Dual boot W7 with W7 on same 500G NVME?

[teckneeculler]

I'm working through SIW2's tutorial on updating my old W7 Ultimate iso, with the aim of dual booting my original installation with a fresh updated copy.
Haven't quite got the update method sorted yet, but in the meantime I thought I'd do a trial dual boot with another W7 iso to make sure I've got that part of the process right.
Are there any tricks to dual booting W7 with W7? Both installations will be on the same Samsung 500GB NVME SSD. I've already created a new 125GB partition for the purpose.

 

[SIW2]

It is easy from within your existing win7

1. create an ntfs partition e.g. partition E

2. apply the image from install.wim to partition E . Can be done with dism commands, but I am lazy so i use dism++

3. at admin cmd prompt type bcdboot E:\windows

that is it.


the lazy way :ar: Dism++10.1.1002.1B.zip



browse to install.wim



select the edition in the dropdown



browse to the installation path ( in this case partition E )



OK

 

[teckneeculler]

SIW2: Thanks for the tips, sounds simple. A couple of points:
0) I get the impression that the install process works within the running Windows?
1) For various reasons I use MBR, not GPT. Any probs?
2) Contained in the new Windows ISO there's a file named install.wim?
3) (How to examine an ISO, anyway?)

 

[SIW2]

I get the impression that the install process works within the running Windows?

yes

For various reasons I use MBR, not GPT. Any probs?

no

Contained in the new Windows ISO there's a file named install.wim?

yes in the sources folder

if you have an iso you can either mount it ( if you have an iso mounter ) or just copy it out with 7-zip



double click the sources folder



scroll down to find install.wim

rt click it and select Copy To

It is quite big so copy it to any partition that has a bit of space

 

[teckneeculler]

Thanks again. Even I should be able to follow those instructions.

- - - Updated - - -

That was a great tip about Dism++, seems to be a very versatile little app.
I tried it on one W7 iso but I think the file may have been corrupt because it unpacked with a CRC error and DSIM++ wouldn't complete.
For the experience, I'm just working on a multi AIO iso but I think I need to separate out the individual isos before I can go looking for the install.wim that I need.
Can Dism++ split the AIO file into its component isos or do I need another method?

 

[SIW2]

I think I need to separate out the individual isos before I can go looking for the install.wim that I need.

Not sure I understood your post.

All the consumer images are in the install.wim of all the ms official iso files.

4 images in x64 install.wim

the install.wim extracted from the professional iso contains the other editions.

the install.wim in the ultimate iso is the same file so also contains all the editions

 

[teckneeculler]

I think I understand. So, just selecting one of these is all that's necessary?

 

[SIW2]

yes if you want to apply win7 ultimate x64 select the 4th one on your dropdown

then after the image has been applied at admin cmd prompt type:
bcdboot e:\windows

(obviously change e above to the letter you have just applied the image to )

You will have two entries in the boot menu. The top one will be for the new installation

******************************************************************************************

If at some stage you want to apply a win10/11 image dism++ will have no problem doing it.

But if you want add a boot menu entry for a more recent os to the existing system partition I would suggest using a more recent bcdboot.exe

for example if you want add an entry for win10/11 copy bcdboot11.exe into your current win7 windows\system32

View attachment bcdboot11.zip

then from within win7 the command goes

bcdboot11.exe e:\windows

 

[teckneeculler]

Great, thanks. These days I find that if I don't understand one step in a process, I can't proceed until I do.

Meanwhile, I used Dism++ on another single iso and finally got the 'TIPS' box that says, 'Successfully restored N: image'.
Which prompts me to ask: When I've carried out the 'bcdboot N:\windows' command and rebooted, does the new Windows just run or does it go through an install process? Also, could I have added drivers to the first process or will I just have to point the system at my existing driver collection?

 

[SIW2]

It goes thorugh the usual setup process.

you could install drivers into the applied image using dism++ before booting into it

make sure the apllied image is highlited in blue in the top pane

click open session

click drivers in the left pane

click ADD

browse to the FOLDER containing the extracted drivers

can do the same with updates

click updates in the left pane

click ADD

browse to the update FILE ( e.g. .msu or .cab)

it is very easy

 

[teckneeculler]

Excellent, it worked perfectly.