Did clean install of Win 10 on SSD - Want to put Win 7 on hard drive

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  1. Moolah
    Posts : 33
    Windows 10 64-bit
       New #1

    Did clean install of Win 10 on SSD - Want to put Win 7 on hard drive


    I probably went about this backwards. I had Windows 7 installed on a 120GB SSD with my User files & some Program Files on a 1TB hard drive. I did a clean install of Windows 10 on the SSD last night. Now I have decided that I want to keep the Windows 7 OS also, but I am not sure what "dual boot" means or entails.

    I am sure I will have to partition D drive to install Windows 7 on & I just noticed that my CD/DVD drive is not showing. I will need help with this also please.

    And, what do I need to do to combine the User files for Windows 7 & 10 on the D drive, or is this even how to go about it?

    I have attached my setup in Disk Management & my system info here: http://speccy.piriform.com/results/Q...vy5IOEIVsJcTne
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Did clean install of Win 10 on SSD - Want to put Win 7 on hard drive-capture.png  
    Last edited by Moolah; 17 Jul 2016 at 00:40. Reason: Add System Info
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  3. CountMike
    Posts : 19,533
    W11+W11 Developer Insider + Linux
       New #2

    If you used that same W7 to upgrade to 10, than you don't have license to W7 any more. It's been "traded" so you can't legally use it any more.
    Otherwise it's not a problem. Best way is to temporarily disconnect SSD and install whatever OS you want on HDD. After that you can reinstall HDD and use program called EasyBCD on the SSD to set a menu from which you can choose which OS to BOOT from. There are other ways but this one is easiest and safest.
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  4. NavyLCDR
    Posts : 18,476
    Windows 11 Pro
       New #3

    To add a little bit to CountMike's post - after you install the second OS on the hard drive, and have both drives connected again, you want the SSD to be on the first SATA port and the hard drive to be on the second SATA port. Boot the computer from the SSD into Windows 10. Then you can either use EasyBCD to add a boot menu item for the Windows on hard drive.

    Or

    Windows 10 should assign a drive letter to the second Windows partition. Let's say it gets drive letter E:\. Right click on the start icon, select Command Prompt (Admin). In the command prompt window run:

    BCDBOOT E:\Windows /d /addlast

    The path in red will be the drive letter Windows 10 gives to the second OS partition and the Windows folder of that partition.
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  6. Edwin
    Posts : 17,843
    Windows 10
       New #4

    My two cents:
    I have no problems dual booting Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, using the W8.1 retail key for W8.1, (from whence I upgraded), while Windows 10 retains it's digital entitlement; on the same machine of course!
    Different machine would be a different story of course.
    Just sayin!
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  7. NavyLCDR
    Posts : 18,476
    Windows 11 Pro
       New #5

    Edwin said:
    My two cents:
    I have no problems dual booting Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, using the W8.1 retail key for W8.1, (from whence I upgraded), while Windows 10 retains it's digital entitlement; on the same machine of course!
    Different machine would be a different story of course.
    Just sayin!
    The fact that you have no problems doing it does not change the fact that it violates the EULA in order to do it.
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  8. Moolah
    Posts : 33
    Windows 10 64-bit
    Thread Starter
       New #6

    NavyLCDR said:
    To add a little bit to CountMike's post - after you install the second OS on the hard drive, and have both drives connected again, you want the SSD to be on the first SATA port and the hard drive to be on the second SATA port. Boot the computer from the SSD into Windows 10. Then you can either use EasyBCD to add a boot menu item for the Windows on hard drive.

    Or

    Windows 10 should assign a drive letter to the second Windows partition. Let's say it gets drive letter E:\. Right click on the start icon, select Command Prompt (Admin). In the command prompt window run:

    BCDBOOT E:\Windows /d /addlast

    The path in red will be the drive letter Windows 10 gives to the second OS partition and the Windows folder of that partition.
    Sorry for the delay. I have been away. If I understand correctly, I do not have to partition the hard drive for Windows 7. I have it on a flash drive. Do I run setup.exe or do I boot from flash drive? The SSD drive is on the first SATA port already & the hard drive on the second one.
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  9. NavyLCDR
    Posts : 18,476
    Windows 11 Pro
       New #7

    Moolah said:
    Sorry for the delay. I have been away. If I understand correctly, I do not have to partition the hard drive for Windows 7. I have it on a flash drive. Do I run setup.exe or do I boot from flash drive? The SSD drive is on the first SATA port already & the hard drive on the second one.
    If you are wanting to clean install Windows 7 to the HDD, then you disconnect the SSD, and boot the computer from the Windows 7 USB flash drive. After Windows 7 is installed on the HDD, reconnect the SSD and boot the computer from it, run the BCDBOOT command to add the Windows 7 to the boot menu on the SSD.
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  10. Superfly
    Posts : 3,453
       New #8

    NavyLCDR said:
    The fact that you have no problems doing it does not change the fact that it violates the EULA in order to do it.
    LOL... he's just a bad boy, truth be told!.... but seriously, he was one one of the first to purchase one of the Win 10 USB's when it launched.
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  12. Samuria
    Posts : 8,477
    windows 10
       New #9

    The simple answer is to use Oracle VM VirtualBox its free and you dont need to mess with paritions and boot it just run as a virtual pc and you can run any other o/s like linux, win95 etc
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  13. Edwin
    Posts : 17,843
    Windows 10
       New #10

    Superfly said:
    LOL... he's just a bad boy, truth be told!....
    I only require an occasional spanking!
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