Windows 10: Dual boot windows 10 and 7 on separate drives

Hello and thanks for having me on the forum. Not too tech savvy and have a question.

Windows 7 user on PC DELL 8700 XPS. I added another drive and and installed W10. All working well.

I would like to set up dual boot. I can do it now by hitting F12 and choosing my OS.

Currently set to boot to W10 located on Disk 2. Disk 0 is the W7 OS.

Disk 1 is an internal hard drive I use for backups and files.

Do I have to assign a drive letter to Disk 0 before I can enable dual boot? and than do BCDBOOT E:\Windows /addlast /d

I saw this in an old thread:

To set up dual booting, in Windows 10, assuming you can see the Windows 7 installation on the other drive, open an elevated ("run as administrator") command prompt. Type

BCDBOOT E:\Windows /addlast /d

The path in red will be to the Windows 7 Windows folder.

You can then set your menu timeout, order of the boot items, and default by holding Win key + R to open run dialog. Run MSCONFIG. Select the boot tab.

:)

 

Dual Booting with Windows 8.1


The procedure below will allow you to boot Windows separately or in dual boot configuration.
Here's what I recommend to do:

1. Disconnect the drive containing Windows 8.1
2. Install Windows 10 with one drive connected.
3. After step 2, reconnect the drive containing Windows 8.1
4. Boot up Windows 8.1. Open disk management and take a note of the drive letter of Windows 10 OS.
   NOTE: if you boot up Windows 10, then take a note of Windows 8.1 drive letter
5. Open Admin command prompt and type: bcdboot X:\windows where X: is the drive letter of Windows 10 (Windows 8.1 if you boot from Windows 10 in step 4)
6. Reboot the PC. You should have a dual boot screen.

NOTE: To break off the dual boot setting, Win+R->msconfig->boot and delete the none default entry on the list.

 

Dual Boot for dual boot windows 7 and 10 on two separate hard drives

Hi Jay,

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community.

I regret the inconvenience caused to you. I will be glad to assist you with this issue.

It would be grateful if you can reply to this question in order to assist you further:

• What is the exact issue are you facing?
• Are you able to boot to Windows 7 from dual boot login?

Your issue is bit unclear to us, so I request you to kindly elaborate the issue so that we can assist you further.

For the time being, I suggest you to access your BIOS settings and make the settings for Boot up to Boot up with Internal hard drive and check if it helps.

For reference: BIOS: frequently asked questions

Reply with the necessary information to help you troubleshoot the issue. I will be glad to assist you.

Thank you.

 

How to dual boot Windows 10 and 7 on separate HDDs

Hi LumbarRaptor127,

Some users use a rd party application called EasyBCD so that you can select which OS on boot.

you can refer to this links for guides and information.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Windows-...

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/trying-...

https://superuser.com/questions/1159354/how-to-...

https://www.tenforums.com/installation-upgrade/...

hope this helps, If you still need assistance. feel free to ask.

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