew:
    Thanks for your prompt reply.
    I'll be buying my ssd this weekend and installing it next week.
    I will try your suggestions.
    Crossbow
    Crossbow, Jan 1, 2010
    #19

  20. SNGX1275 TechSpot Special Forces

    Some of the images on page 1 do not appear, and I'm not seeing any of them on page 2 and 3. Tried in Opera 10.10 and IE 8.
    SNGX1275, Jan 4, 2010
    #20
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