Windows 10: Dual Boot Windows 10 with Windows 7 or Windows 8

In that case, please post a screenshot showing the drive layout in your Disk Management while in Windows 10 and Windows 7 to see if it may help show the issue. *Smile

 

I can't Shawn, I went back to Windows 7 for awhile. I am probably going to have surgery withing 6 weeks and I will not have time to devote to testing Windows 10. I already know what to expect and I will upgrade to it when it is released or sooner. Thanks for all of your help. I still will post and I may even do a clean install of the next build. But for now it is 7.

 

The way to figure this out Gary, is to go into Disk Management and look at the size of the two partitions holding Windows. Write down the size of each one. In my case, Windows 8.1 is installed on Drive C: (479 GB) while Windows 10 is installed on Drive D: (439 GB).

While in Windows 10, I click on File Explorer>This PC. I see Local Disk (C:\ (439 GB). Drive D:\ now shows to have 479 GB. I don't know how it's done, but Windows switches out the drive names. What was the drive holding Windows 8.1 (in my case) now shows to be the drive holding Windows 10 and what was Windows 10 now shows as the drive holding Windows 8.1.

Confusing, I know, so I just accept it and go on.

 

That is normal, if you run the setup.exe file in the sources folder to start Windows 10 Setup.

Quote from this post: link

edit:

So, the next time when you start Windows 10 installation.

- Connect your Windows 10 USB flash drive or insert your Windows 10 DVD.
- Restart the computer.
- Press the correct key to enter the boot menu (Esc, F8, F9, F10, F11, F12).
- Select your USB/DVD from the boot menu.
- Select the "Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)" option.
- Select the empty partition on the drive where you want to install Windows 10.

 

That is exactly what I did. I could not boot into Windows 7 though. Maybe I should have made 7 the default. I think I may just do what I was doing in the past and clean install Win 10 on a separate disk. I will not put any programs on it othere than a Browser. Except I ran it from with Windows 7 and used the installer from the sources folder. Thanks for all of your help with this everyone!*Smile

 

OK I am going to try this again but I have some questions:

1. When I format the Partition for Windows 10 should I give it a drive letter?
2. I will be using a DVD to do this.

I will be back in 15.

Thanks

 

I never give it a drive letter. I get a boot menu with 7 and 8 and then 10. Which ever os I boot then becomes C drive and the other os are available as a D or E whatever. You can access them to pull pics or files drag and drop no problem. I have had no problems lately but did back in Oct. at first. I was able to work it out just like you will be able too. *Biggrin

 

You shouldn't have to format it. If you're installing from a booted win10 DVD, just leave the partition "unallocated" and and select it for install target. Actually, the process of installing will give you the option of clearing (deleting) an old partition and choosing it for installation. The system will assign it to "C:" when you boot up after installation, although if booted in another OS, say 8.1, it will appear as a different drive letter cause 8.1 is now "C:". That's perfectly normal. Advice? Let the installation process walk you through partition choice and let it do it's thing. *Wink

 

Thanks Charla and Tom*Smile

 

I can't get my dual boot configuration to work. It was working fine, until I put my Acer software back on. Can someone help me?

 

OK I did it according to the instructions and once again Windows 10 boots just fine and it shows as C;\ . The only problem is that I cannot boot into Windows 7. This , I cannot live with. Please if anyone has any suggestion I would apprecite it. If Not I will use the MR recovery Disk and go back to 7 until the final.n Two tries--same result.

 

Jesse, can you be more specific as to what "Acer software" you put back on? Check MSCONFIG (WIN key + R), and make sure the OS's you expect are there (under boot tab). Post back results and screenshot.

 

Gary, please post a screenshot of your Disk Management Display and your MSCONFIG display.

 

Gary
You may have deleted your active partition so we need to have a look at your disk manage snip. so we can tell you what you need to do to make it right again. I think we have a tutorial for making a manage snip if you need to look at that?
Disk Management - How to Post a Screenshot of

 

Ok here it comes:













Now when I select Windows 10 it goes there. When I select 7 it reboots and then goes to the automatic repair thing.