Dual Boot Win 7 and Win 8

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viking33
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Dual Boot Win 7 and Win 8

Post by viking33 »

For those who may want to give Win 8 an advanced peek and have some spare room on their HD, here is a method to dual boot the two OSs, without risk of loosing the Win 7 primary OS.

http://www.partition-tool.com/resource/ ... dium=email" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Right now, I am perfectly satisfied with Win 7 but some might want a try at 8.
BOB
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viking33
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Re: Dual Boot Win 7 and Win 8

Post by viking33 »

I've been accepted onto the Microsoft Development Team, to participate in The Windows Developer Preview Install Fair.
It begins at 5:00PM PST ( 8:00PM EST-my time zone ) with a 2 gig download of the pre-beta release of the unofficially named Windows 8.
I've partitioned off about 22gigs in a new partition and will attempt to triple boot this along with my Win 7 and XP partitions.
I'm all "imaged up," so I can recover if need be.
Wish me luck. If you don't hear from me in a few days, you'll know why! :cauldron: :chef: :drop: :laugh:
BOB
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Bigaldoc
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Re: Dual Boot Win 7 and Win 8

Post by Bigaldoc »

Good luck, Bob! You've got a lot of "courage" this early in the development cycle.

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viking33
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Re: Dual Boot Win 7 and Win 8

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Bigaldoc wrote:Good luck, Bob! You've got a lot of "courage" this early in the development cycle.
Well, the big night started last night at 5PM PST.
1.My impressions were that the install instructions were rather unclear.
2.It was somehow decided that dual ( or triple ) boot capability was removed. All the way with no return was the path.
3.I got as far as the program compatibility scan, where it said that eight or nine of my existing programs would not work with Win 8 or needed modifications. They all work fine with Win 7 64 bit!!

That's where I opted out and left my parting comments with the MS guys.

So it IS a pre-beta release but a little TOO pre for me. Too bad.
I'll still check in to see the further comments of other testers.
BOB
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viking33
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Re: Dual Boot Win 7 and Win 8

Post by viking33 »

So the MS engineer sent me a special link to get a dual/triple bootable copy. Sucker that I am, I have been in the process of downloading the HUGE file. I'll have to burn it to a DVD and run the install from there.
Stay tuned to the further editions of "It Should Work!" :crossfingers: :flatcat: :grin:
BOB
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stuck
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Re: Dual Boot Win 7 and Win 8

Post by stuck »

viking33 wrote:Sucker that I am,
Want to borrow my userpic for the next few days?

Ken

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viking33
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Re: Dual Boot Win 7 and Win 8

Post by viking33 »

stuck wrote:
viking33 wrote:Sucker that I am,
Want to borrow my userpic for the next few days?

Ken
Thanks, there was a point when it would have described me exactly but finally....... :clapping:
See the next post. :cheers:
BOB
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viking33
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Re: Dual Boot Win 7 and Win 8

Post by viking33 »

Well, hallelujah!
After DL that monster of a file, I had to use it's built in customizer to convert it to an ISO file. Burned it to a DVD, then rebooted to it and tried to install from there. Got about 90% into the expanding Windows files and the thing bombed on me with a 0x8007025D error code! More consultation with MS guys and they suggested re-burning the ISO DVD and trying again :surrender: :weep: This time it actually worked and the install completed OK. ( shaker of martinis later ) :woops: :shocked: :bow: :grin:

Since I triple booted it, there were none of my apps installed with it, so I've just taken a quick look around and will try adding a few apps for a trial.
First impression is, well....it's different and seems heavily geared to smart phones and touch screens but it still allows the old fashioned mouse to be used. Even had to scratch my head to find out how to exit and close or reboot!
This will give me a lot of exercise in trying before buying and without having to totally mess up my Win 7 install.
BOB
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viking33
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Re: Dual Boot Win 7 and Win 8

Post by viking33 »

Here I am using Internet Explorer 10 and the new Win 8 preview.
It's a big learning curve but I'm stumbling around little by little, bit by bit.
Everything looks good here on the Lounge. ( of course ) I am going into this version slow and easy. Some things look fine, some a little "clunky" but I suppose that's the way with anything new.
Will try to install a few of my favorite apps later, so will keep all posted.
BOB
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JoeP
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Re: Dual Boot Win 7 and Win 8

Post by JoeP »

Just remember, there are many rough edges. This releases is designated as a "developer preview" so independent developers can begin upgrading their software and experimenting with the new OS. It is highly likely that much will change between now and the beta release. Although, Microsoft have said that they are going to update this release via Microsoft Update. This is to issue fixes and to test the update mechanism with the new OS.

Joe
Joe

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viking33
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Re: Dual Boot Win 7 and Win 8

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JoeP wrote:Just remember, there are many rough edges. This releases is designated as a "developer preview" so independent developers can begin upgrading their software and experimenting with the new OS. It is highly likely that much will change between now and the beta release. Although, Microsoft have said that they are going to update this release via Microsoft Update. This is to issue fixes and to test the update mechanism with the new OS.

Joe
Well aware of this designation, Joe :thankyou: That's why I wanted to boot this version to it's own separate partition.
MS has already released 10 updates for this version today, through the MS Updater. Installed them all without any problems.
BOB
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John Gray
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Re: Dual Boot Win 7 and Win 8

Post by John Gray »

It's well over six months on from Bob's post, but I've just set up a triple-boot system:
* Windows XP Pro
* Windows 7 Pro 64-bit
* Windows 8 Consumer Preview 64-bit
and a huge "Data" partition
all on the same PC with a 2 TB disk.
Just in case disk labels got wiped out, I made the operating system partitions three different sizes, so I knew which one was which.

EasyBCD 2.1.2 does an excellent job of making each bootable, and defaulting to one after n seconds.

On Windows 8 I'm in the "where have they hidden it this time" state, and wondering how to hide all the 'foreign' fonts which I'm never ever going to use.

Just out of interest - is it allowable to install the same copy of Office on each of the three partitions, since only one will be used at a time?
John Gray

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HansV
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Re: Dual Boot Win 7 and Win 8

Post by HansV »

Officially: no.

On each of the partitions, Office counts as a separate installation, so it's three installations even if you'll use only one at a time.

Some Office licenses allow you to install it on a desktop and on a laptop. Although technically speaking, two partitions are not the same as a desktop and laptop, Microsoft is unlikely to protest if you use them that way. You'd need one other license.

Office Home and Student allows installing on three devices in the household - that would probably cover three partitions.
Best wishes,
Hans

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Argus
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Re: Dual Boot Win 7 and Win 8

Post by Argus »

John,
We are all different, and I understand that one tries old things in a new, beta, OS; but if you ask me, well, then hiding "foreign" fonts isn't a priority in Windows 8, there are so many other things crippled or changed in one way or the other that it would be my smallest problem, I think. :smile:

Three different sizes as a help to identify, if needed, is interesting, never done that on purpose, but have used the size sometimes, even if I could have used the label.

Don't know about Office off the top of my head, they change such things, but don't think so, there was something similar to that earlier, as mentioned by Hans, and even then I think one would have to be the exclusive user of the laptop, second computer, but there are other editions as mentioned - but why would you like to install a full version of Office on Windows 8 CP, when there are 60-day preview versions to download, and there will be another OS beta/RC, dubbed "release preview" in a month or so ("early June")? (Unless of course you want to test Office 2003/2007 on Windows 8 CP.)
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