Two installs on windows 7 pro on diff partitions of same drive

Hello Cyberpine,

If you like you could use the tutorial below as an example for how to dual boot with two copies of Windows 7. Just substitute Vista in the tutorial with the other Windows 7. The procedure is the same. Do note that you will only be able to use your product key number to activate only one of the installed copies of Windows 7 Pro though.

Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and Vista

Q1) Yes, when you install a second OS to multiboot, you will see a "Windows Boot Manager" screen during boot to select what OS you would like to run at startup. By default, you have 30 seconds to make this choice before the default OS is selected automatically to run at startup. The last OS installed is the default OS to run at startup by default. You could use the tutorial below to set how long you want the Windows Boot Manager to be available for before automatically starting the default OS.

• Operating System to Start - Change Display List Time

Q2) Yes, you could use any of the options in the tutorial below to set which OS you would like to be the default OS to run at startup.

• Default Operating System - Change Default Boot OS

Q3) Yes you can install the OS on any partition again if you like and still be able to multi-boot.



Hope this helps,
Shawn

Hello Ray,

I've always gotten the "Windows Boot Manager" screen at boot to select what OS to startup no matter if the second OS was 32-bit or 64-bit, or the same as the first OS installed.

theog said:

You can dual boot HP 64bit & Pro x64.

If you install two Pro x64, EasyBCD is needed to add the first install to boot menu.
Same with two XP Pro 32bit, or Vista Bus 32bit.
The last install takes over.

Oh.. I'm looking to have two Pro x64. Any good guides on EasyBCD? I've not looked up steps, but at a high level what is it, what steps and exactly in what sequence.

Right now I'm at the step of making the 3rd partition for my new install.

Mostly I'm looking for an easy way back in case things don't go well. Right now I've got a giant mess using Windows 2005 Virtual Server (which is not really supported) and several Virtual PC VMs and I'm just looking to INSTEAD host SQL 2008 and IIS for some developing testing right on the windows 7 client.

Ray,

Strange, how did you install the second OS?

I'll do some more playing with this later tonight and post my results. The only difference I do notice is that I have the 100MB System Reserved partition.