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Dual-Boot Windows 7 64-bit and 32-bit
I have a workstation that I am configuring for dual-boot of both Window 7 64-bit and Windows 7 32-bit.
I believe I'm almost done, but I have a few (hopefully) minor changes that I would like to make using BCDedit - perhaps someone could help me.
A bit of background may speed this up a bit.
I have a Dell T7500 Workstation that I had pre-ordered with 2 500GB HDDs configured as Raid 1 with Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit installed. I knew that I would run into some issues with the 64-bit OS, so I wanted to install the 32-bit version of Windows 7 before I got too far into setting up this PC - to avoid having to reload a whole bunch of applications.
So, I purchased 2 1TB HDDs and and additional copy of Windows 7 Ultimate. I installed the new drives and configured them as Raid 1. So I now have 2 virtual drives, one 500GB and the other 1TB.
I booted from the new DVD and installed Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit to the new drive. When I rebooted, I got 2 "Windows 7" operating systems. After poking around a bit and trying my hand at BCDedit, I now get "Windows 7 32-bit" followed by "Windows 7 64-bit" - the OSes are in the reverse order of what I expected.
So I have 2 questions:
- It appears that {default} determines which OS gets highlighted and therefore boots by "default" if a user does not intervene. Is there a way to switch which entry is assigned {default} and {current} - or some other method so that the 64-bit OS boots by default?
- When I boot the 32-bit OS, it is on C: and the 64-bit drive is on D:. When I boot the 64-bit OS it is on C: - which I expected based on the forums, etc. - but the 32-bit drive is on E:, not D: as I expected - the DVD is now assigned to D:. Is there a way to switch the second HDD and the DVD drive letters?
I searched the forums for dual-boot and BCDedit tutorials and managed to glean most of what I need. I realize that there are a plethora of alternate boot managers available, but I feel like I'm so close - I'd prefer to keep it simple.
Thank you,
Kevin Taberski
Last edited by skunksmash; 27 Dec 2009 at 19:11.