Question Dual boot setup ?

[Hornnumb2]

I need to set up my laptop with Windows 7 and Windows 11.
Can I install both on the same drive or should I use separate drives ?

Thanks, Michael

 

[USAFRet]

I need to set up my laptop with Windows 7 and Windows 11.
Can I install both on the same drive or should I use separate drives ?

Thanks, Michael

Why do you need this 'dual boot' thing?

There are potentially other ways to get to where you need to be.

 

[Hornnumb2]

Why do you need this 'dual boot' thing?

I have some programs that will only run on Windows 7

 

[BFG-9000]

If you have the option to use separate drives, then always do so even for Windows + Linux, much less two Windows. That way each OS only ever sees its own boot manager so you don't have to worry about reinstallations messing up both installs.

Unfortunately compatibility with both Win 7 and Win 11 implies an 8 year old laptop, by which time easy-to-swap slide-in drive sleds were no longer a thing, but if you have say both a NVMe and a SATA drive in the laptop, you could leave them both in and select which one to boot from in the BIOS.

I will suggest to install each Windows with only one drive attached, so the dumb installer doesn't put the boot partition on the wrong drive. But after both Windows are installed, you can leave both attached. I would disable the autochk chkdsk for a dirty bit set on the Win 11 drive in Win 7 so it doesn't corrupt your 11 filesystem.

The other option is to install 7 on a VM in 11, which should work on even a much newer laptop.

 

[CountMike]

I need to set up my laptop with Windows 7 and Windows 11.
Can I install both on the same drive or should I use separate drives ?

Thanks, Michael

Which laptop is that? Not all can run W7 and/or W11. Actually chances for both are very small.

 

[TerryLaze]

I will suggest to install each Windows with only one drive attached, so the dumb installer doesn't put the boot partition on the wrong drive.

Not really possible I think, you will need a system with EUFI to install win11 and that needs the boot drive to be gpt, and while there was some gpt support for win 7 it's not really great.

 

[SkyNetRising]

I need to set up my laptop with Windows 7 and Windows 11.
Can I install both on the same drive or should I use separate drives ?

Thanks, Michael

It's possible to set up on single drive as well.

• Drive partitioning needs to be GPT.
• Installations have to be done in UEFI mode.
• There have to be separate partitions for bootloader, windows 11 and windows 7.
• Make sure fast boot and secure boot are turned off in BIOS.

Hardest part will be installing windows 7 on a modern hardware.
USB and NVME drivers need to be integrated into windows 7 installation (NVME, if you're installing on NVME drive).
And several hotfixes need to be integrated into installation.
This can be done with Gigabyte windows USB installation tool.
https://www.gigabyte.com/Support/Utility?ck=2&kw=windows&p=1

It is recommended to install windows 7 first and windows 11 second.
If you do windows 11 first and windows 7 second, then bootloader gets messed up and you'll have to fix it, using windows 11 installation media. (bcdboot command).

I will suggest to install each Windows with only one drive attached,
so the dumb installer doesn't put the boot partition on the wrong drive.

If you have a single drive, then both windows instances will use the same bootloader.
There's nothing dumb about it. It's the only way, it can work on a single drive.

Not really possible I think, you will need a system with EUFI to install win11 and that needs the boot drive to be gpt,
and while there was some gpt support for win 7 it's not really great.

Windows 7 works just fine with GPT dfrives.

 

[USAFRet]

I have some programs that will only run on 7.

1. Which programs, exactly?

2. Can your Win 7 be run in a VM?

 

[Hornnumb2]

I currently have a Toshiba tough book cf-19 with the drive partitioned with 7 and 10. I purchased a CF-52 to get a bigger screen and it already has 11 installed so I wanted to add 7 to run my older car programs. I can run 2 drives if I remove the cd drive but I would prefer to not do that.

 

[Hornnumb2]

Could I use a ssd adapter to dual M.2 drives ?

 

[SkyNetRising]

I purchased a CF-52 to get a bigger screen and it already has 11 installed so I wanted to add 7 to run my older car programs.
I can run 2 drives if I remove the cd drive but I would prefer to not do that.

What are specs of your CF-52 ?
Those seem like fairly old models. Do they even support NVME?