How to have Windows 7 (32 bit) within Windows 10 Home Edition 64 bit?

Hi folks, newbie here from Melbourne Australia.

As per title, I'm using Windows 10 and thoroughly enjoying it. The problem is my printer.

It's a Canon Lasershot LBP 1120 and I REALLY like it and want to keep using it but it is pretty old and for this particular printer, Canon don't offer a driver for a 64 bit operating system.

As far as I know, there are two ways I can go. I can put Windows 7 32 bit on a virtual machine or in a space on a partitioned hard drive.

I've heard that VM 5.1 causes Windows 10 to crash.

Partitioning the hard drive sounds a bit intimidating but I'll do that if I have to.

Can anyone offer some advice or point me to appropriate tutes?

I'm not willing to junk the printer and get a new one.

Cheers,
Brad 63

If you post a screenshot of disk management, it would help:
Disk Management - How to Post a Screenshot of Windows 10 General Tips Tutorials

The way that I would do it would be to shrink the existing Windows 10 partition by about 50 GB (depends on how much you want to install into the Windows 7 partition). Create a new NTFS formatted partition for Windows 7. Apply the Windows 7 image to the newly created partition using the DISM /APPLY-IMAGE command. Then set up the dual booting using the BCDBOOT command.

Code:

C:\Windows\system32>dism /apply-image /?

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.15063.0


/Apply-Image /ImageFile:<path_to_image_file> /ApplyDir:<target_directory>
  {/Index:<image_index> | /Name:<image_name>} [/CheckIntegrity] [/Verify]
  [/NoRpFix] [/SWMFile:<pattern>] [/ConfirmTrustedFile] [/WIMBoot] [/Compact] [/EA]
/Apply-Image /ImageFile:<path_to_image_file> /ApplyDrive:<target_drive>
  [/SFUFile:<pattern>] [/SkipPlatformCheck]

  Applies an image to a specified drive.
  Use /CheckIntegrity to stop the operation if WIM file corruption is detected.
  Use /Verify to check for errors and file duplication.
  Use /NoRpFix to disable the reparse point tag fix.
  Use /SWMFile to reference split WIM files (SWMs). <pattern> is the naming
  pattern and location of split files.
  Use /ConfirmTrustedFile to validate the image for Trusted Desktop. See
  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=309482 for more information about
  supported platforms.
  Use /WIMBoot to apply the image with WIMBoot configuration.
  Use /Compact to apply the image in compact mode.
  Use /EA to apply extended attributes.
  Use /SFUFile to reference split FFU files (SFUs). <pattern> is the naming
  pattern and location of split files.
  Use /SkipPlatformCheck if the FFU file being applied is targeted for a
  device other than the machine performing the application. A special FFU
  file is required.

    Examples:
      DISM.exe /Apply-Image /ImageFile:install.wim /Index:1 /ApplyDir:D:\

      DISM.exe /Apply-Image /ImageFile:install.swm /SWMFile:install*.swm
        /ApplyDir:D:\ /Index:1

      DISM.exe /Apply-Image /ImageFile:flash.ffu
        /ApplyDrive:\\.\PhysicalDrive0

C:\Windows\system32>

Code:

C:\Windows\system32>bcdboot /?

Bcdboot - Bcd boot file creation and repair tool.

The bcdboot.exe command-line tool is used to copy critical boot files to the
system partition and to create a new system BCD store.

bcdboot <source> [/l <locale>] [/s <volume-letter> [/f <firmware>]] [/v]
                 [/m [{OS Loader ID}]] [/addlast] [/p] [/c]

  source     Specifies the location of the windows system root.

  /l         Specifies an optional locale parameter to use when
             initializing the BCD store. The default is US English.

  /s         Specifies an optional volume letter parameter to designate
             the target system partition where boot environment files are
             copied.  The default is the system partition identified by
             the firmware.

  /v         Enables verbose mode.

  /m         If an OS loader GUID is provided, this option merges the
             given loader object with the system template to produce a
             bootable entry. Otherwise, only global objects are merged.

  /d         Specifies that the existing default windows boot entry
             should be preserved.

  /f         Used with the /s command, specifies the firmware type of the
             target system partition. Options for <firmware> are 'UEFI',
             'BIOS', or 'ALL'.

  /addlast   Specifies that the windows boot manager firmware entry
             should be added last. The default behavior is to add it
             first.

  /p         Specifies that the windows boot manager firmware entry
             position should be preserved. If entry does not exist,
             new entry will be added in the first position.

  /c         Specifies that any existing objects described by the template
             should not be migrated.

Examples: bcdboot c:\windows /l en-us
          bcdboot c:\windows /s h:
          bcdboot c:\windows /s h: /f UEFI
          bcdboot c:\windows /m {d58d10c6-df53-11dc-878f-00064f4f4e08}
          bcdboot c:\windows /d /addlast
          bcdboot c:\windows /p

C:\Windows\system32>

Thanks for replying. Here's a screenshot. Sorry it's so small.



