Dual boot Win 8 64x but ADDING Win 7 32???

Pinky

New Member
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I have a lenovo with windows 8 home premium 64. Our family doesn't like it and I have a new copy of windows 7 home premium 32. However, I don't know if all my drivers would work so I don't want to look at formatting it and I still have some reading to do to understand the new boot problems. Is it possible to have a dual boot going backwards? Could I bother for some help in the steps to do so if possible? I appreciate it!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8 64x
Hello Pinky, and welcome to Eight Forums.

Yes, you could dual boot if you like. Please post a screenshot showing the full layout of your Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) window to see what options you may have. :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
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    Custom self built
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k.jpg

Awesome. Thanks for the help and quick reply. In all honesty, I don't even want windows 8. The only reason I really wanted a dual boot is to make sure 7 will actually work including the drivers, etc...prior to removing win 8 all together. Do you have a better suggestion on how I should go about this? Thanks again!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8 64x
Why don't you go virtual for Win7. Then you have no driver problems and can run Win7 and Win8 side by side.

PS, your link does not work.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
Why don't you go virtual for Win7. Then you have no driver problems and can run Win7 and Win8 side by side.

PS, your link does not work.

Sorry. I was trying to fix it as I posted the wrong PC first. Should be corrected. I'm not familiar with virtual? How does it work?What advantages does it have doing it that way since I don't even want win8?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8 64x
Is the Windows 8 Preinstalled x64?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4
In that case, you can not dual boot with Windows 7 x32 on uEFI,GPT setup.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4
In that case, you can not dual boot with Windows 7 x32 on uEFI,GPT setup.
So what are my best options in getting this to win 7 instead? Can I load win7 to a separate hd to see if the drivers all work and then wipe it clean if it does work? What is the virtual thing? Right now I'm using a classic shell to make it look like win 7 but it's not the same
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8 64x

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4


Thanks but I'm confused. Will the first not work with 7 32x? Thats the only one I have a copy of.

The lenovo site is all about the recovery vs downgrading

I don't think I understand the 2 virtual sutes since I'm aleady on win 8? I'm guessing I'm not understanding.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8 64x
Windows 8 is not all that bad. It grows on you. I would at least make an image of it before you venture into Win7. But I still think the virtual way is your best bet. Then you need not worry about drivers and you can use both systems simultaneously.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
I don't think I understand the 2 virtual sutes since I'm aleady on win 8? I'm guessing I'm not understanding.

A VM would be the easiest way.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    ME, XP,Vista,Win7,Win8,Win8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Other Info
    Notebooks x 3

    Desktops x 5

    Towers x 4
Windows 8 is not all that bad. It grows on you. I would at least make an image of it before you venture into Win7. But I still think the virtual way is your best bet. Then you need not worry about drivers and you can use both systems simultaneously.

I've already made a backup just in case I change my mind but it's not likely to happen. It's hated by all family members a lot. It's fine for people that like it but I'm not one. How does the virtual work? I'm not familiar? Do I just use my product key? Pros? Cons?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8 64x
For virtual, VMware is probably your best bet. It provides the mpst functions. Read the tutorial that THEOG linked. You install it like in a ral machine and activate it with the product key. Once you started it, you will hardly know the difference from operating it on the native PC.

The biggest advantage is that you can run the two systems side by side and switch with 1 click. Here is what I posted for somebody else. So I am just going to copy it:

Note: the OP had a Win8 upgrade copy. For you, #2 would not apply. And whether the host is Win7 and the guest is Win8 or the other way around is the same thing.

Here is what I did.

1. Installed it under VMware as a virtual system running under the Windows 7 host - instruction how to are here.

2. Activated it like a clean install - how to instructions are here

Now I can run both systems side by side and switch between them with one click. Nothing could be better. One of the VMware facilities is to share the clipboard. That makes it extremely easy to move files from one system to the other - just Copy from one system and Paste into the other system. External devices attach to whichever system is active. If e.g. you connect a USB stick to the PC whilst working in Windows 8, it will show up in Windows 8. If Windows 8 is not active, it will show up in Windows 7. Same for external disks, the cd reader, etc.

As to the question whether it is worth it: Windows 8 is an interesting system. It takes some getting used to but you can perform any Windows 7 task on it. There is not a lot more new function, but it runs faster than Win7. Since I am running my OS from a SSD, the performance difference is minimal though.

It comes with some interesting applications which, I guess, are mostly targetted at the tablet users. But they run well on the PC too.

Make sure you follow the instructions I linked by the letter. Then you will really enjoy it. My Win8 performance in virtual is the same as my Win7 performance on the real machine. But as I said, I run off a fast SSD and I have an i7 CPU and 8GB of RAM. I gave 4GB of RAM to the virtual machine, but 2 or 3GB should be OK too.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Vista and Win7
    System Manufacturer/Model
    2xHP, 2xGateway, 1xDell, 1xSony
    Hard Drives
    5 SSDs and 12 HDs
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