Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and Vista

How to Setup a Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and Vista​

   Information

This will show you how to install Windows 7 and Vista to dual boot with when you already have either Windows 7 or Vista installed first.

   Note

With a dual boot installaton, you will have two operating systems (OS) installed. When you start the computer, you will have the choice to choose which OS you would like to start up to. This method is the easiest way of doing a dual boot with these two operating systems.

   Tip

When dual booting with another OS (ex: Vista or XP), you may not always have that OS partition show up in Computer with a driver letter in Windows 7. If this happens, then you will just need to add a drive letter to the OS (ex: Vista or XP) partition in Windows 7 Disk Management for it to show up in Computer with a driver letter.

   Warning

Windows 7 Minimum Hardware Requirements:

NOTE: For more iformation on this, see: Windows 7 system requirements

• 1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor
• 1 GB RAM for 32-bit Windows 7 OR 2 GB RAM for 64-bit Windows 7
• 16 GB available disk space 32-bit Windows 7 OR 20 GB for 64-bit Windows 7
• Support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128 MB memory (in order to enable Aero theme)
• DVD-R/W Drive
• Internet or phone access to activate Windows 7.

Vista Minimum Hardware Requirements:
NOTE: For more information, see: Microsoft Windows Vista: Recommended System Requirements

Vista Home Basic

• Processor: 1GHz (32 or 64 bit)
• System Memory (RAM): 512MB
• Hard Drive: 20GB with 15GB available for Vista
• Video Card: 32MB Memory and DirectX 9 Support
• DVD-ROM Drive

Vista Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate

• Processor: 1GHz (32 or 64 bit)
• System Memory (RAM): 1GB
• Hard Drive: 40GB with 15GB available for Vista
• Video Card: 128MB Memory, DirectX 9 Support with: WDDM Driver, Pixel Shader 2.0, 32bits per pixel
• DVD-ROM Drive

EXAMPLE: Windows Boot Manager
NOTE: This is the boot screen where you select what operating system that you would like to start. By default, you have 30 seconds to choose another operating system before the default operating system will start automatically.



Here's How:
1. If Installing Second OS on a Separate Hard Drive
NOTE: This is if you are going to install the second OS (Windows 7 or Vista) on a separate hard drive than the first OS in installed on.
A) Go to step 3.
2. If Installing Second OS on another Partition on the Same Hard Drive
NOTE: This is if you are going to install the second OS (Windows 7 or Vista) on a different partition on the same hard drive than the first OS is installed on.
A) If Vista was installed first, then create a new partition for Windows 7 (second OS) to be installed on later if you do not already have one to use. (See screenshot below)

B) If Windows 7 was installed first, then create a new partition for Vista (second OS) to be installed on later if you do not already have one to use. (See screenshot below)

3. Insert the second OS (Windows 7 or Vista) installation DVD, and restart the computer to start installing it.
A) If Vista was installed first, then select the new partition (step 2A) or drive and do a clean install of Windows 7 (second OS) on it. (See screenshot below)

B) If Windows 7 was installed first, then select the new partition (step 2B) or drive and do a clean install of Vista (second OS) on it. (See screenshot below)

4. When the second OS is finished installing you will now have the option to select which OS to start to in the Windows Boot Manager screen at start up. (See example screenshot at the top of the tutorial)
NOTE: Whatever OS you install last will be the OS listed first in the Windows Boot Manager screen at startup.

5. This is what you will see in Disk Management below if you installed the second OS on another partition on the same hard drive (step 2).
A) If Vista was installed first. (See screenshot below)

B) If Windows 7 was installed first. (See screenshot below)

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Use Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor
• How to Setup a Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP
• How to Setup a Dual Boot Installation with Windows Vista and XP
• How to Do a Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Dual Boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu
• How to Correctly Setup a Dual Boot with Windows 7 and LinuxMint13
• How to Change Time to Display Operating Systems at Boot in Windows 7
• How to Change the Listed OS Arrangement Order in Windows Boot Manager Screen
• How to Change the Default Operating System to Start in Windows 7
• How to Delete an Operating System Listed in Windows Boot Manager
• How to Change the OS Name in Windows Boot Manager
• How to Do a Clean Install with a Full Version of Vista
• How to Do a Clean Install of Vista with a Upgrade Version
• How to Do a Clean Installation with Windows 7
• How to Install Windows 7 FAST without a DVD or USB Device
• Install Windows 7 Without Using Any External Device
• How to Setup Windows 7 to Boot from a VHD (Virtual Hard Disk)
• How to Create a Windows 7 VHD at Boot to Start with from Boot
• How to Fix Missing Vista Hard Disk Partition Letter in Windows 7
• How to Do a Custom Installation of Windows 7
• How to Do a Custom Installation of Vista
• How to Recover a Partition Used by an Older OS in a Dual Boot
• How to Properly Delete a OS in a Dual Boot

 

[PESCADORSUB]

THAT WAS WHAT I NEED TO KNOW

THANKS FOR YOUR HELP DEAR FRIEND.
YOUR EXPLANATION WAS HELP FULL.
ERNESTO

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Pescadorsub, and welcome to Seven Forums.

