Dual boot OS.

Lynden

Honorable
Feb 11, 2014
17
0
10,510
Hi,

Hmm.. so long story short, would it be possible to dual boot on a computer? I have Windows 8.1 installed and It is currently installed on my SSD. I use my HDD for storage but I would like to put a Windows 7 OS on it just so I can play certain games that aren't compatible with Windows 8.1.
I have a few questions:



- Would I need any special hardware to support dual boot? (Ex, a mobo that supports it, etc. etc.) or any good thing would be fine?

-Would there any be driver conflict? Like I have Windows 8.1 drivers, how would I be able to install Windows 7 drivers without the installed drivers conflicting? or are those drivers universal and works with different OS's (Ex, NVIDIA's driver update's name is something like this, NVIDIA_Driver_update_Win7_Win8_x64.exe)

-How would I set-up my computer so when I turn it on or re-boot that it makes me choose which O.S. I want to load but after a few seconds on not deciding the computer will pick the main O.S. or is this one automatic?

-Can I still use my HDD after I installed the OS on it as a storage drive?

I think that would be it for my questions, I do apologize if this is the wrong sub-forum as I tried my best on my judgement to see which forum this question belongs to. Thank you in advance.
 
Solution


Programs would need to be actually installed for whatever OS you wish to use them with.

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Dualboot is completely possible.
This is my laptop. Single drive, but 2 partitions:
QVKL48n.jpg

This used to be Win 7 and Win 8.1.

Ideally, though...you install the older OS first, and then the newest one.
If you want a menu similar to above, install the older OS, then connect the other drive and install the newer OS. The boot data for Win 8.1 will go into the same place on the original drive, and give you something similar to the above.

If you want to choose in the BIOS:
Install one OS on one drive, with only that drive connected.
Disconnect drive one and connect drive two, and install the second OS.
 

Lynden

Honorable
Feb 11, 2014
17
0
10,510
Update: I did install everything and had to manually put in my boot-able drive on msconfig so it can make me pick which OS I want to boot everytime I re-boot/turn on my PC. One more question, I have a hefty amount of storage on my 2nd OS HDD. Would it be okay to dump some of my programs from my other OS on it? (W7 & W8.1 difference). Or should I just get a new HDD for storage?
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator


Programs would need to be actually installed for whatever OS you wish to use them with.
 
Solution