RE : Dual Boot

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I am considering dual boot install when the next Win 10 Consumer Preview is available.
I've never done dual booting before, so here are couple of questions.
I will be using my Win 7 Home Premium, 64-bit 4GB Ram. See the specs at the end.
Questions :
1. Does it matter which Win 10 bit version to install ?
2. Based on my Win 7 specs, is it practical to do dual booting ?
What I mean is, will it affect the performance of Win 7 if I need to give.....
min 1GB for Win 10 32-bit
or
min 2GB for Win 10 64-bit

Image 1.png
 

bassfisher6522

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Dual booting is just partitioning your C drive, essentially making 2 drives. Then on the newly created HDD (partition) you just clean install windows 10 TP or what ever OS you want.

No it doesn't matter which version of 10 you use....provided you have a system that can handle a 64 bit setup.

There is no dividing up your hardware with a dual boot setup. That is only involved with when using a VM (virtual machine). Natively in windows 8 Pro/8.1 Pro, it has Hyper-V which will allow you to create a VM. It works pretty darn good and it's free. You just need to make sure Hyper-V is enabled first.

I have a Samsung RV511 (3 yrs old) triple booting....Windows 7 Home Premium OEM is the primary OS, 8.1 Pro and now window 10 TP. All are independent of one another and all run flawlessly.
 

bassfisher6522

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BTW I label all my drives...just makes it easier for me when I want to manipulate a partition.


HDD management.PNG
 
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I have to shrink the volume of Win 7 partition to make room for Win 10.
That is what I meant.

Question now is how much space should be allocated for Win 10, based on my Win 7 ? Disk management screenshot already posted.
 
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OK. 100 GB for win 10.

Still one question.
...........No it doesn't matter which version of 10 you use....provided you have a system that can handle a 64 bit setup..............

My win 7 is a 64-bit os, shouldn't it be automatic to install a 64-bit Win 10 ?
Do I still have to check and if yes, how ?
 
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Thank you.

I have all those. ISO ( 32 bit and 64-bit ) as well as bootable dvds.
My post is meant for future dual boot install of Win 7 and Win 10 ( final release. )

I am now using my Win 7 as host and Win 10 TP as guest in VMware Player.
 
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Decided to go ahead dual booting Win 7 and Win 10 TP.

Here is the partitions created.......
Image 3.jpg


Proceeding to install...............
 
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Fail.
Went to Bios and set boot order to USB CD/DVD
Upon restart it went to Windows 7 sign in screen. It just ignored my dvd.
I tried both 32-bit and 64-bit DVDs, Both failed.


Adding.......... I might know why.
I'll create a bootable dvd again.

Adding ..........as suspected, faulty DVD.
Long story short, I re-created a new bootable DVD using the old reliable windows 7 usb/dvd download tool.

Restarted computer > boot started at CD/DVD drive > selected the Win10TP partition > Install is now underway.
 
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Update on my dual booing.............
Dual boot is successfully installed not without 2 hiccups.....
1. At the beginning, restart is needed. There will be a prompt asking to hit any key to start booting from CD/DVD.
Do that, of course.
The same prompt will reappear , at least twice to me. With the exception of the first time, DO NOT touch any key. Let the machine runs. It you press any key as prompted, you will be sent right back to the very beginning.
2. Nearing the end, I need to set up an account. I use my MS account as usual. It then asks for an alternate way to send me the security code. As usual, I use the Hotmail account. It works all the time, BUT this time, no code sent to my Hotmail account. I click Next and it asks me to go back and finish the last step. Of course, it is useless. No code sent to me. So, I decided " what the heck", and just simply press Next. Guess what it lets me through and finish the install.

Impression : YES. It is a lot, heck of a lot, faster than in VMware Player.

Now, one question:
I need a fast way to switch between Win 7 and Win 10.
For now, this is what I do to switch OS...... shutdown > restart > select OS.

I googled for it. Not working for me.

P.S. I used the 64-bit Win 10 TP on my 64-bit Win 7.
 
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This thread is long enough. One last feedback and I'll quit this thread.
IRE : switching os
I thought I had to click Shutdown > pressed power button to restart > then I would have the option to switch os.

Instead, I found out .... click Restart > the system will do its restart and then a black and white screen will show the options of Win 10 TP and Win 7 > Use the arrow key to select the os.
Easier and takes less time booting up the os.
 

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