Dual boot, with windows 8 already installed

[hshah510]

I have windows 8 pro installed, now i have windows 7 ultimate and would like to install it, having read other forums i have realised i shoud have installed windows 7 first, but still what can i do now to install windows 7

 

[Solder]

first of all, you've given no information on your system re: your drives (how many you have, SSD's or HDD's), and your current partition's. That being said...

You have to partition your drive (shrink your current partition or create a partition on a second HDD), either through disk management or the command line, then install Windows 7 to the second partition.

 

[hshah510]

Sorry about that,

I have a 1Tb Cavair Black WD HDD about 175GB has been partitioned for windows 8. And one SSD (corsair) -128GB in which i will be installing windows 7, when i figure out how to. The rest of the space on the HDD I will use to store Media and other large files.

That being said i have already partitioned it. I have an Asus Sabertooth Z77 Motherboard.

So can anyone give me a few step by step instructions to install windows 7 now?

Thanks, please tell me if you need any more information!

 

[Solder]

Since you're planning on installing Windows 7 to your SSD, simply throw in your install disk and when it asks you where you would like to install Windows, choose the SSD. If the SSD is still a RAW unpartitioned drive, hit the advanced option and create a new partiton using the entire SSD and then proceed with the install.

 

[hshah510]

So i simply press install the DVD while Windows 8 is running and when i startup it will ask me which i want to log on to?

 

[hshah510]

I am succesfully running both operating systems however one last question when it gives me the dual boot options, to let me choose which OS i want to boot to it gives me the windows 7 dual boot layout, is there any way to get the windows 8 dual boot layout screen as it does look much better according to me?

 

[Solder]

No, you're not supposed to run the installer from within Windows 8. You are supposed to boot to the disk and install from there. Did you install Windows 7 to the SSD?

I think, to use the Win 8 boot layout, you would have to use the Win 8 DVD and do a repair of the boot loader. I forget what it's called.

EDIT: I just looked it up and it looks like you need run the command prompt from within Windows 8 and type this command

bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy standard

You might have to run the command prompt as an Administrator to run this command though.

 

[redduc900]

... or perform a Win8 refresh, using the built-in recimg.exe program to create a custom image that will retain all of your currently installed apps.

How to create a custom refresh image in Windows 8
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/create-custom-refresh-image-in-windows-8/

 

[c627627]

I am successfully running both operating systems however one last question when it gives me the dual boot options, to let me choose which OS i want to boot to it gives me the windows 7 dual boot layout, is there any way to get the windows 8 dual boot layout screen as it does look much better according to me?

I keep pressing keyboard arrows to switch to another OS immediately after powering on the computer. But it's easier to use this to switch the default OS from inside Windows.

EasyBCD

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