Windows 10: Windows Boot Manager issue with Dual Boot on different Hard Drives

Issue: after installing Windows 10 UEFI on Hard drive, I can't boot anymore on Windows 7 UEFI (SSD).

My main system, W7 UEFI, is on a SSD. I would like to have a backup system on a different drive (HD) in case my SSD fails so I can be up and running without losing any time. This drive is not plugged at all times. I plug it in only when I need to backup my files or need to boot on W10.

Yesterday, after unplugging my SSD SATA cable, I installed W10 UEFI on this backup HD (GPT). Everything went fine. Except now I can't boot on my W7 since the W10 install messed with the Windows Boot Manager in the BIOS. When I manually select my SSD to boot, it seems to try to boot but it goes back to the BIOS.

I imaged my W7 boot partitions so I can go back to the previous Windows Boot Manager state... but it'll mess everything for W10.

How can I make this working?

:)

 

Boot Issues, Partitioning Errors, Backup, and Dual-Booting Windows 10

Because this is a website where people seek help, not find new problems. This has NOTHING to do with a dual boot. This is a NO BOOT issue. The person wants to find a way to get the standalone drive's data to be what is booted to. Unconcerned with Linux. None
at all.

 

Extending partition in Windows 10 raises "The operation you selected will convert the selected basic disk(s) to dynamic disk(s)"

You should unplug disc 1 to operate on disk 0, repair it by following the tutorial I gave you. Or start over from scratch following that tutorial with only disk 0 plugged in.

Then when ready to install Ubuntu, unplug disk 0 and plug in disc 1, wipe it to do the install incompatibility or Legacy BIOS mode from scratch. Then you should boot your choice of disc from the boot menu, by choosing disc 1 to start it or Windows boot manager
to start the dual boot on disk 0.

You'd be better off having each operating system on a different hard drive all booted in Legacy BIOS mode except windows using Windows boot manager. Then boot the alternative operating systems using the boot menu to choose their hard drive.

For further consultation on this I would ask in the forums at Neosmart where they are the world's foremost experts on dual booting of all types.

 

Hi @PODxt

Are you dual booting Windows 7 and Windows 10?

Are the Windows 7 and Windows 10 installed same storage drive?

Have you disabled Secure Boot from BIOS/UEFI setup utility, Windows 7 64-bit don't support Secure Boot.

Can you boot your computer with Windows 10?

 

Hi FreeBooter, here is my setup:
SSD (GPT) - Windows 7 64bits UEFI
HD (GPT) - Windows 10 64bits UEFI (this drive is not plugged in when I use Win7 and vice versa)

So I don't know if we can call this "dual booting" because the 2 Windows can't see each other.

I have no Secure Boot option on my BIOS/UEFI.
I can't boot my computer with Windows 10 because this was the last Windows I installed. I think it changed something in the Windows Boot Manager in the BIOS/UEFI that prevents me from booting with my SSD (Windows 7 64).

 

You are not dual booting and no Windows 10 have not change any settings in BIOS/UEFI firmware. But if you want to be sure you can reset BIOS/UEFI firmware settings to there factory default settings from BIOS/UEFI setup utility.

You also cannot boot your computer with Windows 10 so reset the BIOS/UEFI firmware settings to see issue resolves.

 

Sorry I don't know why I typed that, I meant the opposite: "I can boot with Windows 10 because this was the last Windows I installed". It's Win7 (SSD) that can't boot.

So by just resetting the BIOS/UEFI, I will be able to boot on my 2 drives? (like removing the battery?)

 

You don't need to remove CMOS battery you can reset BIOS/UEFI firmware settings from within BIOS/UEFI setup utility which you can get to it by booting your computer into BIOS/UEFI setup utility. Restart your computer and press the appropriate key to enter the BIOS or UEFI firmware settings screen while it boots. This is often the F1, F2, Delete, F10, or F12 key. Consult your computer’s manual for more details, or just perform a web search for your PC’s model name and number as well as “enter BIOS.”

 

Unfortunately, resetting the BIOS/UEFI hasn't changed anything. I can't boot on my SSD (Win7) but I can boot on my HD (Win10). Do you (or anyone else) have some other pointers?

 

Do you get any error message?

Can you please check and see if the BIOS detects Windows 7 installed SSD drive.

Please boot your computer with Windows 7 Setup Media and from Windows Recovery Environment start the Command Prompt.

Please type below command into Command Prompt and press Enter key.

Following command will fixes errors on the disk and locates bad sectors and recovers readable information.


Code: Chkdsk D: /f[/quote]

Please replace partition letter D: with Windows installed partition letter. When computer boots into Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) environment the drive letter assign to Windows partition may not be C: drive letter because Windows 7, 8 , 8.1 and 10 creates a separate system partition when it's installed from scratch. The system partition contains boot files WinRE assigns the system partition the C: drive letter and the Windows installed partition will be assign any other drive letter usually D: drive letter is assign to Windows installed partition. The Bcdedit /enum | find "osdevice" command can be use to find out the drive letter of the Windows installed partition the output of the Bcdedit command is similar to this osdevice partition=D:. The drive letter after partition= is the drive letter of the Windows partition.





