Windows 10 & Windows 7 Dual Boot - Can it be done

Nolly1959 said:

As an aside, were you a Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy?

Current Lieutenant Commander in US Navy.

NavyLCDR said:

Current Lieutenant Commander in US Navy.

Hence the icon. Thanks. I was an Artificer in the Royal Navy but left many years ago.

tracit99 said:

I have used this tool in the past as a source for Windows 7 ISOs, however do to a recent change by Microsoft most of the Windows 7 ISOs are no longer available using this tool. Of course if you have valid product key you can download a Windows 7 ISO directly from Microsoft here. I am not sure if the ISO from here is with SP1.

Currently downloading from the link your recommended. Think I already have it in my download folder but not sure if it has SP1.

I am still concerned about the GPT warning and whether the partition for Windows 7 needs to be the first O/S partition on the Drive.

@Nolly1959
See last paragraph of my edited post. I share your concern.

tracit99 said:

@Nolly1959
See last paragraph of my edited post. I share your concern.

Missed that earlier. I am sure that having had many attempts at this, I have read somewhere that Windows 7 must be first. I believe someone suggested (not in TenForums) that I would have to start afresh and intall Windows 7 and then Windows 10. Also believe it has something to do with the MBR. If I solve it, I will write a book on it

@Nolly1959, I was an enlisted machinist mate, nuclear trained, submarine service from 1988 to 2000 before I became an aviation maintenance officer.

I just tried the heidoc.net download tool and it would only let me download English version of Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium. Only French and Korean were available for Professional. However, the current Windows 7 SP1 ISO files from Microsoft all contain Windows 7 Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate. In order to get all versions available from the ISO file, after you create your Windows 7 installation USB flash drive from it, delete the \sources\ei.cfg file from it.

Code:

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.15063]
(c) 2017 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>dism /get-wiminfo /wimfile:I:\Sources\Install.wim

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.15063.0

Details for image : I:\Sources\Install.wim

Index : 1
Name : Windows 7 Home Basic
Description : Windows 7 Home Basic
Size : 11,710,161,360 bytes

Index : 2
Name : Windows 7 Home Premium
Description : Windows 7 Home Premium
Size : 12,222,587,449 bytes

Index : 3
Name : Windows 7 Professional
Description : Windows 7 Professional
Size : 12,122,886,417 bytes

Index : 4
Name : Windows 7 Ultimate
Description : Windows 7 Ultimate
Size : 12,285,492,779 bytes

The operation completed successfully.

NavyLCDR said:

@Nolly1959, I was an enlisted machinist mate, nuclear trained, submarine service from 1988 to 2000 before I became an aviation maintenance officer.

I just tried the heidoc.net download tool and it would only let me download English version of Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium. Only French and Korean were available for Professional. However, the current Windows 7 SP1 ISO files from Microsoft all contain Windows 7 Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate. In order to get all versions available from the ISO file, after you create your Windows 7 installation USB flash drive from it, delete the \sources\ei.cfg file from it.

@NavyLCDR, I joined the Royal Navy in January 1959 and left by the end of October 1972. I was an REA1(Air) for almost the last 5 years of my service. REA1 == Radio Electrical Artificer 1st Class or Chief Petty Officer. Air == Fleet Air Arm.

I was able to download the ISO file you mentioned. I attempted to create a bootable USB with WintoUSB and selected Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium, etc. It may be the USB drive that I have used that is resulted in NO BOOT from it. I was asked question about did I want Bios MBR, UEFI/GPT (I think) which was confusing.
What creation tool would you use? What size of USB is required do you think?

NavyLCDR said:

I'm in my phone at the moment, read this whole post before starting. 4 gb flash drive should be enough, 8 GB would be better. Insert the flash drive. Win+r key, then run diskpart:

diskpart
list disk
select disk # <-replace # with disc # of the USB flash drive
clean <-this erases the selected disk!
format fs=fat32 quick
active
assign
exit
exit

Then mount the ISO file. Copy all the files and folders from the mounted ISO file to the USB flash drive. Delete \sources\ei.cfg from the flash drive.

Windows 8 and 10 will mount ISO files from the right click menu.

I tried an 8GB USB drive and I got a message about it not being large enough.

Will try what you have suggested. Thanks.