Dual Boot windows 7

[dino13]

Can I dual boot windows 7 ultimate and windows 7 professional or home premium and if yes, HOW ?

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello dino13, welcome to Seven Forums!





Yes it is possible; start by having a look at the tutorials at the links below for some ideas; be sure to post back if you have further questions and to keep us informed as to what you decide.


How to Do a Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and Vista

Dual Boot : Create Partitions Using PWBD

 

[dino13]

Thx for the links.
Everything I read there was nothing new for me.
In fact a thought that I will need a program to dual boot, but the only thing I need to know is how ta crate a new patition. (I know that since my first PC)....

However, Thx you for your help.


I have only one question I need to ask.
How can i set the windows boot manager so that it automaticaly boots one of the operating systems without asking. The boot menu should display only when I pres the hotkey (i think its F8) so that I can choose the other OS ?

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

To be able use the BIOS one time boot menu you to select which OS to start at boot-up the OSs have to be installed to separate Hard Disk Drives (HDD) having only 1 HDD connected for each individual OS install, then when both are installed connect both HDDs and then the one time boot menu can be used to select which OS HDD to boot from.

 

[gregrocker]

Install with other HD unplugged.

Set the preferred HD to boot first in BIOS setup, then as BFK says boot the other HD using one-time BIOS Boot Menu key which is F11 on most MSI mobos.

This keeps the HD's independent to come and go as you please.

 

[dino13]

But I have only one HDD. Isn't there any way (maybe with a boot manager or another program) to select witch OS to load automaticaly without asking ?

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

As you have a single HDD to install to you will have the Windows managed boot loader, the issue with this is it ties both OSs together to share a single set of boot files and is a bit more complicated to remove one OS or the other if/when the need arises.

It's not really that big a deal at all, have a look at the tutorial at the link below for some info on the whole process.

Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times



In a Windows managed dual boot you get a boot menu at system startup for the option to choose which OS to boot, the default OS, the last one to be installed will start automatically after 30 seconds if no selection is made in that time, the default OS, along with the default start time can be changed in the "Boot" tab of MSCONFIG very easily, below is a snip of the what the Windows boot menu looks like.

click to enlarge

​

 

[gregrocker]

Win7 should configure a Dual Boot when you install the second copy. If not, use EasyBCD 2.0 to Add the other.