dual booting windows 7 and 10

NavyLCDR said:

The only partitions you need to have to boot into Windows is the partition that contains the boot files, which is usually labeled EFI or System Reserved and with Windows 10 is usually 350-500mb in size. It should the partition that is maked "active" and should have a file called BCD more than likely in a folder called Boot. And, of course, you need the Operating System Partition.

What you will lose when you delete the WinRE (WindowsRE) and recovery partitions is the ability to boot into the advanced troubleshooting menu (Windows recovery environment) and to reset Windows via the troubleshooting menu. You will also lose any software and/or drivers that came from the manufacturer of the computer. You will also lose the ability to create a recovery drive from inside Windows.

Some of the same functions can be performed by booting from a Windows 10 Install media - you will have the advanced troubleshooting menu available (repair this PC option) and you will have the ability to reset Windows. The only thing you lose permanently are the drivers/software that the manufacturer added.

Hi,

I have deleted WinRE (~500MB) and Other (128MB) and my system is fine - it still boots nicely. Now I am down to 4 partitions.

I have a slight issue though.

When I go into the PartitionWiz, in order to change the hard drive style to MBR, I get the following message:

Error - This disk contains system partition and converting this disk to MBR style will cause your system to be unbootable.

It will not let me change to MBR.

Any ideas? Could I get away with just changing my Windows 7 drive (F:) to MBR, then booting the Windows 7 DVD to there?

In worst case you may have to also delete the system reserved partition, then Partition Wizard should have no objections converting the disk to MBR. You won't be able to boot to Windows 10 after you install 7 anyway, and you will have to repair startup.

spapakons said:

In worst case you may have to also delete the system reserved partition, then Partition Wizard should have no objections converting the disk to MBR. You won't be able to boot to Windows 10 after you install 7 anyway, and you will have to repair startup.

Thanks for the reply.

I have had a look and unfortunately I cannot just change the F: drive to MBR - so I'm going to have to change the whole disk to MBR.

Partition Wizard says that my Boot partition is the EFI System partition (equivalent to System Reserved in Windows 7), whereas the Windows Disk Manager is saying that C: is the boot partition. I shouldn't have to delete C:, will I? Or, to put it better, will the disk convert if I delete EFI System?

Before I do any of that though, I am going to try booting from my "Knowhow Setup USB" (which should be a bootable recovery drive), so that if I can't boot from USB, that I don't have an unbootable Windows 10.

A GPT disk boots from EFI partition (system reserved), so deleting that you won't be able to boot into Windows 10 without repairing startup using the DVD or USB. But after you delete that, the partition wizard should allow you to convert the disk to MBR. That's the reason I try to avoid modern technologies (GPT, UEFI etc) to be compatible with as many systems as possible, I value compatibility most than performance, unless the difference (in performance) is huge.

spapakons said:

A GPT disk boots from EFI partition (system reserved), so deleting that you won't be able to boot into Windows 10 without repairing startup using the DVD or USB. But after you delete that, the partition wizard should allow you to convert the disk to MBR. That's the reason I try to avoid modern technologies (GPT, UEFI etc) to be compatible with as many systems as possible, I value compatibility most than performance, unless the difference (in performance) is huge.

I take it that the difference in performance, when I switch to MBR, will be minimal?

Furthermore, I have just looked at trying to boot to my "Knowhow Setup USB" and it seems like it is not a Windows bootable USB, but actually a HP utility stick - which has very different options. I'll edit this post with a screenshot when I boot into it, but from what I can see, I won't be able to do a startup repair.

Failing that, is there any way that I can make a Windows 10 bootable DVD? Remember that I deleted WinRE and Other partitions. Also, will it come up with a way to repair install, or will it just try reinstalling windows 10?

Thanks.

No problem! Just download the Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft Tech Bench and burn on DVD or create a USB from it. Just make sure you download the right language, "English" is English US and "English International" is English GB. Each one can upgrade/repair the same language only.

You need the English GB version (English International) regardless of the language pack you add later. It is the original language (installer language) that counts. I hope you didn't waste too much time waiting for the wrong version. The full pack, which you should download, is Windows 10 and contains both Home and Pro (depending on serial or previous windows version). The other versions are specific restricted versions that can only upgrade/repair their respective restricted versions, so avoid these.

spapakons said:

You need the English GB version (English International) regardless of the language pack you add later. It is the original language (installer language) that counts. I hope you didn't waste too much time waiting for the wrong version. The full pack, which you should download, is Windows 10 and contains both Home and Pro (depending on serial or previous windows version). The other versions are specific restricted versions that can only upgrade/repair their respective restricted versions, so avoid these.

Thank you for the information. Looks like I'll have to re-download the English International (UK) version.

In which case, I've just wasted another DVD. I'll have to download the Windows 10 International version and use a fifth DVD to burn the ISO file. And DVD's aren't cheap either! Thank goodness I have quite a few spare DVD's...

When I tried loading the windows 10 DVD from inside Windows, a blue screen appeared with a sad face on it. Is this what has replaced the BSOD's on Windows 7?

I've tried booting from DVD, and lo and behold, the Windows 10 installation screen appears, and shows up the language options... would using this actually work or will I need the English International version?

For startup repair, system restore and others, it should work. For Windows refresh or reset you will need the same language version. I also wasted 4 hours and a DVD disc to download English GB only to discover I needed English US to upgrade my Windows 8.1 computer! Another 4 hour wait...