I have a disc of Windows 7 so I'm assuming I could install from that into the new partition?

NavyLCDR said:

If you post a screenshot of disk management, it would help:
Disk Management - How to Post a Screenshot of Windows 10 General Tips Tutorials

The way that I would do it would be to shrink the existing Windows 10 partition by about 50 GB (depends on how much you want to install into the Windows 7 partition). Create a new NTFS formatted partition for Windows 7. Apply the Windows 7 image to the newly created partition using the DISM /APPLY-IMAGE command. Then set up the dual booting using the BCDBOOT command.

Code:

C:\Windows\system32>dism /apply-image /?

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.15063.0


/Apply-Image /ImageFile:<path_to_image_file> /ApplyDir:<target_directory>
  {/Index:<image_index> | /Name:<image_name>} [/CheckIntegrity] [/Verify]
  [/NoRpFix] [/SWMFile:<pattern>] [/ConfirmTrustedFile] [/WIMBoot] [/Compact] [/EA]
/Apply-Image /ImageFile:<path_to_image_file> /ApplyDrive:<target_drive>
  [/SFUFile:<pattern>] [/SkipPlatformCheck]

  Applies an image to a specified drive.
  Use /CheckIntegrity to stop the operation if WIM file corruption is detected.
  Use /Verify to check for errors and file duplication.
  Use /NoRpFix to disable the reparse point tag fix.
  Use /SWMFile to reference split WIM files (SWMs). <pattern> is the naming
  pattern and location of split files.
  Use /ConfirmTrustedFile to validate the image for Trusted Desktop. See
  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=309482 for more information about
  supported platforms.
  Use /WIMBoot to apply the image with WIMBoot configuration.
  Use /Compact to apply the image in compact mode.
  Use /EA to apply extended attributes.
  Use /SFUFile to reference split FFU files (SFUs). <pattern> is the naming
  pattern and location of split files.
  Use /SkipPlatformCheck if the FFU file being applied is targeted for a
  device other than the machine performing the application. A special FFU
  file is required.

    Examples:
      DISM.exe /Apply-Image /ImageFile:install.wim /Index:1 /ApplyDir:D:\

      DISM.exe /Apply-Image /ImageFile:install.swm /SWMFile:install*.swm
        /ApplyDir:D:\ /Index:1

      DISM.exe /Apply-Image /ImageFile:flash.ffu
        /ApplyDrive:\\.\PhysicalDrive0

C:\Windows\system32>

Code:

C:\Windows\system32>bcdboot /?

Bcdboot - Bcd boot file creation and repair tool.

The bcdboot.exe command-line tool is used to copy critical boot files to the
system partition and to create a new system BCD store.

bcdboot <source> [/l <locale>] [/s <volume-letter> [/f <firmware>]] [/v]
                 [/m [{OS Loader ID}]] [/addlast] [/p] [/c]

  source     Specifies the location of the windows system root.

  /l         Specifies an optional locale parameter to use when
             initializing the BCD store. The default is US English.

  /s         Specifies an optional volume letter parameter to designate
             the target system partition where boot environment files are
             copied.  The default is the system partition identified by
             the firmware.

  /v         Enables verbose mode.

  /m         If an OS loader GUID is provided, this option merges the
             given loader object with the system template to produce a
             bootable entry. Otherwise, only global objects are merged.

  /d         Specifies that the existing default windows boot entry
             should be preserved.

  /f         Used with the /s command, specifies the firmware type of the
             target system partition. Options for <firmware> are 'UEFI',
             'BIOS', or 'ALL'.

  /addlast   Specifies that the windows boot manager firmware entry
             should be added last. The default behavior is to add it
             first.

  /p         Specifies that the windows boot manager firmware entry
             position should be preserved. If entry does not exist,
             new entry will be added in the first position.

  /c         Specifies that any existing objects described by the template
             should not be migrated.

Examples: bcdboot c:\windows /l en-us
          bcdboot c:\windows /s h:
          bcdboot c:\windows /s h: /f UEFI
          bcdboot c:\windows /m {d58d10c6-df53-11dc-878f-00064f4f4e08}
          bcdboot c:\windows /d /addlast
          bcdboot c:\windows /p

C:\Windows\system32>

VMs are usually the best way to go with these type of situation. If the system is capable of running VMs smoothly.

According to this, there are 64 bit drivers Canon Laser Shot LBP-1120 Driver Download | Driver Build

cereberus said:

Another option which I prefer is to install Windows 7 in a virtual hard drive. This is more space efficient, and does not mess around with existing partitions.

That is true, I keep forgetting about virtual drives. I completely agree in this case!
http://woshub.com/installation-of-wi...ual-hard-disk/