 

[raj11650]

i installed win 7 on primary HD

and i disconnected primary HD and installed vista on Secondary HD

now i connected Primary HD bbut now boot is going to vista only how to get win 7 too!!!

 

[Brink]

Hello Raj,

You should have left both drives connected, so that when you installed Vista it would have been added to the boot file with Windows 7. Instead, you have a boot file on both drives with Vista being the primary now since it was done last.

You might see if doing a startup repair using the Windows 7 installation disc may be able to add it for you.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[SIW2]

Hi raj,

Because you are likely to be booting into 7 most, I suggest you go into bios and set the 7 HD as the first HD in bios boot order.

If you prefer, you can simply swap the order the SATA cables are connected to the motherboard.

Then you can add Vista to the 7 boot menu with startup repair, bcdedit, or Easybcd.

 

[Oldroser]

Vista will have all it's programs, applications and shortcuts installed on C.

When you boot to Win 7 and install any programs, applications and shortcuts they will be on C. Install Win 7 from a booted DVD on the G drive, and when you boot to 7, it will be C. It's not like you will be running programs on the G drive when you are booted to Vista.

I've been running multiboot since at least Windows 95.

I some cases a prog can be installed in 1 OS, and run from other OS.
Or, there may be files that one needs to share amongst OS.

Another, better, approach is have another parttion in which shared files/programs can be installed, rather than plopping then on the C drive for an OS.

I use both approaches.

Win 7 seems to want to hide the C drive for other OS.
This forces me to use the better, approach of putting common files in a separate partition.

For some programs, this may be easy, e.g., Firefox an Thunderbird. For others, it might be difficult to have thg prog and related files in separate partitions.

I guess that I'll yell Uncle! and use the approach of creating a separate programs partition, as well as a separate data partition, or have separate folders in a separate partition.

More importantly, as I look at my calendar, I note that we are now in 2009, with 2010 not far away.

Isn't it about time that MSFT dropped all this partition/drive letter nonesense, and just used mount points?

Re: the program files on a separate partition. I have installed programs in Vista to a separate D: drive, where I also have files.

If I install upgrade or clean/custom Windows 7 (new partition on C: or on separate D: drive?), is there a way to get the programs to run in both Vista and Windows 7? Would I just reinstall from each O.S. and point to the separate D: for programs and files? They would then keep overwriting themselves. Wouldn't that cause problems?

If anyone has got this to work, please let me know before I install 7. Thanks.

 

[Brink]

Hello Oldroser,

Sorry, but you would need to reinstall each program in each OS for them to work properly.

 

[Pedro38]

Drive letter change after Dual boot install

I intend to install Win7 HP 64 bit on a new additional HDD which would be my 'D' drive with the already existing 'C' drive containing VistaHP 32 bit.

Once Win7 and all programs are installed and properly running on 'D', will I be able to change 'C' to drive letter 'E', then change 'D' to drive letter 'C' and then reformat 'F' to just leave me with Win7 on 'C' as the sole OS

Thanks in advance
Pedro38

 

[SIW2]

Hi Pedro,

The way to do that is to disconnect the HD containing Vista.

Have only the new HD connected. Install 7 onto it.

Make sure the 7 HD is first in Bios HD boot order.

Reattach the Vista HD.

Add an entry for Vista to the 7 boot menu by installing Easybcd on 7, or by using bcdedit.

 

[Mike B]

What I hate about 7 is the Access Denied on some folders. Is there any way around that? As administrator, I want to look at all my folders.

