Cannot boot from Win 7 SATA drive on a Win 8 computer

Here's the deal: I threw away my old computer, but kept the Windows 7 SATA drive. I bought a new computer with Windows 8, and plugged my Windows 7 drive into the next SATA slot hoping to be able to setup a dual boot mode. Of course, nothing is ever that easy.

I can access the Win 7 drive through the file explorer as if it was an external HD, but it is not bootable. The disk manager lists the Win 7 drive as an "active, primary partition".

What do I need to do to be able to make my Windows 7 disk bootable? I can only assume it has something to do with the UEFI, but I'm not sure.

Thanks.

Welcome to EightForums.

Can you post a screen shot of Disk management?

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2598-screenshots-files-upload-post-eight-forums.html

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What type of license of Windows 7 x64 do you have?

If you have a OEM version of Win 7 that came with the old PC, you are probably out of luck because it will not recognize the new machine. If the hard drive is large enough, try creating a partition and installing Win 7 on the new partition, that will quickly tell you is the install disk will work. Another way is try a repair with the install disk.

I tried repairing with the Win 7 install disk that I had bought originally, but again, it would not recognize the old drive in order to progress forward.

The Win 7 OS was an upgrade over XP, so it isn't an OEM version. However, when theog asked about the x64 license, I realized that the Win 7 OS is 32 bit, and of course, my new computer is 64 bit. Would that be the issue? If not, I'll post more info.

Windows 7 x32 will be one issue.

Can you post a screen shot of Disk management?

natedogg1002 said:

I tried repairing with the Win 7 install disk that I had bought originally, but again, it would not recognize the old drive in order to progress forward.

The Win 7 OS was an upgrade over XP, so it isn't an OEM version. However, when theog asked about the x64 license, I realized that the Win 7 OS is 32 bit, and of course, my new computer is 64 bit. Would that be the issue? If not, I'll post more info.

Click to expand...

I don't think 32 vs. 64 is going to matter, both should run on that machine, the problem may be getting that computer's mother board to recognize that hard drive because the OS was installed in another machine. Can you get into the computers setup screen - normally "F2" on boot?

Perhaps obvious, but ... have you tried adding the Win 7 hard drive as a boot choice from Windows 8? Easy to do with EasyBCD.