Solved Dual-boot Win7 Pro and Win10 Pro question

[rcanino]

Hi guys...it's been a long time since I installed an OS so I wanted to ask first:
Is it best to install Win10 on a separate partition on the same SSD that Win7 is on? Or put Win10 on a separate SSD?

This desktop is old. I put it together in 2010 - MSI BigBang X58, Gulftown 980X, GTX 780 6GB, 24GB G.Skill. The Win10 upgrade didn't flag any hardware so I assume Win10 will run fine. Current OS is Win7 Pro 64-bit. I want to install Win10 Pro, then be able to choose which OS I use for that session w/out going into the BIOS every time. I have OEM DVDs for both OS.

I guess that's it - same SSD or separate SSDs - hopefully I can figure out the rest.
Thank you folks!

 

[SIW2]

Up to you. I have several os on the same disk.

 

[rcanino]

I should've been clearer - I'm trying to learn if there's any advantage to keeping the OS on separate drives - other than if a drive dies it doesn't take both OS with it.

I'd prefer to keep them on 2 different drives but is there a way to make both appear as a choice w/out going into the BIOS?

 

[SIW2]

you could add a bcd entry for both os. Then whichever bootmanager is selected it can offer both os on the boot menu

the boot manager and the bcd store live on the esp partition

boot manager looks in the bcd store for directions.

Usually the bcd store points at the os partition on the same disk.

If you have another os partition on that disk, another entry will point at it.

Boot manager will see the two entries and throw up a menu so you can choose.

A bcd entry can also point at an os partition a different disk.

 

[michael diemer]

What SIW2 said. On Linux, you would use the Grub Menu, but on Windows Easy BCD seems to be the only way. There is a free version, at the bottom of the page:

EasyBCD - NeoSmart Technologies

 

[SIW2]

bcdboot and bcdedit are command line tools included in recent versions of windows.

I put win11 bcdboot11.exe into system32 because it has some advantages over the win7 version

:ar: View attachment 64bit-bcdboot11.zip

then instead of running command like

bcdboot d:\windows

just type

bcdboot11.exe d:\windows

I am a bit lazy so I often use bootice for things like changing descriptions

:ar: View attachment BOOTICE-1.3.3.zip

 

[Volume Z]

is there a way to make both appear as a choice w/out going into the BIOS?

Happens automatically. Just don't remove any disk.

 

[rcanino]

Thank you for the replies!