Windows 10: Dual Boot Windows 7/ Windows 10 - Tutorials & Partition Setup Help?

Hi all, just picked up a Lenovo y700 laptop. Comes with Windows 10 home. Just checked the partition management and I am seeing 6 different partitions. EFI system partition, Recovery partition, Recovery partition, OEM partition, Primary partition (NTFS), and Boot partition (NTFS).

Normally I setup my my dual partitions C: OS1 D: OS2 E: Programs & Data or F: Data.

First wondering if my above way of partitioning the drive is still smart. The whole EFI system partition is new to me.

Also after searching for a bit I am unable to find a tutorial that addresses the above partitioning systems. Thoughts or helpful links?

:)

 

I would like to keep Windows 7 and replace Windows 8.1 with Windows 10. Would it be possible to install 10 and keep the dual boot setup with 7?

* Original Title: Dual Boot

Hello,

My computer has Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 installed with a dual boot setup. They are both installed on the same drive(1 TB) with two equal partitions. I would like to keep Windows 7 and replace Windows 8.1 with Windows 10. Would it be possible to install
10 and keep the dual boot setup with 7?

 

I want to install win10 32 bit and 64bit together in my pc. Is it possible?

Just create another partition and install it there.

See how to create an additional partition in the following article:

How to: Dual Boot Windows
7 or Windows 8 with Windows 10 Installed First

After you have setup the partition, download and create a bootable copy of Windows 10 32 bit then boot from it and select the partition during setup.

 

You would have to post image of partitions.

Base install of windows in UEFI give 4 partition (EFI, recovery and OS, plus hidden msr). Also may be a vendor partition there as well.

Each time you reinstall windows, you get a new recovery partition plus OS partition.

So 6 is about right, but you can optimise a bit perhaps.

 

For EFI system you need the following 4 partitions shown in red (you can see what you have with diskpart command). Code: Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.14393] (c) 2016 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. C:\Windows\system32>diskpart Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.14393.0 Copyright (C) 1999-2013 Microsoft Corporation. On computer: HALI-WIN10 DISKPART> select disk 0 Disk 0 is now the selected disk. DISKPART> list partition Partition ### Type Size Offset ------------- ---------------- ------- ------- Partition 1 Recovery 500 MB 20 KB Partition 2 System 200 MB 500 MB Partition 3 Reserved 16 MB 701 MB Partition 4 Primary 32 GB 717 MB Partition 5 Primary 55 GB 33 GB Partition 6 Unknown 23 GB 88 GB Partition 7 Unknown 619 MB 112 GB DISKPART> exit[/quote]
In order these 4 are:

Partition 1 - Window RE (actually this is optional but it is probably a good idea to have it). Normally it is 450 or 500MB.
Partition 2 - EFI (boot files). Normally this is 100MB.
Partition 3 - Microsoft Reserved Partition (MS is a bit vague what this is for and Windows seems to work OK without it but it is recommended - note you can only see this in diskpart not in disk management). Normally it is 16MB.
Partition 4 - your C drive. This is whatever size you want but must be at least 20GB (I think).

See Recommended UEFI-Based Disk-Partition Configurations for more details.

After that you can do what you want. I have partition 5 as D drive shared data and then 6 and 7 are OSX. Most likely you'll have another recovery partition (bigger than the initial 450/500MB one) which contains your manufacturers image used for push button recovery. You can back it up and delete it if you want.

There is a tutorial here describing how to set up dual boot if that is what you are wanting:
Windows 10 - Dual Boot with Windows 7 or Windows 8 - Windows 10 Forums

 

Thanks for the replies everyone,

Here is a screen grab of my partitions. Hopefully not to blurry shot on the go.

Also should mention I normally use Acronis on a boot cd and backup my installs. Now the damn laptop has no cd drive. Man Apple blows! (They started the trend). Not sure what to do with the backup. Using a boot cd was a great way to backup.

https://s13.postimg.org/a1mdv0913/IMAG0711.jpg

 

You say pc is dual boot - can you post image if you boot to other drive.

