Windows 10: Windows 10 & Windows 7 Dual Boot - Can it be done

Currently downloading from the link your recommended. Think I already have it in my download folder but not sure if it has SP1.

I am still concerned about the GPT warning and whether the partition for Windows 7 needs to be the first O/S partition on the Drive.

 

@Nolly1959
See last paragraph of my edited post. I share your concern.

 

Missed that earlier. I am sure that having had many attempts at this, I have read somewhere that Windows 7 must be first. I believe someone suggested (not in TenForums) that I would have to start afresh and intall Windows 7 and then Windows 10. Also believe it has something to do with the MBR. If I solve it, I will write a book on it*Wink

 

@Nolly1959, I was an enlisted machinist mate, nuclear trained, submarine service from 1988 to 2000 before I became an aviation maintenance officer.

I just tried the heidoc.net download tool and it would only let me download English version of Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium. Only French and Korean were available for Professional. However, the current Windows 7 SP1 ISO files from Microsoft all contain Windows 7 Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate. In order to get all versions available from the ISO file, after you create your Windows 7 installation USB flash drive from it, delete the \sources\ei.cfg file from it.

Code: Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.15063] (c) 2017 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. C:\Windows\system32>dism /get-wiminfo /wimfile:I:\Sources\Install.wim Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool Version: 10.0.15063.0 Details for image : I:\Sources\Install.wim Index : 1 Name : Windows 7 Home Basic Description : Windows 7 Home Basic Size : 11,710,161,360 bytes Index : 2 Name : Windows 7 Home Premium Description : Windows 7 Home Premium Size : 12,222,587,449 bytes Index : 3 Name : Windows 7 Professional Description : Windows 7 Professional Size : 12,122,886,417 bytes Index : 4 Name : Windows 7 Ultimate Description : Windows 7 Ultimate Size : 12,285,492,779 bytes The operation completed successfully.[/quote]

 

@NavyLCDR, I joined the Royal Navy in January 1959 and left by the end of October 1972. I was an REA1(Air) for almost the last 5 years of my service. REA1 == Radio Electrical Artificer 1st Class or Chief Petty Officer. Air == Fleet Air Arm.

I was able to download the ISO file you mentioned. I attempted to create a bootable USB with WintoUSB and selected Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium, etc. It may be the USB drive that I have used that is resulted in NO BOOT from it. I was asked question about did I want Bios MBR, UEFI/GPT (I think) which was confusing.
What creation tool would you use? What size of USB is required do you think?

 

I'm in my phone at the moment, read this whole post before starting. 4 gb flash drive should be enough, 8 GB would be better. Insert the flash drive. Win+r key, then run diskpart:

diskpart
list disk
select disk # <-replace # with disc # of the USB flash drive
clean <-this erases the selected disk!
create part pri
format fs=fat32 quick
active
assign
exit
exit

Then mount the ISO file. Copy all the files and folders from the mounted ISO file to the USB flash drive. Delete \sources\ei.cfg from the flash drive.

Windows 8 and 10 will mount ISO files from the right click menu.

 

I tried an 8GB USB drive and I got a message about it not being large enough.

Will try what you have suggested. Thanks.

 

I forgot a command in there. Between clean and format fs=fat32 quick you need to run create part pri. Just a second, I'll post an example for you.

Running in a Command Prompt (Admin), this is what it looks like:

Code: Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.15063] (c) 2017 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. C:\Windows\system32>diskpart Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.15063.0 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. On computer: JOHN-LAPTOP DISKPART> list disk Disk ### Status Size Free Dyn Gpt -------- ------------- ------- ------- --- --- Disk 0 Online 447 GB 0 B * Disk 1 Online 931 GB 1024 KB * Disk 2 No Media 0 B 0 B Disk 3 Online 7496 MB 0 B DISKPART> select disk 3 Disk 3 is now the selected disk. DISKPART> clean DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk. DISKPART> create part pri DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition. DISKPART> format fs=fat32 quick 100 percent completed DiskPart successfully formatted the volume. DISKPART> active DiskPart marked the current partition as active. DISKPART> assign DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point. DISKPART> exit Leaving DiskPart... C:\Windows\system32>exit[/quote] Mount the ISO file:





Copy all the files and folders from the mounted ISO file to the USB flash drive:





Delete \sources\ei.cfg from the USB flash drive.

 

NavyLCDR, I ended up creating what I believe is a bootable USB but did it a different way than your example.
However, I have ended up with hard disk corruption again. Trying to fix that at present.
Let you know how I get on.

 

NavyLCDR, Have created two USB Drives using your ammended procedure and both give a problem I have seen before. See first attached image.

From what I understand this message is misleading and what is beieng looked for is a SATA Driver. Using the Motherboard DVD, I have attempted to load a SATA Driver but it fails to load.

When I attempt to boot from the USB Drive, I have to tap F8. This gives me a Boot Menu. See second attachment.

There appears to be two choices. If selected, the first choice (UEFI) simply causes a normal boot into Windows 10.
If the second choice is selected, then I get the 'Missing Driver' problem.

 

Wow! that was before I was even born... PC's must have been quite cool back then... ?

 

No PC's then but plenty of Electrical & Electronic kit. Started with an Atari in the 80's I believe; that is 1980's*Smile
My first PC was in the 90's running Windows 95*Sad Used PCs for my role as a Hardware Support Engineer in Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in the late 80's. The first one had a whole 100MB Hard Drive*chuckle

 

Ok - how about a change of tack.

Why are you trying to install Windows 7?

If it is to run a specific application, you might simply find it easier to install windows 7 into a virtual machine. This is very easy to do and you can run windows 7 and windows 10 at the same time.

 

@Nolly1959,

In an earlier post, I eluded to using DISM to apply the Windows 7 image to a partition. This is how you do that. Create an NTFS partition on the hard drive to hold the Windows 7. You can use any partitioning tool you want to. Make sure the NTFS partition is assigned a drive letter - let's assume it gets F: drive.

In Windows 10, mount the Windows 7 ISO file. Let's assume the mounted Windows 7 ISO file gets drive letter G:. You will need to open a Command Prompt (Admin), or I believe a Powershell (Admin) will work too. To see what Windows 7 images are available, you will run the same command I did in post #17 on the mounted Windows 7 ISO file:
dism /get-wiminfo /wimfile:G:\sources\install.wim

The drive letter in red will be to the mounted Windows 7 ISO file.

Now to apply the Windows 7 image to the F: drive partition. The F: drive should be empty before you start. You will run the command:
dism /apply-image /imagefile:G:\sources\install.wim /index:2 /ApplyDir:F:\

G:\ above will be the drive letter to the mounted Windows 7 ISO file
F:\ above will be to the empty NTFS partition you created to hold Windows 7
Index:2, change the index number to the version of the Windows 7 you want obtained from the dism /get-wiminfo command.

After the image is applied, you will need to add it to the boot menu. Do that by running the following command:
bcdboot F:\Windows /d /addlast

The F:\Windows will point to the new Windows folder that is created on the NTFS partition after applying the image to it.
You can adjust the boot menu a little bit by running MSCONFIG and changing the parameters on the boot tab.
Reboot the computer, good luck!

 

Hi NavyLCDR
The command dism /get-wiminfo /wimfile:G:\sources\insall.wim has a typo. Insall.wim should be install.wim.

The rest of the procedure went without any issues. Upon reboot I chose Windows 7 it stopped at the Windows 7 splash screen without any error message. Left it there for five minutes and it never went any further. I still think that Windows 7 must be installed first and then Windows 10 added later.