two operating systems

[fsviatko]

Ia have windows 7 on my computer with two hard drives. Is there any
way to put two operating systems on one computer?

Frank

 

[charlie]

Ia have windows 7 on my computer with two hard drives. Is there any
way to put two operating systems on one computer?

Frank

There are several "ways", depending on what ops systems you are
interested in. Windows 8 can be installed as a second ops system,
BUT, the default load & go install is not the method used.
Linux, and older windows ops systems can also be installed, with some
effort.

I'm sure others will be commenting with more details.

 

[Wolf K]

There are several "ways", depending on what ops systems you are
interested in. Windows 8 can be installed as a second ops system,
BUT, the default load & go install is not the method used.
Linux, and older windows ops systems can also be installed, with some
effort.

I'm sure others will be commenting with more details.

See:
http://www.osloader.com/

Have fun.

 

[Paul]

Ia have windows 7 on my computer with two hard drives. Is there any
way to put two operating systems on one computer?

Frank

You can put one OS on each disk, and then use the BIOS
popup boot menu key, to select a disk to boot from.
For example, on my computer, pressing F8 key in the
BIOS screen, gives me a list of disk drives (first, second,
and so on).

(This is a poor example, but it demonstrates the popup boot
menu as a blue, BIOS level screen. The names of the entries,
are determined by the drive types.)

http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19127-01/ultra27.ws/820-6772/images/7-2-Boot-Device-Network-Menu.gif

+-----+---------------+-----------------+
| MBR | Windows 7 C: | SYSTEM RESERVED | First disk drive
+-----+---------------+-----------------+

+-----+---------------+-----------------+
| MBR | Windows 7 C: | SYSTEM RESERVED | Second disk drive
+-----+---------------+-----------------+

On Windows 7, there is one additional detail. You cannot make
a simple sector by sector copy. The above suggests that would
be an easy thing to do. It's mentioned here, that the boot manager
on each disk, uses a disk signature value written in the MBR, plus
a disk signature value recorded in the BCD file, to figure out
what to boot from. If you clone the disks exactly, both disks
end up with the same signature. And that would cause a problem.

This will give you a hint as to what is involved. You'll need
to look for more info on using BCDEDIT. Or, perhaps Acronis
knows how to copy the disk and vary the signature as required.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2676-bcdedit-how-use-6.html

Paul

 

[Fokke Nauta]

There are several "ways", depending on what ops systems you are
interested in. Windows 8 can be installed as a second ops system,
BUT, the default load & go install is not the method used.
Linux, and older windows ops systems can also be installed, with some
effort.

Older Windows systems: No. In case you would install XP, you would no
longer be able to boot with W7. When you want various Windows OS's on
one pc, hou have to install the oldest version first.
With Linux there is no problem. You can install that side by side with
Windows, although in another partition.

Fokke

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Fokke.

Older Windows systems: No.

OK with all Windows versions since Win95, at least. That's when I started
multi-booting, with Win95 and WinNT4.

In case you would install XP, you would no longer be able to boot with W7.

There are several well-known ways to cure this problem. But it's much
easier to add Win7 to WinXP, rather than the reverse.

When you want various Windows OS's on one pc, hou have to install the
oldest version first.

ALMOST correct: Always install the NEWEST Windows LAST. (Doesn't matter
much if you install Vista first, then the older WinXP - and, finally, Win7.)
Win7's Setup.exe knows how to handle all the older Windows it finds already
installed. But WinXP's Setup.exe has no idea what to do with Win7 (or Vista
or Win) since that did not even exist when WinXP's Setup files were written.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-2010)
Windows Live Mail 2012 (Build 16.4.3505.0912) in Win8 Pro


"Fokke Nauta" wrote in message

There are several "ways", depending on what ops systems you are
interested in. Windows 8 can be installed as a second ops system,
BUT, the default load & go install is not the method used.
Linux, and older windows ops systems can also be installed, with some
effort.

Older Windows systems: No. In case you would install XP, you would no
longer be able to boot with W7. When you want various Windows OS's on
one pc, hou have to install the oldest version first.
With Linux there is no problem. You can install that side by side with
Windows, although in another partition.

Fokke

 

[Robert Baer]

Ia have windows 7 on my computer with two hard drives. Is there any
way to put two operating systems on one computer?

Frank

YES; 4 partitions nominally allow 4 OSes, but one time i had 6 by
cheating (PCDOS, Win3.11, Win98SE on one partition).
Install OSes in age-order: oldest to newest.
Warning: Win7, like Linux steals a partition for no truly useful reason.
And yes, you can have WinXP, Win7(default IE8), Win7("upgraded" to IE9).

