Windows 10: Macrium Reflect - Use Macrium Image to set up Dual / Multi Boot

How to: Macrium Reflect - Use Macrium Image to set up Dual / Multi Boot


Information If you ask me, Macrium Reflect should be obligatory, first application installed after installing Windows 10.

Users often think it as just another backup application but in fact it is much more, giving more than any other free imaging solution. This tutorial will show how to use Macrium Reflect system images to set up a Dual or Multi Boot PC.

Please notice that the method told in this tutorial works in all scenarios. You can have a later Windows version installed on your new UEFI / GPT system and set up an older Windows installation from a BIOS / MBR system to Multi Boot, or vice versa, or set up a new Windows 10 from a UEFI / GPT system to Multi Boot on an older BIOS / MBR machine. The partitioning system and Windows version on the Macrium image you have can be any Windows (Vista or later), any language, any bit version, using any partitioning system.

This tutorial assumes you know how to create a Macrium image and in fact have already done that. In case you need help to get started with Macrium Reflect, see the tutorial for instructions and download:

• Macrium Reflect - Backup & Restore

For more advanced usage of Macrium, see this thread:

• First look: Macrium CMC - Central Management Console

Screenshots in this tutorial are from Hyper-V virtual machine. However, this method can be used as told in all machines, physical and virtual alike, both in UEFI / GPT and BIOS / MBR setups.

Regardless if the machine in question is UEFI or BIOS using GPT or MBR partitioning, this method can be used to set any Windows version (Vista or later) in any language and bit version to multi boot with your current Windows.

Tutorial might look long and complicated but please take my word: this is an incredibly simple and uncomplicated procedure which takes less than a minute of your time (not counting time needed to create and restore a system image)



Note This tutorial shows a hypothetical scenario:

• Old PC with Windows 8.1 on MBR partitioned disk on a legacy BIOS machine
• New PC with Windows 10 on GPT partitioned disk on a UEFI machine
• Setting old Windows 8.1 installation to dual boot on new PC with Windows 10

Contents [/i] Use links to jump to any part of this tutorial
[table][tr][td]Step One:[/td] [td]Create System Image of old Windows installation[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Step Two:[/td] [td]Restore Image to new PC[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Step Three:[/td] [td]Add old Windows installation to new PC Boot Menu[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Step Four:[/td] [td]Add Macrium Rescue to Boot Menu[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Step Five:[/td] [td]Boot menu: Select Operating System[/td] [/tr] [tr][td]Step Six:[/td] [td]Activating restored Windows[/td] [/tr] [/table]



Tip Click screenshots to pop out, click again to enlarge.



Step One [/i] Create System Image of old Windows installation
1.1) Create a system image of the Windows installation you want to use in dual / multi boot


Warning Rest of this tutorial is based on fact that your full Windows installation you are making an image from is on C: drive.

If main profile folder Users or parts of it, or any other system elements are relocated on any other drive than C: you must first reverse that, restore everything to C: drive. In this example I will make an image of Windows 8.1 PRO on old machine I do not want to use anymore

1.2) Save the image on an external HDD or USB flash drive

1.3) When done, close Macrium Reflect






Step Two [/i] Restore Image to new PC
2.1) Attach the drive containing Macrium image made in Step One to new PC

2.2) Open Macrium Reflect, browse to and open the image:




2.3) Select the Windows partition C: of the image, click Actions, click Restore this partition:




2.4) Select to which disk this Windows partition should be restored:




2.5) In this example I have an empty 512 GB disk on my new Windows 10 machine. I select it:




2.6) Now simply drag the C: partition from selected image to empty space on selected target disk dropping it there:




2.7) Clicking Next and thereafter Finish will start restoring selected Windows partition from the image to selected disk on new PC:








2.8) When done, close Macrium:




2.9) My original Windows 8.1 disk was only 64 GB. I want it to have some more space available in my new dual boot system. I will extend its partition in Disk Management:




2.10) I gave Windows 8.1 partition 125 GB (green in screenshot), assigning rest of the disk to a Data partition (yellow) shared by newly added Windows 8.1 and original Windows 10:






Step Three [/i] Add old Windows installation to new PC Boot Menu
3.1) Open an elevated Command Prompt (tutorial)

3.2) Enter the following command, replacing X:\ with drive letter your restored Windows image got:
Code:

In my case the Windows partition of the Windows 8.1 installation I restored to this machine got letter F:. I will use it (see screenshot in step 3.3)

3.3) Above command adds Windows on selected disk to Windows Boot Menu. Last boot entry added will be the default operating system which will be automatically booted if user makes no selection in given time (default = 30 seconds). In this case Windows 8.1 became now my default OS

I will change that, making my main OS Windows 10 default. As I am currently booted to that OS, its boot entry ID will be {current}. Using that ID I will set it to be my default OS with following command:
Code:

Commands from steps 3.2 & 3.3:






Step Four [/i] Add Macrium Rescue to Boot Menu
4.1) Open Macrium Reflect

4.2) Select Other Tasks > Add Macrium Recovery Boot Menu Option:




4.3) Select Windows PE 10.0:






Step Five [/i] Boot menu: Select Operating System
5.1) Restart the PC to see your new Boot Menu, select operating system to boot:




5.2) In this example case I can now select and boot to original OS on new PC, Windows 10:




5.3) ... or to restored OS from old PC, Windows 8.1:




5.4) ... and in case of emergency, boot to Macrium Recovery Console:






Step Six [/i] Activating restored Windows


Note Following activation guidelines are based on Microsoft general EULA.

