Dual boot Win 8.1 and Win 7

[sidsharma2201]

So i am currently on win 8.1 but when i tried to dual boot it with win 7 after making separate partition, it just allowing it.
I googled it and found out that it is generally not possible to do so but i was able to install win 8 (developers edition) easily with win 7 installed.
So what are my options left? Backup win 8.1 stuff and install win 7 and then make separate partition for win 8.1 and then install it ?

 

[lightcloud]

You can download 2 windows but you can't boot both at the same time.

 

[The_Prophecy]

When installing multiple versions of Windows on a system using only one boot loader, you must install the older version first, otherwise you will end up with problems.

Generally though, I suggest setting up a dual boot system using more than one hard drive, and thus having each version of Windows using it's own boot loader. When starting up, press whatever key your BIOS requires you to use to select a boot device, and pick the one containing the OS you want to run. The advantage of setting it up this way, is that if anything ever happens to one of the Windows installs (virus infection, corrupt system files, failed hard drive, etc.), your other install is still intact.

If you are switching between each version of Windows often enough that this kind of setup would be a problem, you might want to instead turn on the Hyper-V option in Windows 8.1, and set up Windows 7 as a virtual system instead (although depending on what you are doing, this may not be the best option - just throwing it out there as a possibility though).

 

[sidsharma2201]

won't flashing win 7 first then dual booting it with win 8.1 work?
i know backing up is real pain in ass but i wanna confirm it as a possible solution

 

[USAFRet]

I have a dualboot laptop. 8.1 and 7, 2 partitions on the same drive.

You pretty much have to install 7 first, then 8/8.1. The 8.1 boot loader will then give you the option of which OS to boot into.

 

[The_Prophecy]

won't flashing win 7 first then dual booting it with win 8.1 work?
i know backing up is real pain in ass but i wanna confirm it as a possible solution

It will, but like I said above, I find installing each OS separately on different drives (provided that is an option for you) is a better setup, or even better than installing on 2 drives, install 8.1 to the system, and then enable Hyper-V and set up Windows 7 as a virtual machine.

Using those other 2 methods compartmentalizes the system, keeping a failure in one area from screwing up everything else. If the Windows 7 VM fails, set up a new one. If the Windows 8.1 host OS fails, as long as you have the .VHD or .VHDX file for the Windows 7 install on another drive or at least backed up somewhere, you can reinstall 8.1, and then copy back the VHD and load it up in Hyper-V as though nothing happened.

USAFRet nailed it if you are really set on installing multiple copies of Windows and only using one boot loader though. Older OS must be set up first.

 

[USAFRet]

If you allow 8.1 to manage the boot sequence, this is what it looks like:

 

[sidsharma2201]

If you allow 8.1 to manage the boot sequence, this is what it looks like:

you pretty much solved my prob...just one more thing...that reason i wanna install win 7 is coz i wanna keep it for my 32-bit programs...they are kind off heavy things and works best in recommended environment.
at this time i'm on a 64-bit win 8.1 and i wanna keep it 64...but i want win 7 as 32 bit ...will boot loader gonna allow it?

 

[The_Prophecy]

32 bit applications will run under 64 bit Windows.

Where you run into problems is if the application needs to do something like load it's own driver, in which case the software vendor would have to provide a suitable driver. The 32 bit application itself would still be able to run though.

What 32 bit programs are you referring to here?

 

[sidsharma2201]

32 bit applications will run under 64 bit Windows.

Where you run into problems is if the application needs to do something like load it's own driver, in which case the software vendor would have to provide a suitable driver. The 32 bit application itself would still be able to run though.

What 32 bit programs are you referring to here?

PTC creo... its 64 bit version is hefty and secondly i have 32 bit version in my hand so..i dont wanna download it..