New
#1
Can I Dual-boot Vista & 7 / Will it activate?
Hi all,
About a year or so ago, I bought a "Family 3-pack" of Windows 7 Home Premium from Office Depot. Since then, I've used it one 3 computers. Two desktops, and a laptop. One of which, is no longer in use (power surge killed it). Recently, I scored a quad core HP Pavilion Elite desktop off Craigslist for $60. Cleaned it up, and it runs great, but it takes a solid 3-4 minutes to boot up, even though it runs like lightning when it's booted, and shuts down in about 10-15 seconds.
Problem is, I really like Vista. Yes, it's a terrible OS overall, but it's the last one to have a "real" taskbar at the bottom that I've grown up with. Windows 7 has a flat bar for the taskbar (which I like) but not as much as the look of Vista.
How would I go about installing both on the same hard drive? Do I just need to "shrink" the volume within Vista, then reboot with the disc and install 7 in that partition? I recall doing something similar once before.
The main question is...
Windows 7 is technically installed on 3 computers, which is my "limit". One is completely dead, and the other two have required a re-install once, the last one being about a month and a half ago.
Can I "migrate" Windows 7 from the computer that is completely dead to my new quad core? I don't know how the user database works, if it "kicks" a install out of the system after it does not "see" it still active after a period of time, or if it's in there forever.
The way Vista is acting, would it be easier to just wipe the HDD, install 7, then re-install Vista when I get a hold of a 64-bit disc? I know with a quad core computer, 1GB of graphics, 4GB of RAM, etc. it should boot up in much less than 3 minutes.
Thanks all. :)