Windows 10: Dual boot windows 10 & 7

A lot of us members here would disagree with you.

 

Unless they have converted Win.Def. to a full internet security program, and pay someone to stay on top of it, I would never trust it, except for basic surfing. Most of the work I do on OP's Computers is ridding them of bugs and viruses, and setting them up so they don't get bit again.
I am fairly new to W10, maybe things are changing, I doubt it. Viruses are getting meaner because virus writers are getting smarter and more wide spread.

 

I too have been asked to clean many friends' computers of malware and they all have the same thing in common - they've all got multiple anti-virus and anti-malware programs installed. I've got 11 Windows 10 computers at my house and I get an average of 1 malware problem on 1 computer per year (and I have 4 other computer users in my house that are not that aware of what they click on) and it is always cleaned by running Windows 10 built-in disk cleanup followed by a disk cleanup and registry scan with CCleaner.

Paying attention to what you are clicking on is the most effective way of not getting infected with anything.

 

Amen to that. And CCleaner goes on anything I touch. Then you have to teach people how to use it, then remind them to use it. *really

 

Thanks for all the info. I have decided not to upgrade my present windows 7 to 10.
My best option is to purchase the retail version of windows 10.
That way I could have a dual boot with windows 7 with two licences. One will be OEM windows 7 and the other WIndows 10 retail.
Windows 10 retail I can take with me if upgrading my computer I understand.

My only interest or windows 10 is for gaming purposes.
I am going to keep windows 10 & whatever other OS strictly apart. so possibly do something like this for my next computer.

2 Gaming Rigs, 1 Tower - Virtualized Gaming Build Log - YouTube

 

Hi
I know exactly what you mean. I am careful when it comes to privacy.
Originally I installed my OS, drivers, installed reliable software & updates. Also antivirus, did full check and installed my firewall.
I use zonealarm firewall, which is not the best out there but good enough for me.
Then made an image of the drive. It can be reinstalled whenever necessary.
Wrote scripts to backup & restore saved games & Documents.
The only issue right now is turning off the windows 7 updates until July 30th.

As for any potentially risky internet surfing, I use virtualbox with linux installed.

There is also the issue of privacy with windows 10, and will be very careful with that.

My present computer seems secure.

As for my next computer build, I may do something similar to this.

2 Gaming Rigs, 1 Tower - Virtualized Gaming Build Log - YouTube

 

I think it is time the Forum reviews the rules regarding this as MS have now brought out an official tool that permits exactly this.

MS need to clarify if they have softened their stance.

As a FORUM, I believe we meet our moral obligations by saying that an official tool exists for transfer of digital licences which is permissible to be used with digital licences upgraded from oem licence, for like for like mobo changes but as far as we understand still violates the EULA for mobo upgrades.

This is not encouraging EULA violation but simply informing the user of his legal obligatations.

For clarity - I believe this is a valid topic of conversation for Forum - I am not advocating EULA violation but believe as I said initially, the Forum needs to reexamine its policy in how this can be discussed.

 

I'm in more or less a similar situation, except that I want to have both W7 and W10 installed on a big tower which also has two Linux distros installed alongside W7.

I've already upgraded W7 to W10 on a netbook, and the process destroyed the Linux partition. I don't want to risk that happening on the tower, so I'm going to disconnect the SSD and all the HDDs except one for a clean W10 install from ISO, and then reconnect the drives and repair Grub multiboot (which Windows always destroys).

That means I'll have two Windows versions installed with the same product key. Is it possible to deactivate one of them and use the other without uninstalling?

(I don't know much about Windows.)

I can tell you where I got mine, but I'm not sure if that's allowed on this board.

 

Would you end up with two Windows with the same product key because you would use the Windows 7 product key to activate the Windows 10 with? If you are going to deactivate one install of Windows, why would you not remove it completely?

 

Yes.

Two reasons:

1. I want to see if I prefer W10 to W7 before getting rid of W7.

2. I'm afraid to upgrade the existing W7 because doing that destroyed the Linux partition on a netbook I updated. Once bitten, twice shy. W7 is on the same HDD as a Linux distro; I'm planning to put W10 on an empty HDD.

If having both active on the same machine is not allowed, can one be deactivated (and later reactivated if necessary)?

 

Makes sense and is reasonable. The 100% legal way to do it would be to install an imaging program like Macrium Reflect Free, save a backup image of the partition that the Windows 7 is on, then either reformat or delete that partition. If you wanted to go back to Windows 7, then you would reformat or delete the Windows 10 partition and restore the Windows 7 partition.

Another way, which would be impractical for you at the moment because you have Linux and Windows 7 on the same hard drive, would be to have each version of Windows on swappable hard drives and have only one installed at a time. I've got a cheap hard drive docking rack in a 5.25" drive bay in my desktop that makes swapping hard drives/SSDs easy. But since mine is cheap, it is only SATA II so a little bit slower.

 

Thank you very much. I like the idea of the swappable drives, which I shall be looking into.

I wonder -- if I just go ahead and clean-install W10 on an empty HDD, at what point is Microsoft likely to react, and what would happen? I dare say that MS gets informed as soon as I connect to the web during or after the installation.

Would I in fact be able to use the W7 key to do a clean W10 ISO install without deactivating W7 first? Would MS disable my licence or just warn me? It's definitely a legal retail copy of W7.

 

If you were to remove the Windows 7 hard drive, and install Windows 10 on a clean hard drive and use the Windows 7 product key to activate it, nothing happens to the Windows 7 product key or previous installation. You could then remove the Windows 10 hard drive, and run the Windows 7 hard drive just like nothing had happened to it. Evidenced by the very last link on this webpage:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...covery-options
Go back to your previous version of Windows

 

2016-07-06 15:33 (my son's birthday)

OK. The decision was taken out of my hands. W7 said it had installed 209 updates, and then never finished configuring them. At Stage 5. Left it overnight, and it was still at Stage 5, whatever that is.

So I clean-installed W10 from ISO on an empty HDD, repaired the Grub menu, and all is well so far.

I think W7 committed suicide when it heard that I had a) made a W10 ISO disc, and b) had consulted this fine forum.

~

Next task: Delete all traces of W7, and install Linux Mint 18 Mate (Sarah).

 

+1 to everything Chezler said, except maybe for his preference order for vendors.

A lot of threats today are at the browser level, and AV alone can't stop those.