dual boot

Peter,

It all comes down to the EULA that I posted above. When you by an upgrade copy, Microsoft gives you a price break by you not having to buy a more expensive "full" copy when you have a qualifying OS (ex: Windows 7) that you want to replace with Windows 8, and you agreeing to the EULA for that.

If you purchased an upgrade copy of Windows 8, then you can do a clean install or upgrade install with it. However, to abide by the EULA, you must uninstall or upgrade from your say Windows 7.

If you purchased a system builder copy of Windows 8, then you can install it and still be able to use your Windows 7.

Hope this helps to clear it up better. :)

The main difference between 7 and 8 besides the RT/8 touchscreen gui and no longer seeing the Start button and menu is at the core level which includes some compatibility issues. For planning a dual boot if you go for the OEM type media release seeing 8 set up as a stand alone install on a totally separate drive and then later adding a boot entry into 7 is the best route. You can leave the 7 drive set as the default boot device.

The reason for that is running into a variety of problems that came up when booting into 7 from the 8 RP install. I can't say for sure that MS has fixed an apparent bug that may have lingered on into the retail release and why a stand alone is recommended.

For the second case I have here I ended up with a 7 Pro upgrade disk but not having any OS on a new build recently while still having older XP and Vista media on hand. The clean install was hesitant at first but was able to be activated there. With an 8 upgrade disk?

That's still up in the air at this time if the same would work since you now have to enter and watch as the product key is verified before the Windows installation will proceed. I haven't heard from anyone who has seen a clean from an 8 upgrade go and activate without the second install over the first required.

The first question you have to ask yourself is, Will I ever want to restore Windows 7 on this computer? If no, then here is what I would do.

1. Get the $39 download: Buy Windows - Microsoft Windows
2. Create an .iso during the download. Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant - Download and Run
3. Burn a DVD or create a bootable flash drive from the .iso.
3. Do a Clean install using the DVD or flash drive. Delete all partitions and create a new one during the install that encompasses the entire disk.

If you have an external hard drive, do an image backup of the current entire drive first.

I definitely have to agree with seeing a full system image created before making any large change there. As far as the availability of the Release Preview you can see for yourself that now that 8 is out the option to buy is all you will find at this time. That is any "Genuine MS" downloads would be the retail 8 only!

The decision is yours to make however on which to buy and your actual plans for seeing a dual boot. You wouldn't see it buying an upgrade disk too easily while the OEM disk would be the disk that can easily perform a full clean install of 8 onto a second primary.

That won't cost any $200+ or $300+ like prices seen for previous versions however! You can grab a 64bit 8 Pro disk for $99-. Once you have the 8 media you can also create a new iso to written to a flash drive mage bootable to see the Win 8 install go a little faster then the hour by dvd average time. You can even mount iso images which can speed things up a bit since 8 does take a lot longer then 7 to go on!

We all learn from discussions like this.

As for my #2 response. I was basically pointing you to Step #17 which shows you how to create a .iso of the download. Should have said that.

Clean install, you lose everything you currently have, software (programs ... blue tooth, office) and data thus a image backup is the way to go.

Staying with Windows 7 is not a bad choice. I upgraded to 8 mainly because it was cheap and I wanted to play with it. I have Win 7 and Vista on my other computers. I don't use the Metro interface (apps) at all, don't like it, find it ugly so I now have Windows 8 looking and feeling exactly like Windows 7 so I'm happy. $40 poorer but happy

That's one other thing found with 8 is that so far there isn't any option to perform any type of repair install on Windows if you want to save a present installation and just see system files refreshed. The PC Refresh option wipes everything on 8!

At least with 7 you run the installer while booted in Windows and select the upgrade option to install over the existing 7 install while keeping the programs as well as your files and folders intact less the need to reinstall some device drivers.

Essentially 8 amounts to an updated core of a desktop edition while MS stripped things out like the Media Center, dvd playback support in WMP, and simply slapped the Windows RT for Surface Tablets main gui on. The gui or Metro(Modern) was designed with Tablets and swipe touchscreens in mind but is awkward when applied to any desktop release!

With a large amount invested in softwares that run well on 7 you will be in for a disappointment when a few or even several may not run on 8. Just another to mention here. This would be due mostly to compatibility issues often seen when going from one version to a newer version of Windows.

Ironically the 32bit 7 saw far more XP drivers even run as well as old XP programs that would not on the 32bit Vista for the same reason. The backward compatibility factor saw a large improvement in 7 and lost again in 8 it seems.

(And you wonder why MS had to drop the prices way down for 8 with all that going against it?)