As the title states I have a Thinkpad E545 with Windows 7 SP1. I want to install Windows 10 on the same hard disk, separate partition and would like to have the option to boot either Windows 7 or 10 upon completion. (I have allocated 500 GB for that partition).
Anything special I need to do prior to installing Windows 10?
Hello @ClippyBeer,
Have a look at this . . .
This Tutorial may be useful . . .
> Dual Boot Windows 10 with Windows 7 or Windows 8.
If you want to return toSingle-Boot, then this Tutorial may be useful =>
> How to Remove and Uninstall Windows 7, 8, or 10 from Dual Boot PC.
I hope this helps.
There are many threads on this subject.
https://www.tenforums.com/search.php?query=
Do review these ones before taking any action
NavyLCdr alternative, simple dual-boot method [post #5] - TenForums
Boot into a vhdx file [Kari] - TenForums
Best of luck,
Denis
Thanks to both of you - after I review the above suggestions I will proceed with the install and post my results.
I would shrink the Windows 7 partition to make an empty unpartitioned space for Windows 10. You already have allocated 500GB. Now I would create a new NTFS partition on the empty space. For doing the above you can right-click on My PC, select Manage to open Computer Management, then click on the Disk Management section.'
Next step is to boot with Windows 10 DVD or USB Flash Drive and select to install Windows 10 on the new partition. You could also run setup within Windows 7, select custom (advanced) setup and proceed, but I prefer to boot with Windows 10 Setup to avoid antivirus or other application interfering with the installation and probably making it fail. To avoid using a Microsoft account and create a local account instead, make sure you disconnect from the internet (remove the LAN cable), If you only have Wi-FI do not connect and reply you don't have an internet connection. After the initial startup is complete, you have created your local account and have logon into Windows 10, you can connect to the Internet and proceed with activation and drivers installation. Using Windows Update to find drivers might seem easy, but keep in mind that you are not guaranteed to install the best drivers. Most of them offer basic functionality (for example the graphics driver just makes the screen work, if you need access to Intel/nVidia/AMD control panel you must download the official driver from their site and install it manually). That is why I prefer downloading all the drivers beforehand, rather than relying on Windows Update or other automatic utility (Snappy Driver Installer and similar).
At this point I would like to remind you that if there is no Windows 10 driver for a device, you can install Windows 8 or Windows 7 drivers. The newer the better, but even Windows Vista drivers will work for very old laptops. Just make sure you download the correct type (32-bit or x86 versus 64-bit or x64)
If done correctly you should see a boot screen where you can load Windows 10 and 7 and after a few seconds it loads 10 by default.
It ended up being a lot easier than I thought it was going to be - I installed Windows 10 as I normally do off the bootable ISO and selected the partition I created as destination, and viola! After install Windows 10 had automatically created the boot menu allowing me to select either Windows 7 or 10 - I tested and both load without issues.
The last time I dual booted was with Windows 98SE and XP. All the guides I found on the internet suggested that I would have to manually edit or use third-party tools to create the boot menu. Thankfully I decided to post here just to be sure.
Again, many thanks for all the helpful links and suggestions!
You can use a utility such as EasyBCD to rename the boot entries, if you want, and change easily the amount of seconds you have to wait until the default entry is loaded. I usually set that to 8 seconds, not too many to wait long and also not too fast if you want to select another entry.
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