Windows 10: Dual boot Windows installs completely independent of each other?

Say I want to dual boot Win 10 and Win 7 (I have the license keys), does it matter which I install first? Or Win 10 Pro and Win 10 Home? And to keep things clean, let's say I remove the drive letter from the install that is not active. Will that cause any problems because one install somehow depends on files from the other install?

All the installs would be 64 bit versions. Also, I keep all my "real" data on separate D: and E: partitions to limit the damage from a Windows meltdown.

If it matters I would probably be using EasyBCD to choose the install to boot into.

Thanks,



:)

 

Dual Boot Install

Yes, you can install a second copy to either drive and activate it with a new Product Key. I showed you how to do it booted either independently by the BIOS or creating a Windows Dual Boot menu. This is important because the first method will keep both
drives independently bootable, while the second method will create a WIndows Boot Manager in which the second install is dependent upon the first one's boot files until it is made independently bootable using the method I gave.

 

Installed Windows 10, can I also install 8.1?

How is the EULA different? Please explain?

If you have a separate 8.1 license that is not being used to Upgrade to 10, then you can install it to Dual Boot with 10. Either shrink a partition space on the same hard drive, or plug in a separate hard drive to install upon. Installing to that space
should configure a Dual Boot; if not install EasyBCD to add the other OS to a Dual Boot menu.

Or you can use Dual Boot via the BIOS on separate hard drives as Suatcini explains above. This keeps them independent of each other so that either can come and go as you please.

If you need help making partition space on the same hard drive, please
Post a screenshot of Disk Mgmt - Microsoft Community so we can advise you
the best approach.

 

No.

No.

You should leave the second OS drive letter in place until dual booting is fully set up, then you can remove it.

I would recommend just using BCDBOOT to add the second OS to the boot menu and then MSCONFIG to set the default OS and desired timeout value.

 

Does BCDBOOT create a menu so can I select which OS to boot into? I would rather take that approach than have to use MSCONFIG to change the default OS every time I want to switch. But it's worth keeping in mind, because I just read somewhere that EASYBCD doesn't really work with UEFI.

Thank you, sir!

 

BCDBOOT will add the second OS to the boot menu. You can set the default OS using MSCONFIG. The default OS is simply what the computer will boot into if you don't make a selection yourself. The timeout is how long the computer will wait for you to make a selection before booting the default OS.

 

You should install windows 7 first, then windows 10 as windows 7 uses an older boot loader, and doing it the other way round can screw up boot sectors.

If you do it this way (7 then 10), it just works.

You can create a dual boot menu, and set whichever you want as default using MSconfig.

You can even set time to choose tombe as low as one second for the boot menu, or even zero in which case other boot entry is hidden until you set a time again.