Making a copy of Win7 system to 2nd partition & enabling dual-boot ?

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Serville

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Making a copy of Win7 system to 2nd partition & enabling dual-boot ?

Hi, I need some advice. I'm helping my brother to set up a dual-boot of Win7 & Win7.
The reason for this strange setup is because my brother wants to have his own Win7 system, separately from his son who keeps causing trouble with trojans/viruses & online games. I have several questions before I do this.

What is the fastest way of installing the OS twice with some basic applications on it?
Is it possible to just re-image the first installation to the 2nd partition & make some changes on it to avoid reinstalling everything twice ? It would save time a lot.
But then, what changes should I make to the system to make it dual-boot? Will that be complicated or even possible ?

Thanks
 

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Win7 Home Premium x64i3 2100GSkill 8GB DDR3HD 6770
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i3 2100
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Asrock
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GSkill 8GB DDR3
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HD 6770
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onboard
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Samsung 19" LCD
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Seagate 1TB
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Fortron 550w
Serville said:
Hi, I need some advice. I'm helping my brother to set up a dual-boot of Win7 & Win7.
The reason for this strange setup is because my brother wants to have his own Win7 system, separately from his son who keeps causing trouble with trojans/viruses & online games. I have several questions before I do this.

What is the fastest way of installing the OS twice with some basic applications on it?
Is it possible to just re-image the first installation to the 2nd partition & make some changes on it to avoid reinstalling everything twice ? It would save time a lot.
But then, what changes should I make to the system to make it dual-boot? Will that be complicated or even possible ?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I would suggest creating a separate limited user account. Much easier and will accomplish the same thing. The following link will provide details;

Setting up user accounts in Windows 7

You can also do your own search and find several articles on "how to set up a limited user account".
 

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Hi Serville. If you want to stay Virus free download Malwarebytes, and MSE. Along with NoScript and FlashBlock for your Browser.

I also recommend Linux as it is safer than Windows.

Anyway, to do this you need to Shrink one of your Partitions and install it in the Empty Partition.

Can you please upload a screenshot of your Disk Management?

Sir George's suggestion is also helpful. Viruses can travel through the OS's aswell.
 

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Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 - 64 BitIntel Core i5 2500k2x4GB DDR3 1333HzAti Radeon 6770
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Novatech iRush Pro
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Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 - 64 Bit
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If you make a copy of Windows 7 partition to another partition some links in the file system will still point to the old partition.

This means that there are links like
"partitionX\folder_path" embeded in the file system.

You have to edit registry manually to correct this (remap partitions) - only for experienced users(very experienced) as editing critical registry data is dangerous !

Not sure about licensing issues when installing same system twice on same computer.

Dual-boot is not a problem here as every boot loader entry has a concrete physical partition as base address.
 

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Win 8 RP, Win 7, XPIntel
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You definitely don't want to dual boot the same OS....aside from technical issues, you'd need a second license. User accounts were created for this very purpose. Have him create a basic user account for his son.
 

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Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1Intel Core i7-260012 GB Patriot Extreme DDR3-1333Nvidia GTX 470
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Thank u you all for the advice.
Apparently it involves some licensing issues, so I think I will cancel the idea of dual-boot the same OS. I think I will just create user accounts for them, and make a set of windows backup in case of severee damage. I think that will make more sense too.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Win7 Home Premium x64i3 2100GSkill 8GB DDR3HD 6770
OS
Win7 Home Premium x64
CPU
i3 2100
Motherboard
Asrock
Memory
GSkill 8GB DDR3
Graphics Card(s)
HD 6770
Sound Card
onboard
Monitor(s) Displays
Samsung 19" LCD
Hard Drives
Seagate 1TB
PSU
Fortron 550w
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