Windows 10: Dual Boot win7/10 questions...with clean install

Hello,

I recently upgraded my one laptop to windows 10 and thought I was doing a clean install but did not and wound up doing a restore that deleted everything. I downloaded windows 10 via the media creation tool in hopes of doing a clean install to my other laptop. I have windows 7 pro installed and want to dual boot windows 10 with a clean install on a different partition. Will I be able to activate windows 10 this way? I have read conflicting things that I may actually have to first upgrade windows 7 to 10, so it "activates" it. Then downgrade to 7 then install 10 on the other partition. Sorry for the long post but I want to make sure I do it right. Any help/info would be much appreciated.

Thank you

:)

 

Keep 8.1 and dual boot 10?

The way I understand it from reading all the threads is that you'll first want to back up or clone your HDD to another drive. Then do the upgrade from Win 7 to 10 so that it registers an upgrade was done.

Then you can restore the backupor clone. After that, you'll can then do a dual boot clean install of Win 10 by making a DVD of the downloadable ISO.

 

BSODs in WIN 10, Pro

Where did you purchase the "OEM version of Win7 Pro?"

When did you do the clean install of Win7 Pro on the 2 TB HDD?

Have you Activate (Validated; Authenticated) the clean install of Win7 Pro?

Is the Win7 partition fully-patched at Windows Update?

Sounds like you need to format the drive where Win10 resides and then do a clean install of same using a new disk you've created from the "MS Win 10 web site,"
not a backup or clone.

FYI:

• Dual-booting in Win10: FAQ
  
  How to Dual Boot Windows 10 with Other Versions of Windows, macOS and Linux
  

Tip: You'd be better off posting about installing & dual-booting Win10 in this forum =>

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-windows_install

 

Clean installs will not activate on a machine unless it has already been upgraded to Win10. In your case, since your Win7 machine has not been upgraded, the clean install will not activate. Sorry, at this point, MS is not allowing folks to activate by entering their Win7/8/8.1 key.

 

Hey thanks for the fast response. Do you think my idea about upgrading 7 to 10 then downgrading back to 7 will work?

 

edit: I type too slow, NavyLCDR beat me to the best answer *Wink

The EULA does not really allow for dual booting Win7 upgraded to Win10.

Before upgrading though, I suggest that you make a System image of your Win7 install.
See: Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup - Windows 7 Help Forums

If you decide to 'roll back' to Win7, restore the System image instead of using the Win10 roll back to previous version.
Don't worry about your Win10 activation status - once you've upgraded and the install is activated, the key is stored in firmware. A Clean install of Win10 can be done anytime after you've upgraded a qualifying system.

You don't need to enter a key for a Clean install after an upgrade. There were two dialog boxes asking for a key when I Clean installed Win10 after upgrading my Win7 box.

Both options to skip entering the key are text in the lower left area of he dialog box
1st key dialog: press Skip this
2nd key dialog: press Do this later

*Arrow DO NOT enter a key in those boxes, Win10 will activate using the hashed key it created and stored in firmware during the upgrade.

But... you must upgrade first and the Win10 install must be activated for all of this to happen.

 

Stored on Microsoft Activation Servers - not firmware.

 

I think it's recorded in both firmware and the activation server, but could be wrong *Wink

 

Wow, thanks to all for the great responses. Didn't even think of cloning the drive. Thanks again.

 

Both! What that actually is would be the hardware configuration data the server keeps a record of as well as being stored locally on the drive. When you call into MS following a hardware change and Windows suddenly becomes INVALID as seen plenty of times in years past you have follow the instructions in order to bring up a code of several groups of 4 digits. The operator will then have you type a new code in and zingggg. you are back!

Someone say "CLONE"? Only here I used Acronis True Image Home 2010 to initially clone the 7 Ultimate host drive over to the destination second OS drive intended for the dual boot of 7 with 10. The clone was up and running good while the first upgrade attempted "Failed Big Time"! EH?*Eek Then I went over things in the clean install guide figuring I was going to have to see a clean install sooner then expected first wanting to get to know 10 a bit first.

I forgot to unplug those two storage drives and the fails were from the 10 installer placing installation folders($Windows~BT and $Windows~WS) as well as the boot files on the wrong drives! Be sure to unplug any additional non OS drives before proceeding even with the clean install! That can save a world of hurt!

Example of what not to do? The clone itself was then to see a clean install of 7 which couldn't be booted into? Well those necessary boot files ended up on the second storage drive while the temp install folders were spotted on the first! OOPS! But first a second clean install of 7 was to go on right before a review of the guide when the warning there reminded me that 10 unlike 7 had to see those drives unplugged too in order to see the second OS drive made bootable!

Saturday July 31 sees the upgrade over the second temporary clean of 7 go right on! But the upgrade was "BUGGY"! and subsequently saw the upgrade to repair go on a day or so afterwards and ran for the week when that while not seeing activation ran much smoother! Things actually worked and necessary drivers, programs decided to go on!