How to dual boot Windows 7 ON Windows 10

Here are the things that should be taken into consideration:

• Windows 10 currently installed
• UEFI (Legacy/BIOS is supported but I do not prefer using it as it may cause more problems in the future)
• 1 Hard Disk Drive

Goals:

• Install Windows 7 on another partition
• Maintain my current Windows 10 installation
• NOT have to switch to Legacy/BIOS mode

I found this: Windows 10 - Dual Boot with Windows 7 or Windows 8 - Windows 10 Forums
But it assumes a Windows 7 installation and subsequently dual booting Windows 10 on it. What I would like is essentially the opposite.

Legacy/BIOS is required to install windows 7.
The only way to dual-boot windows 7&10 would be to enable legacy/BIOS

excel0 said:

Here are the things that should be taken into consideration:

• Windows 10 currently installed
• UEFI (Legacy/BIOS is supported but I do not prefer using it as it may cause more problems in the future)
• 1 Hard Disk Drive

Goals:

• Install Windows 7 on another partition
• Maintain my current Windows 10 installation
• NOT have to switch to Legacy/BIOS mode

I found this: Windows 10 - Dual Boot with Windows 7 or Windows 8 - Windows 10 Forums
But it assumes a Windows 7 installation and subsequently dual booting Windows 10 on it. What I would like is essentially the opposite.

1. Mount/extract the Windows 7 iso image
You will need to mount the Windows 7 iso so you can access the install.wim file or You could even use 7zip to simply extract the contents of the iso instead.
2. Create a partition for Windows 7
You can use Windows Disk Management or any third-party tools to create a partition for Windows 7.
3. Download imagex.zip
Download imagex.zip and extract it to c:\imagex.
4. Run imagex /apply to extract install.wim
Open an elevated command prompt, run the following command:
cd c:\imagex
imagex /apply e:\sources\install.wim 1 h:\
5. Get Ready to Boot
Once imagex is done, run the following command:
bcdboot h:\Windows
6. Reboot and Enjoy!
Reboot into bios, disable the uefi secure boot (Windows 7 does not support uefi secure boot, so we need to disable it) then save and reboot. Now you get to see the dual boot menu, have fun!!

excel0 said:

Here are the things that should be taken into consideration:

• Windows 10 currently installed
• UEFI (Legacy/BIOS is supported but I do not prefer using it as it may cause more problems in the future)
• 1 Hard Disk Drive

Goals:

• Install Windows 7 on another partition
• Maintain my current Windows 10 installation
• NOT have to switch to Legacy/BIOS mode

I found this: Windows 10 - Dual Boot with Windows 7 or Windows 8 - Windows 10 Forums
But it assumes a Windows 7 installation and subsequently dual booting Windows 10 on it. What I would like is essentially the opposite.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Apologies for hijacking this thread but my issue is exactly the same as excel0's.

So anyone succeeded is getting Win 7 installed on the same machine as Win 10 using the same configuration (UEFI/GPT)? Secure boot is off, of course.

Got Acer Aspire E17 E5-774G-74CB with Win 10 and I want to also have the tried and true Win 7. Spent the whole weekend in vain trying to apply the methods that worked before for Win 8.1 (Rufus USB in GPT/MBR modes).

In GPT mode, the Win 7 setup can be started even with the Windows Explorer from the running Win 10 session. It runs fine within the same session but upon the reboot, the notorious red line/red bar at the top. I had the same with another Acer (Aspire E1-510-29204G50Mnkk) and I failed to overcome it.

Running the setup from a GPT/FAT32 USB stick also fails on the same step (red bar at the top with "Windows is Starting Up").

Dual Boot Win 8 and Win 7 UEFI GPT Aspire e1-510?
Solved: Re: Acer e1 510 linux model boot problem - Page 10 - Acer Community - 218421

Acer Aspire E15: Multiple Issues
Acer Aspire E15: Multiple Issues - Acer Community - 388550

Trying to install windows from usb
Trying to install windows from usb - Computer Brands

I really want to have both Windows 7 and 10 working on GPT. I have a similar setup now on Lenovo IdeaPad Z710 20250 where Win 7 was successfully installed on a Win 8.1 system (legacy support BIOS but GPT disk).

