option to Boot into Windows 7 or 10

I installed Windows 10 Pro (x86) on my system as Dual Boot with Windows 7 which I already had. I installed by burning the ISO on a USB drive using Rufus. Windows 10 was installed in Partition I: on my second HDD. It was a fresh partition that was formatted as NTFS and had 29.2 GB.
The installation worked just fine, and I was able to use Windows 10. But when I restarted (after removing the USB drive) it took me straight to Windows 10 without showing the option to Boot into Windows 7 or 10. Windows 7 was still there in the HDD partition. I used msconfig in run and only found Windows 10 under Boot tab.
Then I tried using the USB again for repair, and there I found the option to continue with Windows 7, so with the hope of getting back Windows 7 I booted into Windows 7. Everything worked from that point but I was no longer able to boot into Windows 10. Nothing I tried worked, and there was still no Boot menu. Using msconfig again on Win7 showed only Windows 7. So later I deleted the Volume containing W10 and formatted it as new.
I want to install it again so now I want solutions on what to do to avoid this problem. Please help ??

Have you tried with a multi boot program like easy BCD from neosmart i have used it a lot on multi boot systems its free!

craarc said:

Have you tried with a multi boot program like easy BCD from neosmart i have used it a lot on multi boot systems its free!

Could you please post instructions on doing this ? I've heard of EasyBCD and even installed it after the problem but didn't know how to use it.

Ztruker said:

Have you ever completed an upgrade to Windows 10 on this computer? If not, a clean install will not activate. You must upgrade and activate first or the Win 10 will not active.

The only way around this is to buy a retail version for $109 to $199.

OK, during the process I skipped activation because I was using Windows 7 keys and it didn't work (seems like I need to upgrade it first).

But shouldn't it at least let me access the other OS without activation, or does activation have something to do with the Dual Boot ?

topgundcp said:

You don't need to use easy BCD. Go to disk management and note the drive letter of Windows 7. Open the Admin command prompt then type:
bcdboot X:\Windows
Where X is the drive letter of Windows 7.

Should I do this from Windows 10 (after installation) or from Windows 7 (after using the USB to access Win7) ??

Ztruker said:

Yes, accessing via Dual boot is not affected by activation status.

As to how, see here: EasyBCD - Newer versions of Windows

Thank You. But should I run EasyBCD on Windows after installing it, or on Windows 7 after getting access to it using the USB ? Also shouldn't I change the Type on the Add Entry section.

hi I thought that you had it activated but couldn't choose between either OS you had if that is the case then Easy Bcd will do the job for instructions as mentioned before best bet is look on the neosmart forum I guess. im not an expert in using it and I just go there myself if I need anything. in the past for multi booting. I have also today come across this easyrecovery essentials for win10 its also free right now and will work with any version of windows I believe, so I guess it may help with any installs and problems also from neosmart. btw I have no connection with them ive only just joined here and looked on neosmart again recently in anticipation of trying WIN10 hope something in this helps