 

[Pedro38]

Many thanks SIW2, I'll let you know how I get on once I've completed the procedure.
Happy New Year
Pedro38

 

[DreemWarrior]

Dual boot-Dual Hard Drives

Hi Shawn,
I read somewhere in the Vista tutorials about dual HD boot. But for the live of me can't remember who or where. (WHS I think) I't said to disconnect primary, install 7 on second drive then reattach-reboot. I did this, and it seems ok. Other than the fact that I have no boot options on startup unless I use F12... But after reading your tutorials, I'm wondering if I should'nt uninstall 7 and install through the Vista drive ONTO secondary.(If you notice,theres no boot or page file on disk 0) I would like to actually use half(or so) of the second drive for backups. That, and if I remember correctly, 7 will activate itself in this manner without workaround.(RTM) The location of the drives arent accurate. In manager it shows Vista (disk 0 on MOBO), to be on disk 1, and WIN7(disk2 on MOBO) to be on 0. ! is my Optical drive. I dont really care about drive letters and all, as long as everything runs smoothly. Whats your opinion?

hehe...I'm a noob here..

 

[SIW2]

7 should activate fine as it is. Did you try?

No need to reinstall - just set 7 HD as first in Bios boot order ( or swap the SATA leads at the mobo end.)

Then add Vista to the 7 boot menu.

Easily done with Easybcd. EasyBCD 2.0 - The NeoSmart Forums

You won't see Boot or pagefile on the 7 partition - unless you are booted into it.

 

[DreemWarrior]

7 should activate fine as it is. Did you try?

No need to reinstall - just set 7 HD as first in Bios boot order ( or swap the SATA leads at the mobo end.)

Then add Vista to the 7 boot menu.

Easily done with Easybcd. EasyBCD 2.0 - The NeoSmart Forums

You won't see Boot or pagefile on the 7 partition - unless you are booted into it.

No, haven't tried actually. ROFL! That make too much sense! **You won't see Boot or pagefile on the 7 partition - unless you are booted into it.** Cool, thanks. Off to find EasyBCD.

 

[DreemWarrior]

Well, I don't think I did that correctly. I still boot to Vista first. I ran BCD from 7, is that correct? Theres not really a help file on BCD either, and I'm unfamiliar with it. Looks like I could rearrange til I screw something up good.

 

[SIW2]

If you set the 7 HD first in Bios boot order, you should be booting thru. the 100mb partition - you will need to mark it Active , first.

 

[DreemWarrior]

If you set the 7 HD first in Bios boot order, you should be booting thru. the 100mb partition - you will need to mark it Active , first.

Yeah I think i have it. I did set 7 as first in bios, but it stll tried to boot from Vista. When I rebooted and F12, I changed drives and got the OS menu finally. I suppose I will swap sata lines and see if that helps.
Thanks for the help SIW

 

[DreemWarrior]

If you set the 7 HD first in Bios boot order, you should be booting thru. the 100mb partition - you will need to mark it Active , first.

Yeah I think i have it. I did set 7 as first in bios, but it stll tried to boot from Vista. When I rebooted and F12, I changed drives and got the OS menu finally. I suppose I will swap sata lines and see if that helps.
Thanks for the help SIW

Ok,we'll just chalked this one up as CRS. LOL I just went to swap lines.....I put them in the wrong port last night! sheesh... Ever have those moments?
Thanks again...

 

[Activator]

No dual boot menu

Hello,

Today I bought a new harddisk and installed Windows 7 on it. I left the old Vista drive in the computer. But after finishing the installation, now I have NO boot menu on system restart. What went wrong and what can I do?

Overview of my drives:

• SATA 0: old harddisk with only data
• SATA 1: my new SpinPoint F3 harddisk with Windows 7
• IDE cable 0: my old Vista harddisk
• IDE cable 1: DVD drive
• USB: 2 more harddisks with just data

Some facts:

• I installed Windows 7 on a new partition that I created during installation.
• I got rid of the 100MB system reserved partition created by Windows 7 install, by extending the 100MB partition and installing Windows 7 on it.
• In my BIOS, I have set up the drive order: first the new Windows 7 drive, then my old Vista drive, then the other drives.
• In my BIOS, in the boot order menu, I can't select my old Vista drive. I can only select the new Windows 7 drive, the DVD and the floppy.
• I have tried EasyBCD, adding an entry pointing to the new drive letter (E) of my old Vista drive. When I now choose 'view settings', there are 2 entries: Windows 7 on drive C and Vista on drive U, and not E, which would be correct!
• On a restart, I still see no boot menu. Pressing F8 on restart does not bring up a boot menu either, only the safe windows etc.

Is it something that I can setup in my bios? Or is it something that Windows 7 did not do correctly? Is it somthing I can fix?

Thank you very much for your help in advance!

Kind greetings,
Jeroen

 

[SIW2]

Did you check the Vista HD is plugged in correctly ?

Easy to dislodge the leads. Try unplugging a and replugging the drive cables at both ends.