But I also tried MBR (with BIOS switched to Legacy). First problem with it is that the existing Win 10 doesn't boot. Any way to fix it without a complete wipe out/reinstall? Acer doesn't provide Win 10 installation except for the recovery partition which I would most likely have to delete to be able to use MBR anyway.

Second problem with the MBR option is that Win 7 installation also fails, albeit with a different error “A required CD/DVD drive device driver is missing”.

How to Fix “A required CD/DVD drive device driver is missing” Occurred in Windows 7 Install
https://www.drivereasy.com/knowledge...ows-7-install/

Trying to install Windows 7 - "A required CD/DVD driver is missing"
Trying to install Windows 7 - "A required CD/DVD driver is missing" - Windows 7

I don't have any USB setting in BIOS so feel kind of stuck here as well. Obviously, changing ports or even USB sticks had no effect.

So if making Win 7 happily coexisting with Win 10 on the existing GPT isn't possible (this is priority), I would like to have just Win 7 on this GPT. Converting to MBR would be the least preferred.

Thanks in advance.

heroleo said:

1. Mount/extract the Windows 7 iso image
You will need to mount the Windows 7 iso so you can access the install.wim file or You could even use 7zip to simply extract the contents of the iso instead.
2. Create a partition for Windows 7
You can use Windows Disk Management or any third-party tools to create a partition for Windows 7.
3. Download imagex.zip
Download imagex.zip and extract it to c:\imagex.
4. Run imagex /apply to extract install.wim
Open an elevated command prompt, run the following command:
cd c:\imagex
imagex /apply e:\sources\install.wim 1 h:\
5. Get Ready to Boot
Once imagex is done, run the following command:
bcdboot h:\Windows
6. Reboot and Enjoy!
Reboot into bios, disable the uefi secure boot (Windows 7 does not support uefi secure boot, so we need to disable it) then save and reboot. Now you get to see the dual boot menu, have fun!!

Did anyone try this approach? Can I really mount a Win 7 installation partition from a Win 10 session?? I suppose it means GPT/UEFI.

Cheers

xse said:

Legacy/BIOS is required to install windows 7.
The only way to dual-boot windows 7&10 would be to enable legacy/BIOS

That isn't true. Win 7 can be installed as UEFI-GPT

You don't have to make a BIOS switch to have Win 10 and Win 7 as long as you disable secure boot (for both).
As Win 10 is installed as UEFI you must also install win 7 as UEFI. To do so, make sure you boot the win 7 installation disk as UEFI.

Prepare your system for dual boot:
- As things can go wrong, before you begin, make the Factory Recover disks from your Lenovo laptop.
- Backup your data on another disk.
- Defrag Win 10 partition.
- Open Disk Manager and create a new partition for Win 7 (>60G).

Boot from Win 7 installation disk as UEFI, go to install, choose the created partition and proceed.
Once installed, open device manager and load the missing drivers.

Windows boot manager will be created with Win 10 and Win 7 option.

Hi I am also having issues trying to install Windows 7 alongside Windows 10, however in my case I am starting the installation from within Windows 10, and when the system reboots for the first time I see the "Windows is starting" boot screen and all seems to be going well but then it freezes forever. I disabled secure boot, I am using a USB drive to install from, and I am mega confused. I used to dual boot a lot in virtual machines so I cannot understand why I am struggling so much. Also, if you would be able to tell me how to boot from a disk as UEFI?
Thank you.

Megahertz07 said:

That isn't true. Win 7 can be installed as UEFI-GPT

You don't have to make a BIOS switch to have Win 10 and Win 7 as long as you disable secure boot (for both).
As Win 10 is installed as UEFI you must also install win 7 as UEFI. To do so, make sure you boot the win 7 installation disk as UEFI.

Prepare your system for dual boot:
- As things can go wrong, before you begin, make the Factory Recover disks from your Lenovo laptop.
- Backup your data on another disk.
- Defrag Win 10 partition.
- Open Disk Manager and create a new partition for Win 7 (>60G).

Boot from Win 7 installation disk as UEFI, go to install, choose the created partition and proceed.
Once installed, open device manager and load the missing drivers.

Windows boot manager will be created with Win 10 and Win 7 option.

To boot Win 7 installation DVD as UEFI when you launch boot menu you going to see
- CD/DVD boot (that is Legacy- MBR)
- UEFI CD/DVD boot (that is UEFI)

If you have a USB flash disk it has to created with Rufus (Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way) or https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/down...-download-tool