Some questions with dual boot

[vincentmoy]

Hi all, I'm new to this forum.

I am currently having a dual boot with Windows 7 RTM and Windows XP 32 bit on 2 different hdd. I have the student discount 7 Pro CD coming in hopefully next week and I'm planning to install it over the RTM. I want to know if I do the custom install, will it mess up the dual boot?

Thanks!

 

[Night Hawk]

Hello wincentmoy Happy New Year 2010 at the Se7en Forums!

One question to start with here would be the edition of RTM you have on presently? And is that the 32bit or 64bit to ? The RTM is the same as the retail without the dvd there. It's still the 7600 build.

Once you replace the present 7 installation the new install should pick up on the XP installation and list that as the "previous version of Windows" when starting up. The 7 installer will detect XP and add it in automatically as the boot option there.

If for some reason it doesn't one free program called EasyBCD can add XP into the 7 boot loader by edit of the BCD store. Presently however the new 2.0 release for that is still pending which will preserve the new 7 boot splash screen. The 1.7.2 version available now was written mainly for Vista and could easily replace the 7 look with the old Vista scroll bar screen. Download EasyBCD 1.7.2 - NeoSmart Technologies released 4/8/2008 there.

 

[gregrocker]

Boot the Win7 Pro DVD, select Custom Install, use Drive Options to format the Win7 partition, then install there.

It should configure the dual boot correctly as Win7 does when installed last.

If an Upgrade version, the DVD will scan the HD to see the XP to allow Upgrade key. Full version fine.

As you gave no System SPecs, don't even know if you have a laptop or desktop. But whichever, try to unplug data drives to avoid possibly confusing the installer while configuring the dual boot.

Check in Disk Management that no data drives are marked active. If so, post a screenshot back here using Snipping Tool for further help.

 

[Night Hawk]

System specs especially the number and type of hard drives installed would be the largest help. If you have any ide drives the Windows installer will go to that drive first to place boot files there.

For sata the first drive plugged into port #1 will be automatically seen as the boot device even if another drive is set as default which you should know already from the present dual boot. If the RTM install is on the first of two or more sata HDs you shouldn't have any worries since the new 7 install will go there when the drive is selected. With 5 satas in here 2 for storage the first just added the 7 install still went well.

 

[vincentmoy]

Sorry for the late reply.

My sys:
i5 @ 3.6Ghz
8G DDR3
Gigabyte p55m-ud2 with F6 BIOS
160G Seagate SATA with Windows 7 Ultimate x64 RTM (Build 7600)
80G Seagate SATA with Windows XP Home Premium x86
** HDDs are NOT running RAID as far as I know**

 

[Saltgrass]

A picture of your current Disk Management window from within Win 7 would be very helpful. Use the snipping tool and attach the picture.

If you can't do that for some reason, which partition shows as the System partition, the XP or Win 7, or even maybe another one?

 

[Night Hawk]

What Saltgrass means there is which drive sees the boot files and is plugged into the first sata port the 160gb 7 is on or the 80gb XP is on?

The Windows installer will automatically place the new installation's boot files on the drive seen as HD0 or Drive 1 since it always for the first drive on a system. You can have 6 drives and the boot files will still go to the first along with the new entries in the master boot record(mbr) even if 7 is installed on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.

That won't stop the new 7 install from replacing the first however. Since XP has been on all along I would have to guess the 80gb XP is the first there. The fresh install will simply add XP in automatically since it will pick up on the present BCD store as well as detect the XP installation and add that in as "previous version of Windows" as seen as the second boot option.

If you are not able to see onto the XP drive when booted in the new 7 install simply take a trip into the Disk Management tool and right click on the drive shows for XP and assign it a drive letter in order to see initialized as a logical drive. Often XP will be hidden from 7 by default if you haven't already seen that the first time around.

 

[vincentmoy]

Here is the screen shot from disk management

Disk 0 is XP and Disk 1 is Win 7

 

[Night Hawk]

With the 80gb set as the default boot device the new 7 install to the 160gb will still work as an upgrade depending on which edition the RTM is there. The RTM and new 7 disk both are 7600s only one being on disk. The upgrade would have to be over the Home Premium or Pro RTM.

Note the inplace upgrade paths available for 7 in the guide here. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1818-upgrade-install-windows-7-a.html

 

[gregrocker]

You want to try an in-place Upgrade first?

In-Place “Downgrade” from Windows 7 Ultimate or Professional to Less Premium Editions My Digital Life


Works well. Many have even done RC to lesser version with no performance hit.

I Upgraded my friend's RC to Premium last night via Remote Desktop, while deleting XP and moving Win7 over. He says it runs twice as good as before.

 

[Saltgrass]

I agree with Night Hawk. Your system is configured as the XP drive (80 G) to be primary. When you install 7 to the other drive, it will do the same thing the original 7 install did. All the boot files will be put on the primary drive, which is where they are now.

Just for general info, if you were to, for some reason, change the drive order and make the win 7 drive the primary drive, Win 7 would install fine, but it would not see the XP drive and not set up a dual boot for you.

Also, since you are using an upgrade version of Win 7, you probably know you can use the RTM as the qualifying OS. This makes it legal for you to continue to use the XP install.

 

[gregrocker]

Unfortunately, the RC or RTM are not qualifying OS's to use an Upgrade version under the EULA, but XP is.

However, MS is obvously allowing leniency on the rule that you must stop using the quaifying OS as millions have dual boots right now with their old OS.

You will have no problem using your Upgrade version here though, as you not only qualify but the DVD will see the other OS's on the HD and allow key.

You can either boot to do a clean Custom install, using Drive Options to format the partition first, or try an in -place Upgrade with the workaround I posted earlier.

 

[Night Hawk]

One thing to note here if you were to swap cables between drives ending up with the 160gb being plugged into sata port #1 and made the default boot device you would need to copy the XP boot files: boot.ini, ntldr, NTDetect.com over from the 80gb to the root of the new C and use a program like EasyBCD to add the XP entry into the 7 boot loader.

Since XP will seen as invisible when first booting into the new 7 install a fast trip into the Disk Management tool to assign the XP primary a drive letter will then make XP available. You learn that one fast when setting up a multiboot with the 7 beta builds originally having the 32bit 7 on the same drive as XP with Vista on the host/boot drive with the first 64bit beta install on the second primary there.

Nothing like bringing back some early 7 memories!

 

[Saltgrass]

Unfortunately, the RC or RTM are not qualifying OS's to use an Upgrade version under the EULA, but XP is.

RC 7100 is a qualifying OS according to MS. I did not think this was a problem...

 

[gregrocker]

Unfortunately, the RC or RTM are not qualifying OS's to use an Upgrade version under the EULA, but XP is.

RC 7100 is a qualifying OS according to MS. I did not think this was a problem...

I thought the same thing until I read this: http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/46168-windows-7-upgrade-paths-faq.html

Q.: I am running the RC, can I upgrade that to the commercial version with an upgrade disc?
A.: No. The RC is a free evaluation version and does not qualify as a valid license for upgrade.

RC is able to be used as an underlying OS seen by the DVD to allow Upgrade Key. But under EULA specifics, there still needs to be XP/Vista to qualify.

But it is only enforced on the honor system - so far.

 

[Night Hawk]

Since you plan to continue an XP/7 dual boot one guide you will want to look over is the one for seeing 7 installed with XP on first as outlined in method #1. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/8057-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-xp.html