How to dual boot Windows Vista and Windows 7 (Vista installed first)

awiklendt (New user):

what if i have 100 Gb free on my Vista system already? do i still need these shrinking methods for this to work?

awiklendt (New user):

what if i have 100 Gb free on my Vista system already? do i still need these shrinking methods for this to work?

awiklendt (New user):

or is the idea to create a new partition (page three seems to suggest another partition, but page two says nothing at all about partitioning)? i'm v confused with these instrucitons.

mtarm1 (User):

if you have a spare partition ie D: with no other OS on it then install windows 7 on there (no need to repartition the hdd)

hope i helped...

quantumgravity (New user):

Wow, James, thanks. You've done a great job assembling this and it's a real service.

I have one question which may or may not be easy. I'm newly running Windows 7 upgraded over the top of Vista and have a large partition available on the C: drive for Vista. Some things work better in Vista, it turns out, even though my machine is only a year old. I have a day-old fully-functional Norton Ghost backup of my former Vista OS with all programs installed (data is on a separate disk and is unaffected.) Rather than installing Vista from scratch, will I kill my disk's boot data if I just restore the Vista Ghost image to the free partition using the Ghost CD? I'm worried Ghost will corrupt the boot data and leave me with no way to access the Windows 7 OS after the Vista restore, even though it resides untouched on the primary partition. Ghost does have an option not to mess with the Master Boot Record, though.

I do have another option. I've used Windows 7's backup utility to create a disk image of my Windows 7 installation (with all programs, etc.) and created a Windows 7 recovery DVD. I could start from scratch using the Ghost Vista image as the primary parition and leave enough unallocated space for the Windows 7 image. I'm so unfamiliar with the boot process that I don't know what will work the best and what will leave me dead in the water.

Thanks for any advice you have.

quantumgravity (New user):

OK, I can answer my own question in case anyone cares. The bottom line is: of course it won't work. This is what happens:

1. Yes, you can shrink the Windows 7 partition and create unallocated space. Ghost prefers, for this purpose, a pre-created empty and unformatted primary partition.

2. Yes, you can restore the Ghost Vista image to this new partition. You do this by booting from the Ghost CD/DVD, being careful not to replace the Master Boot Record or original disk signature. Set the partition to be active, although it turns out it won't be "officially" active because there can only be one active partition per physical disk.

3. When this is completed, the BCD will be unaffected and the PC will continue to happily boot into Windows 7.

4. You can add Windows Vista to the BCD simply by booting to the Windows 7 DVD and using its Repair option in the Recovery Environment. You can either use the bootrec.exe tool or just the initial repair diagnostic to find all valid OS's on your system. If you give it the OK, the recovery environment will add Windows Vista to your BCD so that it shows up as an option when you boot.

5. Then, when you boot into this exact replica or your formerly-working Vista application that had all your programs and settings the way you wanted them, it boots to a point and just stops. You boot into safe mode and see that it can't access some key DLLs. And then you realize: of course it can't. When you saved the image, the registry and who knows what else expects to find key pieces of the OS on the C: partition, because that's where it was born. There's no way I can imagine to correct this.

6. The moral of this story is that you can dual-boot OS's easily using the instructions in these articles, and Windows will even be a great tool in manipulating the BCD for you from its installation DVD. But each OS has to reside in the partition where it was originally installed. There doesn't seem to be a way I can find to save a Vista (or other) OS that's fully operational as an image, then upgrade it to a newer operating system that likewise has all your programs and settings pre-loaded, and then install the image of the pre-upgraded OS anywhere on the system so you can use both. My only choice is to build Windows 7 from scratch in a new partition and keep Vista where it was born on the C: partition, or just keep the C: original physical disk drive for Vista and swap out the primary drives if I need the old OS. If your files are on a separate disk, this works great. Right now that's the easier choice (taking only a couple minutes and a screwdriver), but if I need them both readily available I'll go the other way. This may have been obvious to many but I thought it might help others. At least I learned a lot.

7. As to the questioner after me who wanted to use an OS on another hard drive, I believe it would work -- but only if the other hard drive (say "D:") was where the second OS was originally installed. If not, forget it. If so, try using the Windows Repair feature on its DVD to find all the valid Windows installations connected to the PC and rebuild the BCD. It should work, possibly even on an OS connected via USB if that's where it was loaded.

If someone reads this and sees I'm wrong, and I'm sure I am in spots if not in total, please correct me. I'm just learning here. Thanks!

SaBall (New user):

How can I do this with two hard drives on my HP? I have two 500 GB hard drives and i have Vista on one and 7 Balck on the other. Any Ideas? thanks

numanumanuma (New user):

I'm having a problem of booting my old Vista OS.
I have 2 hard disk, and the primary was installed with Vista Ultimate 64bit. The other hard disk installed with XP pro, but rarely use it. Actually the XP come in first before Vista but it doesn't have any problem since it was installed in different drive.
So yesterday, i format my XP drive and installed Win7 in it and it went well. But now, the main problem that I have here is, I cannot to boot back to my old Vista Ultimate. It said something like, "Failed to boot. Please reboot and select other drive"

Can anyone here help me regarding this matter.

Thank You in advance

numanumanuma (New user):

I'm having a problem of booting my old Vista OS.
I have 2 hard disk, and the primary was installed with Vista Ultimate 64bit. The other hard disk installed with XP pro, but rarely use it. Actually the XP come in first before Vista but it doesn't have any problem since it was installed in different drive.
So yesterday, i format my XP drive and installed Win7 in it and it went well. But now, the main problem that I have here is, I cannot to boot back to my old Vista Ultimate. It said something like, "Failed to boot. Please reboot and select other drive"

Can anyone here help me regarding this matter.

Thank You in advance

numanumanuma (New user):

I'm having a problem of booting my old Vista OS.
I have 2 hard disk, and the primary was installed with Vista Ultimate 64bit. The other hard disk installed with XP pro, but rarely use it. Actually the XP come in first before Vista but it doesn't have any problem since it was installed in different drive.
So yesterday, i format my XP drive and installed Win7 in it and it went well. But now, the main problem that I have here is, I cannot to boot back to my old Vista Ultimate. It said something like, "Failed to boot. Please reboot and select other drive"

Can anyone here help me regarding this matter.

Thank You in advance

Edmon (New user):

happened with me i couldn't fix it coz they didn't give me a Vista DVD but if u have your Vista DVD then just boot the DVD and repair your vista and it will hopefully work

jc1961 (New user):

Can you have windows 7, vista and xp in triple boot situation? vista and xp dual booting at the moment.

jc1961 (New user):

can you have win 7, vista and xp as a triple boot?

greywolf822 (New user):

Your information is fantastic. but my problem is in reverse of your article. I presently have Windows 7 Rc installed and I would like to re-install my registered Vista on a partician for a back up OS. Can I use the partician manager program that is on the install cd within vista, or should I use your recommended software. John [ jhaskins75@comcast.net

greywolf822 (New user):

My problem is I need to do the reverse. I have Windows rc build 7100 evaluation installed and would like to install my previous registered Vista home addition as a partitioned OS. Will the method in your article work for this type of installation and do I have to use the software partician manager you recommend or the one on the install cd that comes with Vista?