Can two operating systems be linked togther on same computer?
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Can two operating systems be linked togther on same computer?
Hi. I would like to setup two operating systems on the same computer. Two different drives both running Windows 10. Both of them will have their own router to connect to the internet. One will be wired. One will be wireless. So the MAC address on each network device is different.
Is there any way these two operating systems can ever be linked up? I want them to remain 100% independent from each other. I know two separate computers is the best option, but apart from this is there anything else I can do? In what ways could these two operating systems be linked up?
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They can obviously share cloud services and data (including that on internal drives when not protected by permissions). Syncing could be another possibility.
Last edited by dalchina; 02 Feb 2019 at 04:10.
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Hi. I would like to setup two operating systems on the same computer. Two different drives both running Windows 10. Both of them will have their own router to connect to the internet. One will be wired. One will be wireless. So the MAC address on each network device is different.
Is there any way these two operating systems can ever be linked up? I want them to remain 100% independent from each other. I know two separate computers is the best option, but apart from this is there anything else I can do? In what ways could these two operating systems be linked up?
Hi there
only shared folders and drives.
Ideally the easiest way is to have a computer with an external SATA / SATA2 connector and plug in an SSD to this connector at boot time - the SSD would be the one containing the OS you want to boot from -- any other INTERNAL HDD's on the computer would only be available to the booted OS as shared drives. The SATA/SATA2 connector IMO is a great way for quickly testing OS'es on real machines (rather than virtual machines). A SATA / SATA2 card is extremely cheap.
Ensure though before fitting the external slots are acessible depending on the layout of your MOBO and case !!!!
The best thing about this solution is when a Disk is removed obviously it can't be touched by the booted up OS !!!!!
Cheers
jimbo
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It is not clear to me what you mean by: linked up or 100% independent. Or what your aim is.
I have a dual boot PC with two SSD's (each with W10) and a common HDD for data. Works fine.
I set the dual boot up long time ago, since I did not trust in that time the upgrade from W7 to W10. In this way I could experiment with W10 and keeping my main system at W7. At present I use it for testing new programmes and to test major W10 upgrades.
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Hi. I would like to setup two operating systems on the same computer. Two different drives both running Windows 10. Both of them will have their own router to connect to the internet. One will be wired. One will be wireless. So the MAC address on each network device is different.
Is there any way these two operating systems can ever be linked up? I want them to remain 100% independent from each other. I know two separate computers is the best option, but apart from this is there anything else I can do? In what ways could these two operating systems be linked up?
Depending on your router you can set up fixed IP (say for wired) and DHCP (for WiFi) independently (on different SSID's if you want) quite easily, and you can spoof MAC addresses if you really need to.
Maybe explain why you need to do all this first?
Booting between two copies of W10 is perfectly possible but each time you switch the PC will take a bit of time to adjust, swapping drive letters around et al.
It will work but it's a bit clunky to use on a regular basis. Most of us who work that way use the second copy as a backup plan, not a daily boot option.
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Booting between two copies of W10 is perfectly possible but each time you switch the PC will take a bit of time to adjust, swapping drive letters around et al.
It will work but it's a bit clunky to use on a regular basis. Most of us who work that way use the second copy as a backup plan, not a daily boot option.
Not my experience. Both systems apply the same drive letters. Booting times are normal. The only measure to take is unchecking the default "fast boot" option.
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Not my experience. Both systems apply the same drive letters. Booting times are normal. The only measure to take is unchecking the default "fast boot" option.
BIOS fast boot or W10 fast start up?
I experimented with all of that, didn't make any difference for me, so I'd be genuinely interested in how you are multi booting from a 'D' drive.
Edit: I just looked at your system specs, you're running two SSD's, I'm SSD boot (C) and HDD (D) for secondary, so there's the performance difference.
It's still going to flip the drive letters and if you have fast startup enabled and then use restart to get to the UEFI boot screen it will be slower to boot into the secondary drive.
If fast startup is off then obviously it will even out more, especially with two SSD's.
Last edited by Infrasonic; 02 Feb 2019 at 08:29.
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Hi. I would like to setup two operating systems on the same computer. Two different drives both running Windows 10. Both of them will have their own router to connect to the internet. One will be wired. One will be wireless. So the MAC address on each network device is different.
Is there any way these two operating systems can ever be linked up? I want them to remain 100% independent from each other. I know two separate computers is the best option, but apart from this is there anything else I can do? In what ways could these two operating systems be linked up?
If I understand you correctly, you want to have a dual boot system (mine are Production and Insider) so that when you're booted into Production, you can reach into Insider and get a file you've saved there. Or vice versa . . .
I've often wished I could to that, but so far, the best I can do is have a Data Drive (1 TB Spinner) installed in the computer. I save all files to that drive, which makes them available from either Production or Insider.
I've been told I can also install programs to the "Data Drive"; thus, making them available to both Production and Insider, but my one try at that failed. I don't know if it was because I was using an external drive, or if it was the program itself refusing to install in a non-traditional way. At any rate, I gave up because it wasn't something I really needed.
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I want them to remain 100% independent from each other. I know two separate computers is the best option, but apart from this is there anything else I can do? In what ways could these two operating systems be linked up?
I think the part in bold is what people are missing.
1. Go into disk management and remove drive letters from the partitions that you do not want the OS to have access to - such as the other OS.
2. Probably don't want to log into each OS with the same MS account as some settings are synced through the MS account.
3. Disable the unwanted network connection by going into device manager and disabling the network adapter. In one OS you will disable the Ethernet adapter and in the other OS you will disable the WiFi adapter.
4. You can set up dual booting using the Windows boot manager, but then the two OS will share the same system partition. Or you can keep the system partitions separate by picking which drive to boot from using your BIOS or UEFI boot override menu (usually F12 when the computer very first powers up or restarts).
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BIOS fast boot or W10 fast start up?
I experimented with all of that, didn't make any difference for me, so I'd be genuinely interested in how you are multi booting from a 'D' drive.
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Maybe two SSD's make life simpler, but.....
- in EasyBCD I unchecked "use Metro bootloader". It allows a selection of the OS already in the Windows Boot loader (before starting any Windows).
- Each SSD starts as a C: disk, after implementing the next point.
- In Disk Management remove the drive letter from the disks, not relevant for the particular OS.
In your case, that will give troubles since you want to have access to D: which contains both data and an OS.
Best to me seems to partition your D: in a partition, only for data and a partition for your second (1st?) OS.
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