Question Advice on making a Windows 7-Windows 11 dual boot system ?

[Bob Sherunckle]

I have had a couple of computer blowouts in the last couple months. Now my new Ryzen 9 system came with Win 11 Pro on it. I spent days and days putting all my programs ect back in, but I really hate this OS. I want to install Win 7 Pro, which I love, as a 2nd boot OS so I can get back to normal, but would like to keep Win 11 on there for some of the newer games that won't play on Win 7 Pro. How do I go about that? All the videos I've watched say that I have to install Win 7 first, and then Win 11. But unless I can make an image of Win 11 and add it after the Win 7 install, I have no way of reinstalling the Win 11, as the system came with no discs. Need some techy help from you guys that are much smarter than me.

 

[Math Geek]

you first need to be sure you can even run win 7 on that. can you get win 7 drivers for the mobo features? gpu? and so on?

if not, then you're dead in the water right there. if you can get drivers then you'll need to make a win 7 installer that can install on your system that does not support it. it is doable but it takes some fiddling.

best way to do it is to run each OS from it's own drive and not try to have a multi-boot menu. remove all drives except the one for win 7 and install it and get it running. once it works, then hook the win 11 drive back up and set the default in BIOS. get to the other by hitting F8 on boot to select the other OS.

but first step is to see if you can even run win 7 on your hardware. check mobo page for drivers or look up each feature individually for drivers to see if it possible.

 

[USAFRet]

I have had a couple of computer blowouts in the last couple months. Now my new Ryzen 9 system came with Win 11 Pro on it. I spent days and days putting all my programs ect back in, but I really hate this OS. I want to install Win 7 Pro, which I love, as a 2nd boot OS so I can get back to normal, but would like to keep Win 11 on there for some of the newer games that won't play on Win 7 Pro. How do I go about that? All the videos I've watched say that I have to install Win 7 first, and then Win 11. But unless I can make an image of Win 11 and add it after the Win 7 install, I have no way of reinstalling the Win 11, as the system came with no discs. Need some techy help from you guys that are much smarter than me.

You can (and should) create your own WIn 11 install USB.

Download Windows 11

Other method is to install the Win 7 on a whole different drive.
Physically disconnect the WIn 11 drive, install the other drive, install Win 7.

Choose which drive to boot from at boot time.

 

[Bob Sherunckle]

you first need to be sure you can even run win 7 on that. can you get win 7 drivers for the mobo features? gpu? and so on?

if not, then you're dead in the water right there. if you can get drivers then you'll need to make a win 7 installer that can install on your system that does not support it. it is doable but it takes some fiddling.

best way to do it is to run each OS from it's own drive and not try to have a multi-boot menu. remove all drives except the one for win 7 and install it and get it running. once it works, then hook the win 11 drive back up and set the default in BIOS. get to the other by hitting F8 on boot to select the other OS.

but first step is to see if you can even run win 7 on your hardware. check mobo page for drivers or look up each feature individually for drivers to see if it possible.

I actually have no idea if there are Win 7 drivers for this MB. And I can't install on a separate drive. I didn't look at the system carefully enough when I bought it. When I got it home and opened it up to install my own hard drives, I found that the MB only had 2 sata ports. Ya, I couldn't believe it. 2 ports on a Ryzen 9 MB. And they were taken up by the boot ssd, 140 GBs, and a 1 TB ssd. So I disconnected the 1TB so I could at least hook up my 16 TB Sata drive with all my entertainment on it. So my only option is to shrink the boot partition and make a 2nd partition for Win 7. But if this is going to be too much hassle I may just stick with this horrid OS and learn to live with it.

 

[USAFRet]

I actually have no idea if there are Win 7 drivers for this MB. And I can't install on a separate drive. I didn't look at the system carefully enough when I bought it. When I got it home and opened it up to install my own hard drives, I found that the MB only had 2 sata ports. Ya, I couldn't believe it. 2 ports on a Ryzen 9 MB. And they were taken up by the boot ssd, 140 GBs, and a 1 TB ssd. So I disconnected the 1TB so I could at least hook up my 16 TB Sata drive with all my entertainment on it. So my only option is to shrink the boot partition and make a 2nd partition for Win 7. But if this is going to be too much hassle I may just stick with this horrid OS and learn to live with it.

Ryzen 9 based system?
Yeah, likely there are no WIn 7 drivers for it.

 

[Math Geek]

what are the specs of the pc? does not take but a minute to look up the mobo and see what drivers are included. AM5 systems are not likely to have them, but many AM4 mobo's can make it happen.

you're other option is to run win 7 in a VM and just let win 11 run in the background unused. won't be able to play games on the vm but the rest of the day to day stuff is easy in a vm.

 

[CountMike]

I have had a couple of computer blowouts in the last couple months. Now my new Ryzen 9 system came with Win 11 Pro on it. I spent days and days putting all my programs ect back in, but I really hate this OS. I want to install Win 7 Pro, which I love, as a 2nd boot OS so I can get back to normal, but would like to keep Win 11 on there for some of the newer games that won't play on Win 7 Pro. How do I go about that? All the videos I've watched say that I have to install Win 7 first, and then Win 11. But unless I can make an image of Win 11 and add it after the Win 7 install, I have no way of reinstalling the Win 11, as the system came with no discs. Need some techy help from you guys that are much smarter than me.

Which Ryzen 9 on which MB ? Past first gen Ryzen on 300 series MB Windows 7 have no built in drivers. So
they have to be integrated in W7 installation.
W7 Chipset drivers for up to 400 series are available on AMD site-

https://www.amd.com/en/support

You may also need to preinstall USB3 drivers for particular MB.