In some cases users have told about getting for instance OEM Windows activated on different hardware, however, as this is not something that happens automatically, every time, the following describes various activation scenarios solely based on EULA, known defaults and general Windows behaviour.
6.1) Restoring Windows 10 image:

• If restoring a Windows 10 image on other hardware than where it was originally installed and activated, it will in most cases be automatically activated if the new hardware has a digital license for that edition of Windows 10, regardless if the image was made from an OEM or Retail installation
• In case no digital license for that edition exists, or Windows 10 is restored to new hardware, a genuine product key will be required
• In case of any activation issues use Windows Activation Troubleshooter (tutorial)

6.2) Restoring Windows 8.1 or older:

• OEM Windows 8.1 or older image restored on other hardware will need a genuine product key to activate
• OEM Windows 8.1 or older restored on hardware it originally came as pre-installed can be re-activated with product key from original sticker
• Retail Windows 8.1 or older can be re-activated with original retail product key on different hardware
• In case of any activation issues use Windows Phone Activation (tutorial)

That's it geeks

Kari

:)

 

Bookmark State of the System for Future Recovery?

Please trust a multi-time awarded MVP and use Macrium Reflect. The System Image build into Windows is just too buggy.

 

Creating a full system image fails with error 0x807800c5

Hi Epj0211, I am Rob a volunteer and a 10 time and dual award MVP specializing in Windows troubleshooting and Bluescreen analysis.

Windows Backup has all sorts of issues.

Use Macrium Reflect - Free

https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/7363/macrium-re...

Macrium Reflect - Free

Macrium Software | Macrium Reflect Free

Please let us know the results and if you need further assistance.

 

Excellent, Kari. I totally agree with your opening statement.

*Thumbs

 

Thanks. Will do the edit later on, need to fire up virtual machines to get scenario redone for screenshots *Smile

 

Thanks!

Let's repeat it, advice from old school geeks *Wink:

 

"If you ask me or esteemed fellow geek @Dick, Macrium Reflect should be obligatory, first application installed after installing Windows 10."

If I could have my way, it would be the first even before Windows (actually I do that sort of in vms) *chuckle.

 

This tutorial is so freaking awesome! And I completely agree with your first statement about Macrium Reflect. Macrium makes things so easy.

 

Thanks Slicendice *Smile

 

I have a Windows 7 Pro image of my desktop system backed up on an external drive. I also have a Windows 10 image of my desktop system backed up on that same external drive. Both images are via Macrium Reflect (free version).

I like both operating systems, and will usually alternate between the two by restoring one image or the other.
While that process has worked well for me, I think it would be more convenient if I could set up a dual boot system where I could choose between either Windows 7 or Windows 10 when starting up my desktop. However, I’m a newbie at dual booting.

Here’s some more info regarding my images. The Win7 image consists of two partitions: the System Reserved partition (24.9mb used of 100mb) and the NFTS Primary consisting of the OS and everything else (63.77 gb used of 232.79 gb). The Win10 image consists of three partitions: the System Reserved partition (354.9mb of 500mb), the NFTS Primary consisting of the OS and major programs (46.8 gb out of 121.58 gb), and the third partition being another NFTS Primary consisting of some portable apps (3.48 gb out of 110.81).

I understand some of the info in this tutorial, but not everything. So, here are some preliminary questions (with more to follow):

• My thinking is to restore the Win10 image onto my desktop. Since the third partition has about 107 gb not being used (110.81-3.48), I thought I would shrink that partition to free up about 90 gb.
• Am I correct in wanting to then use Macrium Reflect to drag the image of the Win7 Primary partition to the Win10 90 gb free space created in above step 1? Can I actually do that if the Win7 Primary partition is 232.79 gb (63.77 gb being used)? Or do I have to first use Disk Management to shrink the Win7 Primary partition to about 65 gb and drag and drop that smaller partition to the Win10 90 gb free space created in step 1?

Again, I've got more questions, but thought I'd tackle this issue first.

Thanks in advance.

 

Hello Kari
Mate I have just done a dual boot on this machine 7 / 10 and I went the through the tutorial and so I have it right I can image the whole drive and then use whichever partition to get back my system for example the 10 without necessarily having to do anything whit the 7 set up??
John

 

@ICIT2LOL

You would normally do separate OS image backups for each. Macrium would be installed in each OS, and you would make an image while booted in that OS, 7 or 10, to separate folders set up on an external drive or wherever you back up to. No need to image the entire drive each time. You can, of course if you want to, just no practical need for it.

Makes backing up much quicker, and restoring (if needed) much safer and not as tricky as trying to cherry-pick partitions to restore. Let the software manage it for you. That's what it was designed to do.

Keep them separate.

TC

 

There are a few stages to the process.

1. Apply os files onto another partition on the target machine.

That can be done in many ways.
i) Applying an image created by an imaging program - such as described in the tutorial. Any imaging program can be used for that.
ii) Applying the os files using setup.exe ( normal windows installation method using MS installtion media).
iii) Applying os files from install.wim using e.g. dism, or any other program capable of extracting files from wim.

2. Create boot menu entry.

i) If using normal installation ( windows setup), or most imaging programs, that will be done automatically.
ii) If using manual method [ dism, etc ]to apply wim or other image contents, usually need to do that yourself, using bcbboot command is simplest.

3. Adjust to new hardware.

i) If applying with an imaging program ( e.g. macrium, aomei, paragon, etc ) adjust to new hardare may be necessary, depending on the os and how dissimilar the target machine is.

4. Activate.