Please boot your computer with Windows 7 Setup Media and from Windows Recovery Environment start the Command Prompt.

Please type below command into Command Prompt and press Enter key.

The following command scans integrity of all protected Windows system files and repairs files with problems when possible.

Code: Sfc /Scannow /OFFBOOTDIR=D:\ /OFFWINDIR=D:\Windows[/quote]

Please replace partition letter D: with Windows installed partition letter. When computer boots into Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) environment the drive letter assign to Windows partition may not be C: drive letter because Windows 7, 8 , 8.1 and 10 creates a separate system partition when it's installed from scratch. The system partition contains boot files WinRE assigns the system partition the C: drive letter and the Windows installed partition will be assign any other drive letter usually D: drive letter is assign to Windows installed partition. The Bcdedit /enum | find "osdevice" command can be use to find out the drive letter of the Windows installed partition the output of the Bcdedit command is similar to this osdevice partition=D:. The drive letter after partition= is the drive letter of the Windows partition.

After finish executing the commands restart your computer to see issue resolved.

 

I boot W7 and W10 on my Z170 no problem, like you I only use 1 drive or the other, 99% of the time I use W10, I only plug in the W7 drive to update W7, usually only once a month or so.

My installs are both Legacy/MBR and I have no issues at all, when I plug in the W7 ssd I use the boot menu to select that drive one time, after that it boots to 7 no problem, it would probably boot on its own no problem, but I just like to chose it like that the 1st time.

Have you tried to use the boot menu when you want to use 7 ? Instead of just letting the Bios decide ? Try that once, see what happens.

As mentioned, installing W10 will not do anything to the Bios, changes in the Bios only happen if you make the changes.


Rather strange you can`t boot into each install if they were both done separately while the other drive was unplugged.

I would have made a duplicate of W7 using Macrium to create an image, then imaged W7 to the new ssd and not have installed W10, it sounds to me like you'd rather use 7 than 10.

 

I would create a bootable USB flash drive of Kyhi's recovery tools:
Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk - Windows 10 Forums

Then with the Windows 7 drive connected, boot the computer into Kyhi's Recovery Tools. Run the program Macrium Reflect and from the restore menu select the option to Fix Windows boot problems.

 

I think the issue is with my BIOS/UEFI , when my Win7 was booting, it would only boot with the Windows Boot Manager. If I'd select my drive in Boot override, it would ask me to select a proper boot device... And guess what, this is the same thing with this new Win10 install: the computer starts normally with the WBM but I get the proper boot device error message if I manually select my HD in the Boot override section.

Unfortunately I can't update my UEFI firmware because my motherboard is an Asus P8P67 B2 and not B3. B2 got replaced by B3 because of 4 faulty INTEL SATA II ports. The SATAIII ports are ok. Asus released a BIOS update for the B3 but not the B2. Maybe this is related to my issues, maybe not.
@FreeBooter
sfc /scannow didn't not find any problem.

Win7 is on my SSD so no chkdsk is required and CrystalDiskInfo marked the SSD as Good. All drives are in perfect condition, I ran chkdsk /f r on my HD, used Seatools etc, everything is OK.
@AddRAM
I'm not sure what you mean by the Boot menu, are you talking about the boot menu from the BIOS/UEFI with the Windows Boot Manager?
Yes it's strange I can't boot on Win7 since installs were done with the drives disconnected like you mentioned. I actually need Win10 to do some testing.

@NavyLCDR
I actually have a backup image of my Win7 system with all boot partitions so I can use their WinPE rescue media to restore my boot partitions. It's just that, I don't understand why the Win10 install messed up with my Win7 system, even though the SSD was unplugged... really scratching my head around this.

Here are pictures from my UEFI BIOS









This is what I get when I select my Win10 system HD directly from the Boot override selection:

 

Yes Chkdsk can be use to repair file system (FAT32/NTFS) errors. The /F parameter should be use on SSD drives this parameter repairs files system.

I did not ask you to execute Sfc with only /Scannow parameter if this is what you have done.


There is nothing wrong with UEFI firmware Windows 10 cannot and will not configure UEFI so that the Windows 7 wont boot.


You might think we have answer to what is causing the problem no we don't no one can know only way to find out is to troubleshot the boot issue in steps.


Please boot your computer with Windows Setup Media and from Windows Recovery Environment start the Command Prompt.

Please type below commands into Command Prompt and press Enter key.

Following commands will repair Master Boot Record (MBR), Boot Sector and BCD Store.


Code: Bootrec /FixMbr Bootrec /FixBoot Bootrec /RebuildBcd[/quote] If you can i need you to post a screenshot of these commands outputs.

 

Just to be sure, do I really have to type Bootrec /FixMbr even though there's no MBR (drive is GPT)?