Dual booting windows 8 and 7, stuck on starting up screen.

gregrocker said:

Inenting said:

I don't want to get rid of windows 8 because I don't have a dvd or serial key or whatever for that. On my dads windows 7 laptop there is a little label with the serial key for his windows 7 but on my laptop there is only a label with the windows 8 logo on it. I would like to keep my windows 8 installation because ill probably need it somewhere in the future and this way I wont have to buy it.

Instead of spinning mythology about Windows 8 why not ask us so we can explain it to you?

Win8 is coded to your BIOS so that it will reactivate on that machine whether it's reinstalled from an installer which can be provided for Clean Install - Windows 8. You can also always run Factory Recovery from its hotkey at boot, or use Recovery media you make now for such a reinstall - although it's not as good as the Clean REinstall it saves a lot of time if you're not picky.

So if you cannot get it to install in UEFI then once you make the bootable Recovery media as a backup you can also choose to Bypass UEFI to Install WIn7 which always works.

I have installed Win7 in a Dual Boot on many Win8 machines in order to keep 8 on the HD until I decide if I want to keep the PC. In every case I had to Disable Secure boot, then boot the installer as a UEFI device. You have no UEFI devices showing in the boot menu, which makes it appear you have disabled it in the BIOS, most often done by enabling Legacy Mode or changing the setting for Compatibility Support Module (CSM). So check those settings now, expand them to take a camera snap if possible and post it back so we can help you choose.

In addition if you're using a flash stick use Option One in to make it a UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows . It will not boot otherwise.

So let us see the choices in BIOS setup for UEFI, Legacy BIOS, or CSM. You may have to dig through each tab to find them.

So let me get this straight: If I somehow format my drive and I somehow get a windows 8 dvd or iso I can install it without needing a serial?

And also the pictures above is almost everything that I think is necessary because the other tabs are: Boot witch shows the boot order and main tab wich shows just the general info. I can change the boot mode to CSM. That pretty much all the options the bios has.

And the bypass UEFI mode thingy, do I have to change the boot mode to CSM? Because with linux I have to change it to csm to boot from usb, is that the same? I also disabled secure boot and boot speed is on normal. Also do I have to remove the supervisor and user password or is that not necessary. And the only thing I see that has Legacy in it is: USB Legacy Mode but from the info I get the impression its not the right one.

Also I didn't think it would be this hard so thank you very much for putting up with me :) I hope you guys will keep helping me!

No problem, we are always here to help.

I personally will always forgo UEFI because I've never seen it improve anything including boot times as advertised, but it complicates all of the reinstall/repair regimens and workarounds which were mostly developed here during Win7 BETA. Not enough bang for the UEFI buck.

So if you want to get free of it then make your Recovery disks if you want a path back to factory preinstall (I never do) then enable CSM, boot the WIn7 installer normally to Clean Install Windows 7 making sure to delete all partitions during Steps 7/8 so that the installer will convert the hard drive to MBR install.

However if you want to compare UEFI then there is something wrong with the settings since it shows no UEFI devices as it should in the Boot Menu. Is Windows 8 still booting? If so then it should have UEFI WIndows Boot Manager in there at the least. And once you create your flash stick correctly or burn a DVD from the downloads provided, either of those should show up as UEFI devices to boot.

I don't work with Windows 8 so don't know which official downloads they use over at Eight Forums but there should be help available there if/when you're ever ready to Clean Install - Windows 8. You shouldn't worry about whether it will reactivate since we do know for sure it will, and they can explain it fully over there.

Thank you guys for helping me, I successfully managed to get to the install screen but it seems I have to convert my hdd to mbr first so ill be doing that later when I buy a external hdd and make a full backup on it.

Thank you so much for helping me!

I successfully managed to get to the install screen but it seems I have to convert my hdd to mbr first

You are not booting the Windows 7 x64 DVD in UEFI mode.

theog said:

I successfully managed to get to the install screen but it seems I have to convert my hdd to mbr first

You are not booting the Windows 7 x64 DVD in UEFI mode.

When I booted it in UEFI mode it didnt get past the starting windows screen

What exactly are the CSM or Legacy BIOS settings available in BIOS? Let us see screenshots with them expanded fully.

If there are no other CSM or Legacy Mode settings than what you showed in the screenshots earlier, the problem must be with the installer. Burn another DVD from the official ISO for your version from Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 or write to flash stick using only Option One from UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows.

gregrocker said:

What exactly are the CSM or Legacy BIOS settings available in BIOS? Let us see screenshots with them expanded fully.

If there are no other CSM or Legacy Mode settings than what you showed in the screenshots earlier, the problem must be with the installer. Burn another DVD from the official ISO for your version from Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 or write to flash stick using only Option One from UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows.

When I change it to CSM boot mode it only gets 1 extra option:

You would use that choice shown if you Bypass UEFI to Install WIn7

You'd also change boot to CSM Boot.

But as you say you will need to back up your files first since this requires deleting all partitions during the booted Clean Install Windows 7 using the Drive Options pictured in Steps 7 and 8.