Change dual boot Win10/Win7 to Win10/Win10(11)?

Hi. I have a PC which dual boots between Windows 10 and Windows 7. I now no longer need Windows 7 on the PC and want to change that O/S to Windows 10, with a view to 'upgrading' (?) to Windows 11. (I don't think I can go from Windows 7 straight to Windows 11, can I?). The current Windows 10 installation will remain as my default.

I originally created the dual boot using EasyBCD (and I then installed iReboot to switch between them). All works well. I note that there are still ways to upgrade Windows 7 to Windows 10 for free: I can't, I think, just format the Windows 7 partition and reuse my licenced Win10 installation iso for this - even though it's on the same PC, my understanding is that only one instance per license is legal, even on the same PC? Sounds risky too to do it that way, in respect of the dual boot still working afterwards: updating my licensed Windows 7 installation seems to be the way to go.

I am very hesitant however simply to go into the Windows 7 O/S and upgrade it to Windows 10: will that somehow 'kill' my dual boot? Do I need to prepare this in EasyBCD somehow - or reconfigure EasyBCD after the upgrade? Or will EasyBCD recognise the change automatically? The goal, probably perfectly clear, is to replace the Win10/Win7 dual boot with a Win10 (same installation as current)/Win10 dual boot.. and probably upgrade the latter to Windows 11 at some stage soon.

It's some years since I created the dual boot system (which I definitely want to keep) and to be honest I have very little memory now of how it is done! Some reminders and info re. the above (is there a step-by-step tutorial for dummies somewhere?) would be really helpful.

Many thanks.

NavyLCDR said:

You can upgrade the current Windows 7 to Windows 10, or you can do a custom install of Windows 10 to the Windows 7 partition. It won't affect dual booting. It appears as if you have two licenses for Windows, one for the Windows 7 and one for the Windows 10, don't worry about 2 activated installs of Windows 10 on the same computer, they will both remain activated. Microsoft does not need a product key to activate Windows 10 once it gets a digital license for that edition of Windows 10 on that computer - it activates via the unique hardware ID on the computer rather than a product key.

To do the custom install, boot into Windows 10. Either mount an ISO file for Windows 10 installation, or insert a Windows 10 installation USB flash drive. Run setup.exe from the sources folder - not the root folder. Select the partition that currently has Windows 7 and reformat it, which will erase everything in that partition. Then highlight the reformatted partition and click next to do the install of Windows 10 to it.

To do the upgrade, you boot into Windows 7. Either mount the Windows 10 ISO file or insert the Windows 10 USB flash drive. Run setup.exe from the root folder.

If the computer is old enough to have started with Windows 7, it likely does not meet the hardware requirements for Windows 11.

Assuming pc meets w11 hardware criteria, I presume you could update direct from W7 to W11 by downloading W11 iso, creating a bootable usb drive (but do not boot from it) then select setup.exe from usb flash drive root menu.

I will try this in a W8 vm (easier to install) and see if you can still upgrade that way. My belief is that it will work fine but be on slightly older version that can be updated to latest via a windows 11 update.

martinlest said:

Yes, that might work. I have decided though that I am likely to mess up this upgrade if I do it myself (my manual dexterity, and moreover my patience, are not what they used to be!), so I am probably going to ask a local PC shop to do the whole thing for me. They will doubtless be able to update Windows 7 to Windows 11 easily enough.

Thanks

Word of caution. Your local PC shop can do this, but be overly cautious when explaining what you want, if necessary put it in writing. Too many times verbal conversations end just fine and both sides assume all is understood.

If they are not 100% clear that your intention is to keep all of your apps and data, then the "In-Place" upgrade may end up being a clean install.

Just be overly cautious and make sure they hear what you say and not what they want to hear. Repeat everything.

I don't know if it will activate Windows if you have a new mobo and CPU installed unless it's Windows 10 retail.

martinlest said:

Thanks for the further replies. All the details with the shop are being done by email, so there shouldn't be any problem. They are very long-established, so should do an OK job. Fingers crossed.

Fingers crossed here also. Look forward to update. Best of luck.