Windows 10: Dual Boot 10 and 8.1 massacre

Ok so I have Windows 10 on my laptop. Upgraded at launch from 7. I'm beginning to build my own pc and wanted to try my old 8.1 iso, to see if it would still work. Plus just wanted something to do.

I made a 45 gig partition of allocated space on my main disk. I booted from the USB and successfully installed 8.1. I then restarted and went back into Windows 10. Which I was on for the rest of the evening. I didn't need to do anything else with 8.1 so I was going to just get rid of it. I did so the same way that I've done with various Linux distro's in the past.

I went into easy BCD and removed the boot process. And then I went into disk management And deleted the partition. And then extended my C back to full space.

I restarted my computer and my heart stopped because the screen that came up said recovery, your PC/device needs to be repaired. I press enter to try again and nothing happens. I press F8 for start up settings and nothing happens. I've been waiting for something like this to happen. But it always sucks when it does.

I think in messing with everything I somehow made my computer forget how to boot up windows 10. Because I went through the start up and the hard disk test and both of them passed. So I think it's still there and fine. I just don't know how to get to it.

I have a system image recovery disk USB which I put in and tried to boot from and it tells me that I can continue to Windows 8.1. Which doesn't make sense because the recovery image was from windows 10. So it's like all confused and I'm freaking out.

I'm really new at all of this internal tinkering stuff and I would really appreciate any help. Kind of a nervous wreck. Thank you.

:)

 

Dual Boot Change from Windows 8.1 & 7 to Windows 10 & 7

I have a dual boot Windows 8.1 and Windows 7.

(1) Is it possible to have a triple boot Windows 10, Windows 8.1 and Windows 7?

(2) If not, can I just upgrade the Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 to have a dual boot Windows 10 and Windows 7? Or do I have to do the normal dual boot set-up?

 

10 won't allow me to DISABLE automatic updates?

Dual boot (with two Windows versions) is just a waste of HDD space IMO. Just stick with 8.1

If you want 10, test it in Hypervisor, and then when ready to make the jump, remove 8.1 and install 10 on the bare metal.

Dual boot makes better sense when you're dual booting with Windows and another OS like a Linux or FreeBSD.

 

You will not like my suggestion......... do a clean install of Windows 10.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1...n-install.html

Use a working computer and download the corresponding Win 10 iso files > burn it to a bootable media, DVD or USB > take it to this computer and run a Clean Install.

 

Oh damn. Seriously... Is there nothing I can do in bios or anything to reach?

Also I won't have a copy of 10 since upgraded from the 7 that came with. I can use other means but didn't want to.

Thanks for the response.

 

Windows 10 ISO file can be downloaded in the following 2 Official sites :

Tech Bench
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...brrWLRbagYCa0w)()

Media creation Tool (MCT)
https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/soft...load/windows10

My recommendation is to use Tech Bench link.

 

There are plenty of ways of fixing the no-boot problem without a clean install of Windows 10.

If you have an operating computer, make a bootable USB flash drive of Kyhi's recovery disk:
Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk - Windows 10 Forums

Boot the computer from his rescue disk, run Macrium Reflect Free. Under the restore menu will be a utility to fix Windows startup problems. Start with that.

 

Yes, Macrium will rebuild the boot records. No need really for Kyhi's entire package. Just get the Macrium Reflect Free from their site, install it, and make a USB Rescue, and boot from it. Macrium Reflect Free

 

The advantage to using Kyhi's recovery drive is that it also has other troubleshooting tools available if Macrium Reflect Free doesn't work, like MiniTool Partition Wizard that we can use to see if there is still an EFI or System Reserved partition on the hard drive, EasyBCD so we can see what is in the BCD if there is one on the hard drive, and command prompt that we can use to run BCDBOOT to add the Windows installation to an existing BCD if we need to.

 

Ok awesome. I don't have have another available computer unfortunately. Will need to figure something out. Thank you so much for info. I'll let you guys know when I'm able.

 

What's wrong with the computer you are using now to reply to us ?

 

*Ditto*Ditto But, may be using a phone.....

 

Yep. Just a phone, already feel a little hollow inside. Keyboard withdrawals.

I'll try to call a buddy or something.

 

Alright what do you think of this.. I put in my bootable 8.1 usb. Chose it through bios. Opened. Custom install. It shows my primary partition is there. And so is the 45g partition that I previously had 8.1 on and thought I had deleted. I guess it didn't? And it states its primary still. Not even unallocated. Like it's still on there. But it's not. But even if it was I don't care if it's replaced.

Could i reinstall 8.1 from my flash. And then go and do the advice you guys gave from there? I just don't want it to install over C. But it allowed me to choose the extra partition to begin an install. However, when i highlight it. It won't allow me to delete or format. Unlike my c partition. So it's like it's unallocated..


What do you think?

 

Yes. If you can get Windows 8 going, we can get your Windows 10 going from there