Solved How to Dual Boot Windows 7 and 8.1

techtitan100

New Member
Messages
19
Location
Indianapolis, IN
Hello all, I just recently got my computer running Windows 8.1 and plan to use it as my everyday operating system ,but I was wanting to put Windows 7 on a separate partition because I still want to use 7 to watch DVD movies and maybe still do just a little bit of browsing on the web, nothing to much and I want to dual boot the 2, any help or advice would be greatly appreciated thanks
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba Satelitte C655-S5547
    CPU
    Intel Core i3-2350M@2.30GHZ
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Graphics
    Sound Card
    Microsoft High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic PnP Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    OS(C): 450GB
    Keyboard
    Standard Ps2 Keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Wireless Mouse 1000
    Internet Speed
    As of 4/25/2015 26.98 mb/s on the download and 2.90 mb/s on the upload
    Browser
    IE11 and Mozilla Firefox 38, Google Chrome if I must
    Antivirus
    WebRoot SecureAnywhere- Internet Security Plus
    Other Info
    This laptop was originally bought in like new condition off Amazon in September of 2014 with Windows 7 Home Premium installed and about 6 months later I got a e-mail from my school telling me I could get all kinds of software free for my computer and then decided to upgrade to Windows 7 Professional, about a week later I wanted to give Windows 8.1 a try, well after failing on using it the first ti

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Update Pro in Hyper-V/Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Cliff's Black & Blue Wonder
    CPU
    Intel Core i9-9900K
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus X Hero
    Memory
    32 GB Quad Kit, G.Skill Trident Z RGB Series schwarz, DDR4-3866, 18-19-19-39-2T
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS GeForce RTX 3090 ROG Strix O24G, 24576 MB GDDR6X
    Sound Card
    (1) HD Webcam C270 (2) NVIDIA High Definition Audio (3) Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    BenQ BL2711U(4K) and a hp 27vx(1080p)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080 x 32 bits (4294967296 colors) @ 60 Hz
    Hard Drives
    C: Samsung 960 EVO NVMe M.2 SSD
    E: & O: Libraries & OneDrive-> Samsung 850 EVO 1TB
    D: Hyper-V VM's -> Samsung PM951 Client M.2 512Gb SSD
    G: System Images -> HDD Seagate Barracuda 2TB
    PSU
    Corsair HX1000i High Performance ATX Power Supply 80+ Platinum
    Case
    hanteks Enthoo Pro TG
    Cooling
    Thermaltake Floe Riing RGB TT Premium-Edition 360mm and 3 Corsair blue LED fans
    Keyboard
    Trust GTX THURA
    Mouse
    Trust GTX 148
    Internet Speed
    25+/5+ (+usually faster)
    Browser
    Edge; Chrome; IE11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender of course & Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit as a
    Other Info
    Router: FRITZ!Box 7590 AX V2
    Sound system: SHARP HT-SBW460 Dolby Atmos Soundbar
    Webcam: Logitech BRIO ULTRA HD PRO WEBCAM 4K webcam with HDR
I did figure out how to dual boot it, but didn't like the fact that it made Windows 8.1 load up slower than what it normally does and I hate having to switch between operating systems, just to get certain drivers off Windows 8.1 such as the Wi-Fi Driver, so I deleted the partition and made Windows 8.1 the only operating system installed once again and as far as watching DVD's on Windows 8.1, I will just use VLC Media Player, not unless you have another suggested app thanks again
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba Satelitte C655-S5547
    CPU
    Intel Core i3-2350M@2.30GHZ
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Graphics
    Sound Card
    Microsoft High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic PnP Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    OS(C): 450GB
    Keyboard
    Standard Ps2 Keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Wireless Mouse 1000
    Internet Speed
    As of 4/25/2015 26.98 mb/s on the download and 2.90 mb/s on the upload
    Browser
    IE11 and Mozilla Firefox 38, Google Chrome if I must
    Antivirus
    WebRoot SecureAnywhere- Internet Security Plus
    Other Info
    This laptop was originally bought in like new condition off Amazon in September of 2014 with Windows 7 Home Premium installed and about 6 months later I got a e-mail from my school telling me I could get all kinds of software free for my computer and then decided to upgrade to Windows 7 Professional, about a week later I wanted to give Windows 8.1 a try, well after failing on using it the first ti
I have a dual boot system in my laptop and desktop. And I have painfully discovered the same thing, whereas when switching from windows 8 to Windows 7, it has to boot twice making the wait almost unbearable. What I discovered was that the windows 8 bootmanager it the cause.
what you should do is after installing both OS, start the Windows 7, then go to msconfig and select BOOT tab and set windows 7 as the default operating system, which will make it use the windows 7 boot loader which is a TEXT menu of OS selection instead of the GUI menu which is sooo sloooow....
Night and day difference!!

If you still get the slow GUI, then also change the default OS inside the windows 8 to Windows 7 in the msconfig boot option.

You will still have access to both systems..

