Dual boot question

[tinpanalley]

I've already got a Windows 10 desktop running, and I've now gotten an SSD to install Windows 7. I disconnected all the drives, ran my disk, installed to the new SSD and it was fine except that it couldn't get a driver for my ethernet port but I assume I can add that later.

 

Question:
When I went to plug the 10 back in, the computer said there was a bootmgr error. I unplugged the new 7 drive, and made sure during the booting to go to the boot selector in the system to run from the Win10 SSD. So, now I'm back in 10 and everything is fine, but I'ù a bit lost about how exactly to go about introducing the system to the Windows7 SSD so that I can dualboot. Can I get some help to do this properly? I'm afraid of causing some kind of boot error that will cause me to have to reinstall Windows altogether.

[MedievalMatt]

13 minutes ago, tinpanalley said:

I've aready got a Windows 10 desktop running, and I've now gotten an SSD to install Windows 7. I disconnected all the drives, ran my disk, installed to the new SSD and it was fine except that it couldn't get a driver for my ethernet port but I assume I can add that later.

 

Question:
When I went to plug the 10 back in, the computer said there was a bootmgr error. I unplugged the new 7 drive, and made sure during the booting to go to the boot selector in the system to run from the Win10 SSD. So, now I'm back in 10 and everything is fine, but I'ù a bit lost about how exactly to go about introducing the system to the Windows7 SSD so that I can dualboot. Can I get some help to do this properly? I'm afraid of causing some kind of boot error that will cause me to have to reinstall Windows altogether.

you will likely need to specify the boot drive from the BiOS when you want to switch back and forth.

 

I know with Linux there is a bootloader called Grub that is used to manage linux and Windows systems.  not sure if thatll work for windows and windows.

[tinpanalley]

24 minutes ago, MedievalMatt said:

you will likely need to specify the boot drive from the BiOS when you want to switch back and forth.

 

I know with Linux there is a bootloader called Grub that is used to manage linux and Windows systems.  not sure if thatll work for windows and windows.

Thanks. Darn, I was hoping EasyBCD might work, but I don't know enough about it.

[BloodKnight7]

Go to start and type msconfig, it will open System Configuraiton, there is a boot tab, you would have to configure the boot options there! If you want remote session help PM me.

[tinpanalley]

4 hours ago, BloodKnight7 said:

Go to start and type msconfig, it will open System Configuraiton, there is a boot tab, you would have to configure the boot options there! If you want remote session help PM me.

I got system config in Windows 10, I see the boot tab, but I don't see where I add the Win7 SSD to add to it.

[BloodKnight7]

4 hours ago, tinpanalley said:

I got system config in Windows 10, I see the boot tab, but I don't see where I add the Win7 SSD to add to it.

Ok, once you are in your windows 10, make sure you have the Windows 7 hard drive connected as well. Open a command prompt with administrator priviledges and run Bootrec.exe /ScanOS to determine if the system recognizes a windows OS, if so it will list them out and where they are. To add the Windows 7 OS to the Boot Configuration type: Bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd this will scan disks for all installations compatible with Windows and allow the user to choose which to add to the boot configuration store. 

 

Check msconfig again and you should see both entries. Before doing all this please make sure you got backups and a restore CD in case you have to rebuild your boot configuration or in worst case reinstall windows 10 again.

 

Best regards and good luck.

[BloodKnight7]

If the above commands give you errors or dont work, we will have to boot first in windows troubleshooting mode.... but I will walk you through that if what I suggested above fails..

[tinpanalley]

20 hours ago, BloodKnight7 said:

Ok, once you are in your windows 10, make sure you have the Windows 7 hard drive connected as well. Open a command prompt with administrator priviledges and run Bootrec.exe /ScanOS to determine if the system recognizes a windows OS, if so it will list them out and where they are. To add the Windows 7 OS to the Boot Configuration type: Bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd this will scan disks for all installations compatible with Windows and allow the user to choose which to add to the boot configuration store. 

 

Check msconfig again and you should see both entries. Before doing all this please make sure you got backups and a restore CD in case you have to rebuild your boot configuration or in worst case reinstall windows 10 again.

 

Best regards and good luck.

Thank you for your help. First of all, I can't get bootrec to even load. MS-DOS doesn't acknowledge it as a loadable command. Do I have to be in a particular mode?

Also, is there any reason why you can't use EasyBCD?

[mr cheese]

I've used EasyBCD and it has worked...

 

Dual booted Windows 10 and everything worked grand.

 

My 2 cents.

 

i personally recommend installing rEFInd since it is a graphical bootloader that automatically detects and uses everything from USB's to CD's to DVD's and scans for all boot files on the computer.

 

 

[tinpanalley]

I have this strange feeling though that my problem that led to this question may have been caused by EasyBCD or at least my badly managing it.
It's a bit of a long story, but I had both drives before linked by EasyBCD. I used the cables from the 2nd Win7 drive (because I was being lazy) to copy things to an SSD I use for storage. All connected and disconnected when powered off of course. And then when I put the Win7 back it never booted again. Thinking I could solve things myself I then went and ran EasyBCD again to see if reassigning the drives would work, and then they BOTH wouldn't boot.
My point is, I feel like there is a way to manage drives if you decide they'll be linked by EasyBCD. Is that true? Will there be a "way" to disconnect them, move things in the desktop, etc?

 

 

[BloodKnight7]

22 hours ago, tinpanalley said:

Thank you for your help. First of all, I can't get bootrec to even load. MS-DOS doesn't acknowledge it as a loadable command. Do I have to be in a particular mode?

Also, is there any reason why you can't use EasyBCD?

Yeah.... you should be in the troubleshooting mode of windows 10 preferably. Sorry bout not being clear on that. I thought that you would be able to run the commands from the standard command prompt (havent done this in a while). You know how to access the command prompt of the troubleshooting mode? https://www.howtogeek.com/126016/three-ways-to-access-the-windows-8-boot-options-menu/. We are looking for the Advanced Options->Command Prompt 

[tinpanalley]

Just wanted to update quickly..
I've now got a fully functioning fresh install of 7 and 10 on separate SSDs and I'd like to not go through the trouble of hitting F12 six times every time I boot to get to my main Windows 10 install. If I just leave it as is, with both drives hooked up in the system, it brings up a note that there is no selected boot device.
I did used to use EasyBCD but then I feel like it was EasyBCD that was involved in the boot error last time that created this whole mess. I mean, clearly something happened when I unplugged the 7 drive one time to hook up a storage drive and that caused everything to go bad. I'd be concerned to use EasyBCD again without understanding its limitations when it comes to unplugging either of the OS drives. Is there another way more native to the computer to dual boot that doesn't involve going to the mobo's internal boot manager every time?

[tinpanalley]

I feel like I'm a bit lost reading my own thread for answers, so is the consensus that using EasyBCD is the best (or only?) way to get a UI that asks me which ssd to boot from?