 

Cerebrus, no I meant that I want to make this a dual-boot or even triple boot machine the machine is brand-new so this is literally from the box. I need to back up everything OEM and then figure out how to partition the rest of the system .

 

You just need to switch from cd's to usb flash drives.

 

Wow talk about a complex partition system! Here is a shot of what Acronis 2016 is giving me.

https://s13.postimg.org/e3ksceywn/IMAG0718.jpg

EFI System Partition.....260MB 26MB .....Used FAT32
NTSF (Windows)(C).....881GB 42GB .....Used NTFS <---Windows 10 Install
NTSF (LENOVO)(D).....25GB 4GB .....Used NTFS <----Lenovo restore I assume
Recovery Partition..... .977GB 364MB ..... Used NTSF <---- No clue since you have just 1 showing
Recovery Partition..... 22GB 17GB .....Used NTSF <---- No clue
FAT32(LRS_ESP)..... .977 526.8MB .....Used FS: FAT32 Partition: 0x7 (NTFS,HPFS)

My Disk 1 is showing 6 different partitions which is nuts!

lx07, how did you start from scratch? Normally I start off the Windows with windows xp and create my partitions one for xp and one for 7. How did you start your install? Windows 10 first of Windows 7 or does it even matter? Did the windows 10 installer create your other partitions or did you just leave them alone?

Should I shrink the volume inside windows 10 Disk Management tool for my windows 7 install?

Curious as to which partitions are ok to delete.

Just backed up my stock hard drive via Acronis True Image 2016 via Bootable USB.

 

I started by booting from an external drive and creating the partition table manually using GPT fdisk based on that link above from TechNet (for the Windows partitions) and Partitioning Advice for the others (OSX has some weird requirements like 128MB unallocated before the OS partition). If you want it after Windows on the disk (which I did) then you have to do it manually.

In your case I think the easiest would be to backup all that OEM stuff (just in case) then clean install Windows 10. When you get to the screen asking where you want to install it delete all partitions. Don't format - dust delete them so it says there is one block of unallocated space. The Windows 10 installer will then make all the partitions it needs. Unless you want to restore back your system to the state it is was in when you bought it you don't need any of that stuff.

Once this is done you can shrink C and make another partition to install 7 (or whatever) to. Most likely you can shrink it with disk management as you say. There is a small chance that it will not let you shrink it enough (due to some unmovable file). If this is the case you can use a tool like the free Minitool Partition Wizard to do it.

I'd install 10 first. If you install 7 first it will make the WinRE recovery partition too small and Windows 10 will make another bigger one which (while it doesn't matter really) is a bit messy.

 

Problem with installing 10 first is 7 uses older bootloader, and it uses w7 style boot menu, and sometimes fouls up. It really is better to install 7 then 10. Personally, I would delete all recovery partitions and make an image backup of whole PC using Macrium Reflect Free once both are installed.

 

Hey guys so made a windows 10x64 home slipstream usb. Booted from USB and erased all partitions. Windows 10 then made all the smaller partitions it needed. So Windows 10 is fully installed and I have part of the drive now not partitioned.

Tried installing windows 7 from the usb inside windows 10 as I saw in another thread. It seemed to install until it auto rebooted then hung on the "starting windows" screen.

Deleted the partition, rebooted and tried booting off the windows7 usb. That did not work either. In the bios I set secure boot off.

 

To be honest, I would skip the dual boot all together. I would get a copy of W10 Pro or Ent. Install it, install hyperV and run Windows 7 on a VM. But as for your issue. Install Windows 7 first, then install 10. 7 is not smart enough to figure out 10's boot set up where 10 should configure Windows Manager no problem.If using UEFI you need to configure the bios as follows. 1. UEFI on2. If there is an option for legacy boot, turn it off. 3. If the options exist in your bios then make sure it is set to AHCI for the Hard drive. Some systems list SATA, AHCI, RAID (AHCI). Windows install can have issues if it is set to Raid. Tries to install to the flash drive its installing from. 4. Secure Boot Off (if installing pre windows 8 OS or non-windows OS)