David
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 & Windows 7 Dual Boot
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP G60
    CPU
    AMD Turion RM-70 Dual Core 2.0 GHZ
    Memory
    3 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GeForce 8200M G
    Screen Resolution
    1366 x 768
    Mouse
    MS Intellipoint 5 button (love it!)
    Browser
    Chrome and Chromium
    Antivirus
    Avast Free & Malwarebytes
I did figure out how to dual boot it, but didn't like the fact that it made Windows 8.1 load up slower than what it normally does and I hate having to switch between operating systems, just to get certain drivers off Windows 8.1 such as the Wi-Fi Driver, so I deleted the partition and made Windows 8.1 the only operating system installed once again and as far as watching DVD's on Windows 8.1, I will just use VLC Media Player, not unless you have another suggested app thanks again
I personally preferr Kodi(formally XBMC) as my all round media player. It works somewhat like Windows Media Center.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Update Pro in Hyper-V/Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Cliff's Black & Blue Wonder
    CPU
    Intel Core i9-9900K
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus X Hero
    Memory
    32 GB Quad Kit, G.Skill Trident Z RGB Series schwarz, DDR4-3866, 18-19-19-39-2T
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS GeForce RTX 3090 ROG Strix O24G, 24576 MB GDDR6X
    Sound Card
    (1) HD Webcam C270 (2) NVIDIA High Definition Audio (3) Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    BenQ BL2711U(4K) and a hp 27vx(1080p)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080 x 32 bits (4294967296 colors) @ 60 Hz
    Hard Drives
    C: Samsung 960 EVO NVMe M.2 SSD
    E: & O: Libraries & OneDrive-> Samsung 850 EVO 1TB
    D: Hyper-V VM's -> Samsung PM951 Client M.2 512Gb SSD
    G: System Images -> HDD Seagate Barracuda 2TB
    PSU
    Corsair HX1000i High Performance ATX Power Supply 80+ Platinum
    Case
    hanteks Enthoo Pro TG
    Cooling
    Thermaltake Floe Riing RGB TT Premium-Edition 360mm and 3 Corsair blue LED fans
    Keyboard
    Trust GTX THURA
    Mouse
    Trust GTX 148
    Internet Speed
    25+/5+ (+usually faster)
    Browser
    Edge; Chrome; IE11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender of course & Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit as a
    Other Info
    Router: FRITZ!Box 7590 AX V2
    Sound system: SHARP HT-SBW460 Dolby Atmos Soundbar
    Webcam: Logitech BRIO ULTRA HD PRO WEBCAM 4K webcam with HDR
You should install windows 7 in the other drive not in windows 8 drive .If your RAM and motherboard is not too good two operating system can make your comp slow .
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1
I discovered out something else with Dual Boot this morning, if I were to shut my laptop completely down using Windows 8.1 and turned it on the next morning it would boot directly to Windows 8.1 and not even give me the option to boot into 7, but after I discovered this I all of a sudden started having issues with 7 because after trying to install updates and then restarting my computer to apply them I would get as far as choosing my operating system and the splash screen and get the BSOD and then it would restart and give me my Operating Systems and if I chose 7 the same thing would happen again until I finally decided to boot into recovery mode, Windows 8.1 however is not affected by this error and after I had enough of it, I finally decided to delete Windows 7 and start over from the beginning and so far things seem to be going well, I think what was causing the issue was a driver that I had installed from my PC manufacturer and didn't install it this time.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba Satelitte C655-S5547
    CPU
    Intel Core i3-2350M@2.30GHZ
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Graphics
    Sound Card
    Microsoft High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Generic PnP Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    OS(C): 450GB
    Keyboard
    Standard Ps2 Keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Wireless Mouse 1000
    Internet Speed
    As of 4/25/2015 26.98 mb/s on the download and 2.90 mb/s on the upload
    Browser
    IE11 and Mozilla Firefox 38, Google Chrome if I must
    Antivirus
    WebRoot SecureAnywhere- Internet Security Plus
    Other Info
    This laptop was originally bought in like new condition off Amazon in September of 2014 with Windows 7 Home Premium installed and about 6 months later I got a e-mail from my school telling me I could get all kinds of software free for my computer and then decided to upgrade to Windows 7 Professional, about a week later I wanted to give Windows 8.1 a try, well after failing on using it the first ti
All of this has to do with fast startup and the legacy bootmanager. You need to go into a command prompt (administrator) (Win+X, click Command Prompt (Administrator)) and run the following commands, under Windows 8.1:

powercfg -h off

followed by

bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Self build (Desktop) / Dell (Laptop)
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 4690k (Desktop) / Intel Core i7 5500u (Laptop)
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z97 (Desktop) / Dell (Laptop)
    Memory
    8GB DDR3 (Desktop) / 16GB DDR3L (laptop)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 (Desktop) / AMD R7 M270 (Laptop)
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP Pavilion 27bw
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080 (Desktop) / 3840x2160 (Laptop)
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 120GB
    WD Black 500GB
    WD Blue 1TB
    (Desktop)
    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB (Laptop)
    PSU
    Corsair 750w
    Case
    Ultra atx
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink
    Keyboard
    Razer Black Widow
    Mouse
    Roccat Kone XTD
    Internet Speed
    250Mbps Down / 20Mbps Up
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    ESET
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