Windows 10: Installing W10 on a SSD drive (duel boot with W7)

Hi, just want to check can I duel boot W10 & W7 on a SSD drive.
Thanks

:)

 

Am I limited to installing W10 free upgrade on the hard drive the original OS was on?

My situation is that I have a hard drive and an SSD connected to the same computer. The hard drive is where W7 is installed. However I wish to install my free W10 upgrade on my SSD and wipe my hard drive along with W7. Is this possible? Or am I limited to
installing W10 on the hard drive the original OS was on?

 

clean install W10 on SSD designated drive B

Ha! Thanks for the reply bulldog. I'm actually an old-old timer. Started out on a Sequent? over 30 years ago using SuperCalc for an undergrad business course. I've learned a ton and built many PCs but still feel clueless given the rate of change. I
just thought that perhaps those anachronistic drive letter assignments had gone by the wayside. Guess not.

I finally figured out the process for me was:

1)disconnect the old boot SSD with W7 from the SATA cable,

2)hook up the new blank SSD to same,

3)then put the W10 install flash drive in the USB port,

4)then go into the BIOS setup to enable boot from USB port

5)finally install W10 from the W10 install flash drive (vaguely called installation media) to new SSD

Now I'll need to figure out dual boot of W10 or W7.

 

Windows 10 - Dual Boot with Windows 7 or Windows 8 - Windows 10 Forums

 

You can but make sure to have an image backup of your 7 (or at least know where to find your recovery media for 7 just in case) and your important data. Play it safe.
If you know nothing about restoring back ot fixing boot issues, I suggest not to do it (or do it on virtual machines). But if you think you know enough, then have fun!

 

You should first use the Backup feature in Win7 to make a Win7 Repair CD. Using that, you will be able to restore your Win7 boot loader files after you later remove Win10.

 

Great advice so far *Smile

Installing is risking on the same drive as another os especially one you might need or rely on,
It's best to use a vm or on it's own drive for sure as these builds are pretty buggy and even Microsoft does not recommend doing it on a machine you rely on for everyday work...
Register, install and engage | Windows Insider Program

 

Update: All went well made my backups as advised and install went smoothly I am now duel booting W7 & W10

Thanks

 

Good to hear and welcome to the forums.

 

They do tend to "duel" and fight for the boot programs. Check you can boot into both successfully to make sure as others have had issues dual booting with that. One OS or the other may try to take over...

 

10 always takes over after every upgrade or even after dual boot installation. Even when 7 and 10 are on separate drives, 10 takes over when booting up on the drive that has 7. I encountered that issue on one of the build upgrade and I forgot to switch off/pull out the other drives on my PC.
But it's an easy boot fix.

 

Just an update, All was going well until today when I turned on my computer instead of seeing the blue dual boot screen I get a gray dark screen with the option of booting windows 7 or windows 10 booting up works just fine.
Is this a bug and is there a fix for it

 

Just a suggestion..... but if you want to return to that lovely blue dual boot screen then you'll need to Fix the MBR... I use Macrium Reflect in which you can create a Win PE rescue USB drive. Once you create that and boot into it the menu on the left has 'Fix Master Boot Record' option.

Macrium Reflect Free

Create a Windows PE Rescue Environment

Works for me with dual booting from 2 different partitions using windows 7 and 8.1 when I get the occasional black and white DOS looking dual boot choice screen.... just insert the Macrium Win PE thumb drive and fix MBR.... takes 60 seconds.

As for exactly what causes it I'll leave to those who can explain why it happens.

 

That will be Brink then as normal *Wink

Read the Note section in here: Startup Options - Enable or Disable in Windows 8

 

Thanks very much.

Update: blue dual boot screen is back after the latest update.