 

[Darklight]

YES; 4 partitions nominally allow 4 OSes, but one time i had 6 by
cheating (PCDOS, Win3.11, Win98SE on one partition).
Install OSes in age-order: oldest to newest.
Warning: Win7, like Linux steals a partition for no truly useful reason.
And yes, you can have WinXP, Win7(default IE8), Win7("upgraded" to IE9).

The safest way to run multiple OS's is use virtualbox. That way you
can't go wrong and it's free.

 

[Fokke Nauta]

Hi, Fokke.


OK with all Windows versions since Win95, at least. That's when I
started multi-booting, with Win95 and WinNT4.

But that's a long time gone. Never tried multi-booting with those.

There are several well-known ways to cure this problem. But it's much
easier to add Win7 to WinXP, rather than the reverse.

Fully agree

ALMOST correct: Always install the NEWEST Windows LAST. (Doesn't
matter much if you install Vista first, then the older WinXP - and,
finally, Win7.)

If you would install Vista first, XP wouldn't recognize that and
overwrite the MBR? XP isn't that clever.

Win7's Setup.exe knows how to handle all the older
Windows it finds already installed. But WinXP's Setup.exe has no idea
what to do with Win7 (or Vista or Win) since that did not even exist
when WinXP's Setup files were written.

Yeah, I may assume that W7 knows about Vista.

<Cut>

Fokke

 

[Mitch Bujard]

Ia have windows 7 on my computer with two hard drives. Is there any
way to put two operating systems on one computer?

Frank

I have done that on my PC, because I need to test fonts on both Windows
7 and Windows 8. The way I proceeded is as such :

- Upon boot, your PC offers to go into Settings. Most the time by
pressing Del. Sometimes F10. Do so.
- Browse settings, until you see which drives are installed. Notice
that as default, the C drive is the one on which Windows is installed.
Change the default to the other drive, reboot with the install DVD in,
and install.

You will be able to switch between systems by selecting the boot order.

There are other alternative, but this one does not require installing
software or bying anything.

Hope this helps.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

I have done that on my PC, because I need to test fonts on both Windows
7 and Windows 8. The way I proceeded is as such :

- Upon boot, your PC offers to go into Settings. Most the time by
pressing Del. Sometimes F10. Do so.
- Browse settings, until you see which drives are installed. Notice
that as default, the C drive is the one on which Windows is installed.
Change the default to the other drive, reboot with the install DVD in,
and install.

You will be able to switch between systems by selecting the boot order.

There are other alternative, but this one does not require installing
software or bying anything.

Hope this helps.

Another key that some motherboards use to get into the BIOS setup is F2.

Also, some BIOSes will accept a special key to get into a menu that lets
you choose a boot device for the current startup. Very convenient.

I think Esc is the key for that on this Asus motherboard, but I haven't
done it recently, so I forgot, and I can't find it in the motherboard
manual.

 

[Paul]

Another key that some motherboards use to get into the BIOS setup is F2.

Also, some BIOSes will accept a special key to get into a menu that lets
you choose a boot device for the current startup. Very convenient.

I think Esc is the key for that on this Asus motherboard, but I haven't
done it recently, so I forgot, and I can't find it in the motherboard
manual.

On my current Asus motherboard, the popup boot menu is F8, while <Del>
enters the BIOS.

The choices for those keys, varies with brand. (I have three different
key-pairs to memorize, for the computers here.)

If the BIOS is running in text mode, the bottom line of the first
screen-full of text, tells you what keys to press. You need
Ninja eyesight, to be able to catch those details (the text can
disappear pretty quick).

And the popup boot menu has classical (circa 1990) good looks.
Anything registering an INT 0x13 service, can show up here.

http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19127-01/ultra27.ws/820-6772/images/7-2-Boot-Device-Network-Menu.gif

Paul

 

[richard]

Another key that some motherboards use to get into the BIOS setup is F2.

Also, some BIOSes will accept a special key to get into a menu that lets
you choose a boot device for the current startup. Very convenient.

I think Esc is the key for that on this Asus motherboard, but I haven't
done it recently, so I forgot, and I can't find it in the motherboard
manual.

On my laptop anyway, during boot, if it finds two OS's, you're asked which
one you want to boot with before continuing.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

On my laptop anyway, during boot, if it finds two OS's, you're asked which
one you want to boot with before continuing.

So one way or another Mitch Bujard should be able to do what he wants.

Hopefully one of the ideas here will get him rolling.

 

[Wolf K]

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/windows-vista/install-more-than-one-operating-system-multiboot

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2408280,00.asp

http://www.osloader.com/

HTH



Best,
Wolf K
kirkwood40.blogspot.ca