Installing Vista on Windows 7

[Beefyh]

Moderators move this if its not in the right section

Recently got a Vista laptop, and recently got the windows 7 home premium upgrade. Did a clean install of windows 7 and now want to play games that will not work with it on Vista with a dual boot. I have searched online but cannot find a guide for dual booting vista with 7 first. I have the windows 7 installation cd but i dont know if it will dual boot with my vista cds, the ones that came with the computer. Does anyone know how to do this? thanks in advance

 

[Jonathan_King]

Hello,

I am not quite sure what you want to do. Are you trying to dual-boot Vista and 7? If so, http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/5166-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-vista.html.

 

[gregrocker]

Have you seen this guide: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/5166-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-vista.html

Shrink the WIn7 partition in Disk Management, boot from the Vista DVD to use Custom Drive tools to create the new partition, then format before install.

If there is any problem with the Dual Boot menu, use EasyBCD 2.0 to Add whichever OS is missing from its listings.

Check back here if you need any additional help.

 

[Beefyh]

I dont think i was very clear . I'm wondering if i can install vista with windows 7 first with my recovery cds that came with the laptop.

 

[gregrocker]

Check the Vista recovery disks that came with the computer to see if one might be a clean copy Vista DVD. Then it is simple to reinstall creating a dual boot using the tutorial linked above.

If you have only factory recovery disks, then these can be used but will restore the computer to factory condition with all of the bloatware. You'll need to save a backup image of Win7 externally to reimage back onto the HD after Vista recovery. Free Macrium Reflect will image just Win7 for you; shrink Win7 some to make easier to reimage.

I'd uninstall as much of the Vista bloatware as possible and clean up using CCleaner and Auslogics defraggers.

Then you can remove the factory recovery and any OEM partition to make room for Win7. I would use free Partition Wizard bootable CD to delete these, then Resize Vista as desired to gather enough free space for Windows 7.

You can then reimage the Win7 back to the unallocated space made for it.

Sometimes after reimaging it is necessary to boot into the Win7 DVD Repair console to run Startup Repair 3 separate times to repair or rewrite the MBR to the Win7 partition if it is not copied correctly.

If this only recovers Win7, then either add Vista to dual boot in EasyBCD 2.0 or run a http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html?ltr=R from the Win 7 desktop to reconfigure the dual boot correctly with Vista.

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[MacGyvr]

Let's back up a moment folks. The OP says he has a game that will play on Vista, but not on 7? That is HIGHLY doubtful. To the OP...tell us exactly what is happening when you try to play this game on Windows 7, please. Any software that runs under Vista should run under 7 with no issues.

 

[gregrocker]

Let's back up a moment folks. The OP says he has a game that will play on Vista, but not on 7? That is HIGHLY doubtful. To the OP...tell us exactly what is happening when you try to play this game on Windows 7, please. Any software that runs under Vista should run under 7 with no issues.

It would seem so, but not always. My roommate likes to play 1701AD but we could never get it to work in Win7 even with much support from Technet MVP's trying every compatibility mode, driver, etc.

The only solution was to add Vista on a dual boot so he can play his game

This is why I didn't take issue with the OP on his outright request, instead answering his question about Vista recov disks for dual boot.

 

[Beefyh]

Let's back up a moment folks. The OP says he has a game that will play on Vista, but not on 7? That is HIGHLY doubtful. To the OP...tell us exactly what is happening when you try to play this game on Windows 7, please. Any software that runs under Vista should run under 7 with no issues.

The game is Fallout 3. That should remove a lot of the doubt. It crashes when i make a new savegame because of windows 7 file permissions etc. I did the guide for installing vista and it worked fine. Load up vista install Fallout 3 and... crash. I found many others had the same problems, so i just said screw it. Got my money back form Wally World and got it for the 360. Works like a charm . I guess it's solved.