Solved Setting up Dual Boot W7 and W8

[drew1000]

I am currently running W7 and would like to set up my PC for dual boot of W7 and W8. I have a retail disk of W7 and was planning on creating a second partition and installing a second version of W7 and then buying the upgrade on offer for W8 Pro and updating this partition to hopefully end up with an option to use my current set up and an upgraded W8 partition.
Grateful for any tips or things I should be careful about or if there are other options available. I would prefer not to have to fork out for a full retail version of W8

 

[AddRAM]

Have you used Windows 8 ? It`s just ugly and no fun to use.

I recommend using Partition Wizard to do your partitioning.

http://partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html

 

[theog]

You can not use a upgrade to dual boot.

Windows 8 EULA

What about upgrading the software? The software covered by this agreement is an upgrade to your existing operating system software, so the upgrade replaces the original software that you are upgrading. You do not retain any rights to the original software after you have upgraded and you may not continue to use it or transfer it in any way. This agreement governs your rights to use the upgrade software and replaces the agreement for the software from which you upgraded. After you complete your upgrade, additional software will be required to playback or record certain types of media, including DVDs.

I would look for a 3rd party Partitioning,Backup & Cloning software, which fully supports Windows 8, uEFI, GPT & Secure Boot.
Which is signed by Microsoft.

The only 3rd party software that I know of, that fully supports Windows 8 is PARAGON 12.

 

[smarteyeball]

Have you used Windows 8 ? It`s just ugly and no fun to use.

I have and do. It's better looking than Seven to me now. That's subjective however. (Metro excluded as I don't use it) Usability though - if you use it like Seven, it's as enjoyable to use as Seven is.

Of course it took ClassicShell to make 8 a usable OS for me

I recommend using Partition Wizard to do your partitioning.

Best Free Partition Manager Freeware and free partition magic for Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista and Windows XP 32 bit & 64 bit. MiniTool Free Partition Manager Software Home Edition.

Yep. Thats one of the good ones.

 

[gregrocker]

You may Dual Boot Installation - Windows 8 and Windows 7 during the 30 day period given before activation when you must decide if you want to give up one or the other since the 8 Upgrade requires you not use your Win7 license while 8 is being used.

We can help you remove the one you decide against then. Dual Boot Windows 7 and Windows 8 - Delete Windows 8 - Windows 8 Forums