How to stop Windows 7 dual-boot breaking Windows 10

[Gabby2805]

Hello,

 

My main OS is Windows 10 installed on my boot SSD and I also have Windows 7 on another hard drive so I can boot either (because Sims 2 is no longer compatible with Windows 10 and I want to play it).

I has been working fine for about a month, until yesterday when I booted Windows 7 and it performed a disk check. This disk check seemed to remove/edit all the Windows 10 files it found and basically broke it, so I could no longer boot Windows 10.

I had to format my SSD and reinstall Windows 10. I'm now wondering what is the best way to prevent anything like this from ever happening again (perhaps Windows 10 will decide to break my Windows 7 next time).

I believe I have been able to exclude my Windows 10 drive from the automatic Windows 7 disk checks, but is there anything else I can do?

 

Advice?

[deXxterlab97]

Maybe disable Windows updating? Cause that is one of the problem I had

[SupaKomputa]

install windows 7 on a separate boot record / booting from its own hdd.

Whats happening right now is you're installing w7 on a different drive but sharing the same boot record on ssd with w10.

Usually this won't be a problem, but since you have one, you may want to try this.

- unplug ssd

- boot to w7 install disk and select repair installation, it will warn that no master boot record found, recreate the mbr on the same hdd.

- boot back to w7

- shutdown and plug the ssd

- the pc will auto start w10

- if you want to start w7, press f9 in bios screen and select the w7 disk.

[MSWindowsinside]

39 minutes ago, Gabby2805 said:

<SNIP>

Easiest solution would be to get Sims 2 on Origin, I got it for free because they gave it away a while ago. That copy definitely works on Windows 10. My original copy works fine on Windows 10 too though for some reason. Maybe it's fixed already?

[Gabby2805]

1 minute ago, MSWindowsinside said:

Easiest solution would be to get Sims 2 on Origin, I got it for free because they gave it away a while ago. That copy definitely works on Windows 10. My original copy works fine on Windows 10 too though for some reason. Maybe it's fixed already?

 

Thank you for your suggestion, I wish this worked for me. Don't even get me started on all the trouble I had trying to get Sims 2 working again Its always been fine until the latest Windows 10 update (1709). I managed to get the Origin version but that didn't work either. I tried so many things but it seems there is an incompatibility between Sims 2, Windows 10 1709, and GTX 1080s (and similar cards). That's why I went for this elaborate solution of getting Windows 7 just to be able to play it again.

 

Thanks again anyway, glad its working for you.

[Delicieuxz]

6 hours ago, MSWindowsinside said:

Easiest solution would be to get Sims 2 on Origin, I got it for free because they gave it away a while ago. That copy definitely works on Windows 10. My original copy works fine on Windows 10 too though for some reason. Maybe it's fixed already?

Sims 2 on Origin? I haven't seen it there, and a search shows that it's not available through Origin, but only as a used disc copy.

 

How long ago were they giving it away for free?

[Matt20042]

This happened to me. I found a really old thread on Microsoft Answers (for XP of all things). The fix worked for me under W7.

 

Under W7, my W10 drive is mapped to H:/

 

Open Regedit and go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager

Click on BootExecute. 

This key is normally set to autocheck autochk *

Just add /K:H at the end before *.

So for example the new key is "autocheck autochk /k:H *"

If you have extra drives you can add these as shown below

autocheck autochk /k:H /k:I *

[Gabby2805]

On 19/02/2018 at 10:19 PM, Delicieuxz said:

Sims 2 on Origin? I haven't seen it there, and a search shows that it's not available through Origin, but only as a used disc copy.

 

How long ago were they giving it away for free?

Sorry for the late reply, it was a while ago that they gave it away for free and I think it was only for a couple of days (an anniversary or something). But I contacted them and said my disc versions weren't working so they gave me a copy of the digital version to try - I had to prove that I own the discs though so that I could get it for free.

[Gabby2805]

Just wanted to say thanks for everyone's comments and to share that my solution is simply unplugging the Windows 7 drive when I'm not using it and unplugging my others when I am - it is a little bit of a faff but it avoids problems and it's only for one game after all.