Another Dual Boot Question

NavyLCDR said:

If you know how to do it, you can install Windows 10 one any physical drive in the system and either set up a dual boot Windows Boot Manager menu, or make the physical drive independently bootable and selectable from the BIOS boot menu - without disconnecting any other drives. You just have to know how.

NavyLCDR said:

Removing or disconnecting drives is a workaround for people who don't know how to control Windows 10 installations in multi-disk environments.

OK super. That sounds way more practical. Care to elaborate with a bit of specific guidance or a link for this plebe.

I'm writing this out quickly before I leave for the day so it may have typos, but it will give you something to start with. From Windows 7 shutdown the computer completely. Unplug the computer and press the power key to bleed off residual power. Install you second SSD. Boot the computer from a Windows 10 installation USB flash drive. Create one from here if you don't have one:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/soft...load/windows10

When you get to the first Windows setup screen, press Shift + F10. You might need to press Shift + Fn + F10 on some keyboards. This will open a command prompt. Then run:

Code:

diskpart
list disk
select disk # <- replace # with the actual number of the new SSD you want Windows 10 on
clean <- this will erase the disk selected above, make sure it is the new SSD!
convert gpt
select part 1
delete part override
create part EFI size=100
format fs=fat32 quick
assign letter=y
create part MSR size=16
create part pri
format fs=NTFS quick label="Win10"
assign letter=z
list vol
exit <-this will exit diskpart back into command prompt

Now look at the volume letters from list vol. You should see your Y: and Z: drives. There should also be another drive letter assigned to the USB flash drive, and also a drive letter (I believe it always gets X:) that is assigned to ramdrive. You want to note the drive letter assigned to the USB flash drive. Let's say it is E: . Whatever it is, make sure to change E: to the right drive letter below. So continuing in the command prompt:

Code:

E:
cd sources
dism /get-wiminfo /wimfile:install.esd <- note you might have install.wim instead of install.esd.  Change the filename if you need to
dism /apply-image /imagefile:install.esd /index:# /applydir:Z:\ <- change # to the index number for the edition of Windows 10 you want to install, also may need to use install.wim instead of install.esd
bcdboot Z:\Windows /s Y: /f UEFI
exit

Now you can close the Windows setup windows, reboot the computer back into either the boot override menu or into BIOS settings and boot from the newly installed SSD into Windows 10. If you want to set up a boot manager boot menu so the computer always boots from the same SSD and then you get a menu to select which OS, I can show you that later.

Once you have the commands memorized, it is almost quicker to install Windows 10 this way.

NavyLCDR said:

I'm writing this out quickly before I leave for the day so it may have typos.

Holy smokes, I didn't see a command prompt setup coming... Thanks for taking the time to post this.

Ive only used command prompt on very limited tasks, so while this does look a bit intimidating, I should be able to power thru it. But, considering coding has zero tolerance for typo's, if you would be so kind to double check your text and edit if needed that would surely be appreciated.

Lioninstreet said:

Holy smokes, I didn't see a command prompt setup coming... Thanks for taking the time to post this.

Ive only used command prompt on very limited tasks, so while this does look a bit intimidating, I should be able to power thru it. But, considering coding has zero tolerance for typo's, if you would be so kind to double check your text and edit if needed that would surely be appreciated.

I've read through it, it all looks correct. Like I said, once you know the process, I find it is faster to do it manually. Also, if you have one Windows 10 installed already and you want to install a second Windows 10 to a different drive, you don't even need to boot from a USB flash drive. You can use the same method by just mounting the Windows 10 ISO file in your first install of Windows 10. You can also do it by mounting the Windows 10 ISO file in Windows 7, but that is bit more complicated.

Excellent, the advise is surely appreciated.

I'll post back as I go. Dealing with some real estate issues atm.