Solved Dual boot issue

wglmb

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I am dual-booting Windows 7 Pro with the Windows 8 preview. I had Windows 7 installed first.

I have no trouble booting into Win7 if I my previous boot was into Win7.
I have no trouble booting into Win8 if I my previous boot was into Win7.
But if I try booting into Win7 when my previous boot was into Win8, I just get a black screen with a cursor, and eventually I have to give up and switch off.

The difference is that if Win7 was my previous boot, I get the Win7 OS-selector (black screen, white writing, no mouse control).
If Win8 was my previous boot, I get the Win8 OS-selector (colours, mouse control).

So I assume there's something wrong with the Win OS-selector. After using it to select Win7, it just gives me a black screen with a cursor.

Any ideas how to fix this?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 7 Pro
Last edited by a moderator:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Dual: Windows 7 Ultimate 64 (default) & Win8Enterprise 64
    CPU
    intel i3 2ndgen 3.1ghz
    Motherboard
    MSI MS7788
    Graphics Card(s)
    GT430
Hello wglmb, and welcome to Eight Forums.

While you have Windows 8 as your previous boot, you might run an Automatic Repair (startup repair) at boot to see if it may be able to help.

For now, you might see if using either OPTION ONE or OPTION TWO in the tutorial below may work for you to get to Startup Options from within Windows 8, and select Use another operating system to quickly start Windows 7. I find it to be a lot easier to switch from Windows 8 to Windows 7 with.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/4935-startup-options-menu-boot-windows-8-a.html

Hope this helps, :)

Shawn
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Maybe a screenshot of Disk Management and output of bcdedit.exe would give more info on problem.

FYI boot sequence for Win 7/8 from HDD is:
1. BIOS -> first disk MBR
2. MBR -> active PBR(partition boot record) (first disk)
3. PBR -> Boot manager on active (reads BCD on active)
Boot menu is displayed...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    XP, Win7, Win8_Eval
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Notebook
    CPU
    Intel
I also encountered this situation, Windows 7 booted into a black screen with just the cursor and it restarted itself. I formatted the MBR and installed Windows 8. Will try to dual boot as I'm still in unable to do so.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Inspiron 6000
    CPU
    Intel Pentium M processor 1.60 GHz
    Memory
    1Gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel 915GM
    Hard Drives
    WD Scorpio 250GB Blue.
Thanks boyans, I've attached screenshots of bcdedit & disc management.
 

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  • DiscManagement.jpg
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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 7 Pro
I am also dual booting Windows 7 and Windows 8.
If I set Windows 7 as my default OS, I get the Windows 7 OS-selector (black screen, white writing, no mouse control).
If I set Windows 8 as my default OS, I get the Windows 8 OS-selector with mouse control and a graphical UI.
I just assumed that was normal. I'll have to do a reboot and do a one time switch and see what happens.
EDIT:
My dual boot doesn't do what yours does.
On boot up, I got the Win 8 Boot menu and selected Windows 7.
Windows 7 loaded and I did a Windows shut down.
On the next boot up I got the Windows 8 boot menu, not the Windows 7 one.
Mine only toggles if I switch the selected default OS.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Education 64 Bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus
    CPU
    AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS M4N68T-M V2 µATX Motherboard
    Memory
    8GB 4GBx2 Kingston PC10600 DDR3 1333 Memory
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA Geforce GT640 2 Gig DDR3 PCIe
    Sound Card
    VIA VT1708s High Definition Audio 8-channel Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    22" LG E2242 1080p and 2 19" I-INC AG191D
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024 - 1920x1080 - 1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD and 500 GB WD Blue SATA
    PSU
    Thermaltake TR 620
    Case
    Power Up Black ATX Mid-Tower Case
    Cooling
    Stock heatsink fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Wireless K350 Wave
    Mouse
    Logitech M570 Trackball and T650 TouchPad
    Internet Speed
    80 Mbps Down 30 Mbps Up
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    HP DVD1040e Lightscribe - External USB2
Thanks boyans, disabling fast startup seems to have done the trick - my computer now boots to the Win7 OS-selector every time :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 7 Pro
I appreciate this is an old post - but if anyone else ends up here - I too had the same problem - the system would boot to "Starting Windows" then go black with just a mouse cursor for what felt like forever, however I have found if you are patient (and I mean _patient_ - which I am not normally) the black screen does disappear and it will boot. Over time this seems to be solving itself (it doesn't seem to happen at all any more - it has only been an issue whilst doing lots of installs under either and both OS, both OS now boot neatly regardless of which one I was in before the swap.

I am going to follow the above advice (to swap default OS) however to change default boot to win8 so that I get the 'pretty' win8 dual boot choice screen. Thank you!
 
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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 7 & Win 8pro 64 bit
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS N55SL-S1188V
    CPU
    i7-2670QM 2.2ghz
    Memory
    6gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GT635M
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Full HD
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Hitachi 750GB
    Internet Speed
    crap - rural!
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