Dual Boot - both Win 7

[rpossum]

I'm a Beta Tester for a major audio program, so I need to have a copy of Win7 running on a separate partition so I can always go back to the stable version of my software in case the Beta version craps out.
I created an image of my C drive with Macrium Reflect, created a partition on another drive (calling it P), then restored the image to the P drive. Set up a dual boot... everything's cool.
I can boot to the P drive copy just fine. That drive shows the little Windows icon on it ... system is running from there.
Now, here's the issue. What I need to do is to uninstall the older version of this audio program in that version of Win7 (on P), leaving it intact on my original boot (C). Then I will install the new, BETA version under the P boot. This way I can boot to P for testing and boot to C for stable work.
I just ran some tests and have found that uninstalling programs while booted to P does not work properly... when I look at the drives side by side, I find that while the uninstaller for, say, Photoshop, went through it's process, it actually deleted the files from the C drive.
I assume that all file references in the P copy are still to files on the C drive.
Any ideas?
Thanks
Russell

 

[Darician]

My question here would be that when you boot up to the Windows 7 Installation on P:, what drive is shown as the System Drive in "Computer". Particularly, which drive has the little Windows flag indicating it is the system drive?

 

[rpossum]

They both say "System", but the P drive has the Windows logo on it.

 

[rpossum]

I just went ahead and installed from the discs... takes longer, but gives you a clean copy on a separate partition that knows where it is.
Cheers
Russell

 

[Lordbob75]

If you changed the letter of the system partition (I.E. FROM C to P), then that will break a lot of things.

If you label the first (stable) install C, then label the other beta install P, leave it. When you install the OS onto the beta drive, IT WILL BE LABELED AS C DRIVE. This MUST stay (unless it is the FIRST thing you did, and even then I think it would cause problems). You can rename the drives (NOT) the letters all you want.

That might explain your problem.

~Lordbob

 

[rpossum]

no, i didn't change the drive letter of the C drive,
I created a new partition on another clean drive and called it P.
I made an image of C, then restored it to P.

What I have done now that does seem to work is this:
I ran the Win7 installer and when asked which drive to install to, I chose P.
It installed fine and now I can boot to either the new clean copy of Windows, or to the original copy that's still on C.
Cheers
Russell

 

[Lordbob75]

no, i didn't change the drive letter of the C drive,
I created a new partition on another clean drive and called it P.
I made an image of C, then restored it to P.

What I have done now that does seem to work is this:
I ran the Win7 installer and when asked which drive to install to, I chose P.
It installed fine and now I can boot to either the new clean copy of Windows, or to the original copy that's still on C.
Cheers
Russell

What I meant is that the system drive MUST be the C drive on both operating systems.
Boot into your test system and make sure the system drive is C. If not, make it so. I bet that will fix it.

~Lordbob

 

[rpossum]

a-ha
now I see what you're saying
So forgive me if this is a dumb question, but how do I change P to C.
I know you change drive letters in Computer Management, but if I boot to the volume on P, then try to change C to something else so I can change P to C, it won't let me do it.
Thanks for all the help
Cheers
Russell

 

[Lordbob75]

Can you post a screenshot of disk management from both installs?

~Lordbob

 

[rpossum]

Main install - C.JPG
disk management - P install.JPG
computer - P install.JPG

 

[rpossum]

Whoops...
Here ya go

 

[Lordbob75]

That is a lot of drives....

That is from within the test OS, correct?

~Lordbob

 

[rpossum]

first image is from main OS
2nd and 3rd are from test OS

 

[Lordbob75]

It looks as if the Test OS is NOT using the C: drive. If you can, try changing it so that it is.

~Lordbob

 

[rpossum]

nevermind

 

[Lordbob75]

nevermind

Care to expand on that?

~Lordbob

 

[rpossum]

just seems like you don't understand he question
I've installed Win 7 on C, then made a backup image and restored it to a separate partition...P... so I can boot to a different copy of Win 7.
I need to be able to boot to the copy of Win7 that's on P and uninstall certain programs only on that partition so I can install new beta versions and test them without screwing up my basic work system.
However, when I boot to the copy on P and try to uninstall something, it deletes things from C, because all the references are clearly stll pointing to C.
You said to make sure the new copy thinks it's on C... but I can't figure out how to change that drive to C, because it's not possible, as far as I can tell, to change the C drive to anythhing else... so I can't boot to the P and change it to C... because C is still C
See what I mean?
Thanks
Russell

 

[Night Hawk]

You won't be able to change it to C while being booted in the Host OS. When booted in the test image that will see itself as C automatically. The only time you end up seeing a different drive letter is when custom installing a second copy of the same version/edition of Windows on another partition or drive where it will then see itself as D.

Other then when booted in one copy you assign a particular drive letter rather then C since that is taken by the copy you are booted in at the time. When booted into the image restored to the second drive that should see itself as C and the host drive as something else.

At least you were able to add in the boot entry for the image restored on the P drive while the first and third screens are identical showing all the same without any given P for the drive letter. Which Drive # was the image restored to would be the question. Would that be Disk #0 or Disk #2?

 

[Lordbob75]

My point is that if you had 2 HDDs with 2 different installs on them, each install would view ITS drive as C, and the other as another letter.

~Lordbob

 

[Night Hawk]

The 1st and 3rd screens look the same thing except the first sees Disk #3 C being a boot drive while the third shows C lacking and F on Disk #1 having the boot information present. Both should still be seeing the word boot on them unless the drives saw a change where the BCD store was new on the alternate drive.

When trying to add the second drive into the host here restoring an image of C to the other the boot changed where the host could no longer be booted into. I ended up needing to unplug the second drive to restore the host/boot drive. That was seen when booted live from the 7 dvd in order to test the idea of seeing if a dual boot across two drives would work.

With each one ending up being isolated the second drive is G to the host while the host is G to the second. Both still see itself as C however. I would need to boot into the second drive to edit a screen from the DM there to show how Disk #3 not Disk #2 then becomes the C drive.