Solved Problems dual booting windows 8 and windows 7

paoxiao

New Member
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5
Location
Uppsala
Hi, I just made a new installation of Windows 8 Pro.

Before installation I had Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit with same computer specs minus the Samsung SSD disk.
My intention was to make a dual boot system with both Windows 7 and Windows 8.
However, due to tiredness and common confusion I think I did some mistakes. :eek:

I don't think I had an Uefi installation so probably an mbr installation of Windows 7.

Ok, so here goes: I started with installing the new Samsung SSD disk in my system, I forgot to disconnect the other drives before starting Windows 8 installation. However, at first I could dual boot but I couldnt see my 2TB disk in Windows 8. I assigned a drive letter to it and then my problems began.

I can now start Windows 8 and see all 3 disks and use them as well. If I try to boot into Windows 7 on my OCZ drive I get a disk error.

I guess I messed up the mbr boot table. My question is, how can i fix this best?

Most important is to not loose my Windows 7 installation, I can Always make a new installation of Windows 8 as it is still fresh.



This is how my system looks now:

Operating System Microsoft Windows 8 Pro with Media Center 64-bit
CPU Intel Core i7 2600K @ 3.40GHz Sandy Bridge 32nm Technology
RAM 16,0 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 668MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard ASUSTeK Computer INC. P8P67 DELUXE (LGA1155)
Graphics 1535MB GeForce GTX 580 (ASUStek Computer Inc)
Hard Drives
1863GB Seagate ST2000DL003-9VT166 (SATA)
112GB OCZ-VERTEX3 (SSD)2
238GB Samsung SSD 840 PRO Series (SSD)

Optical Drives
TSSTcorp DVDWBD SH-B123L SCSI CdRom Device
 

Attachments

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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    intel core i7 2600k
    Motherboard
    Asus P8P67 Deluxe Rev 3.0
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus Geforce GTX580
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG2363D
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB
    Keyboard
    Logitech G510
    Mouse
    Logitech MX518
Thanks for answering.

I did not get the uEFI option when I installed Windows 8 or at least I did not use it. My disks are not GPT either.

So I think that Windows 7 was installed as a usual MBR installation. I am not really interested in converting my disks to GPT so therefore I just want to use a dual boot in MBR style.

What would be the easiest path for me to do this?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    intel core i7 2600k
    Motherboard
    Asus P8P67 Deluxe Rev 3.0
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus Geforce GTX580
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG2363D
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB
    Keyboard
    Logitech G510
    Mouse
    Logitech MX518
Physically disconnect the G: HD Drive.
Make the Windows 7 HdD, disk0 & first HD boot in BIOS.Also connected to the first Sata port on the MOBO.
Make the Windows 8 HdD, disk1

Use EasyBCD in Windows 7 to add Windows 8 .
EasyBCD - NeoSmart Technologies

How to use EasyBCD is in this tutorial:
Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP - Windows 7 Forums



When Windows is booting OK, replace G: HD Drive back in, as Disk 2 & make sure you mark the HD Drive INACTIVE:
Partition - Mark as Inactive - Windows 7 Forums
 

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
I still have the problem where I cannot log into Windows 7, things that have happened so far is when I try to boot up Windows 7:

Disk error, just hangs at starting Windows. I have not tried repair yet, should I start with that and see if I can get into Windows 7?

From the start I had just the ocz ssd and the 2TB drive and dvd drive visible in windows 7. At first I could boot into windows7 and see the new Samsung ssd drive but when I booted into windows 8 I could not see the 2TB drive. I assigned a drive letter to the 2 TB drive and could see it in Windows 8 but somehow that messed up my boot for windows 7. Another thing to mention is that I did not get a boot menu, I had to choose from within bios to select which drive to boot from. Which incidently was my original plan. However it is not working as planned. :)


Thanks.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    intel core i7 2600k
    Motherboard
    Asus P8P67 Deluxe Rev 3.0
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus Geforce GTX580
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG2363D
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB
    Keyboard
    Logitech G510
    Mouse
    Logitech MX518
I still have the problem where I cannot log into Windows 7, things that have happened so far is when I try to boot up Windows 7:

Disk error, just hangs at starting Windows. I have not tried repair yet, should I start with that and see if I can get into Windows 7?

Thanks.

Physically disconnect the G: HD Drive, the Windows 8.
Make the Windows 7 HdD, disk0 & first HD boot in BIOS.Also connected to the first Sata port on the MOBO.

Do a Startup Repair:
Startup Repair - Windows 7 Forums
Note: You may need to do startup repair 3 to 4 times.
Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times - Windows 7 Forums

When Windows 7 is boot OK, go back to post 4.
 

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 for the suggestions. I have too much work at the moment so will try to do this when it calms down a bit. I will report back when done. :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    intel core i7 2600k
    Motherboard
    Asus P8P67 Deluxe Rev 3.0
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus Geforce GTX580
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG2363D
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB
    Keyboard
    Logitech G510
    Mouse
    Logitech MX518
Just wanted to say that I got everything in order now. Thank you very much for the help and suggestions!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    intel core i7 2600k
    Motherboard
    Asus P8P67 Deluxe Rev 3.0
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus Geforce GTX580
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG2363D
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256 GB
    Keyboard
    Logitech G510
    Mouse
    Logitech MX518
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