Problems with Win 8.1/7 dual boot

I have a new system with a HD from an older system with win 7 32x. I reformatted another (1T) HD and installed win 8.1 64x. Win 8.1 did not add win 7 to its bootloader, so I added it manually using bcdedit. Win 7 shows up when win 8.1 starts, but won't boot and goes into repair mode (that also didn't help). Below is the current bootloader. I changed the path for win 7 from winload.efi to winload.exe since there was no winload.efi in the system32 folder, but it didn't help. If I unplug the Win 8.1 HD Win 7 boots fine. My BIOS is set to boot both EFI and legacy. Seems the problem has to do with the older win 7 MBR and win 8.1 EFI? Thanks for your help!

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {9dea862c-5cdd-4e70-acc1-f32b344d4795}
device partition=\Device\HarddiskVolume2
path \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {7ea2e1ac-2e61-4728-aaa3-896d9d0a9f0e}
integrityservices Enable
default {59011db2-dee5-11e3-82c8-d7d6499771ab}
resumeobject {59011db1-dee5-11e3-82c8-d7d6499771ab}
displayorder {59011db2-dee5-11e3-82c8-d7d6499771ab}
{59011db5-dee5-11e3-82c8-d7d6499771ab}
toolsdisplayorder {b2721d73-1db4-4c62-bf78-c548a880142d}
timeout 30


Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {59011db2-dee5-11e3-82c8-d7d6499771ab}
device partition=C:
path \Windows\system32\winload.efi
description Windows 8.1
locale en-US
inherit {6efb52bf-1766-41db-a6b3-0ee5eff72bd7}
recoverysequence {59011db3-dee5-11e3-82c8-d7d6499771ab}
integrityservices Enable
recoveryenabled Yes
isolatedcontext Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {59011db1-dee5-11e3-82c8-d7d6499771ab}
nx OptIn
bootmenupolicy Standard
useplatformclock Yes


Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {59011db5-dee5-11e3-82c8-d7d6499771ab}
device partition=D:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Windows 7
locale en-US
inherit {6efb52bf-1766-41db-a6b3-0ee5eff72bd7}
recoverysequence {59011db3-dee5-11e3-82c8-d7d6499771ab}
integrityservices Enable
recoveryenabled No
isolatedcontext Yes
allowedinmemorysettings 0x15000075
osdevice partition=D:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {59011db1-dee5-11e3-82c8-d7d6499771ab}
nx OptIn
bootmenupolicy Standard

With Windows 8 is currently booted. Open the elevated command prompt and type as shown below where G: is the drive containing Windows using legacy BIOS. the drive letter could be different from your PC.



Run Msconfig will show you the dual boot configuration:



And below are the screens show they can be booted with one is EFI and the other is MBR. Just note that they swap the Drive Letter.
C for G.




So all you need is a single command: bcdboot G:\Windows for dual boot.
And of course, the BIOS need to be set for both BIOS+UEFI.

SO if the Windows 7 fails to boot then the problem is something else.
EDIT: Just notice that you said you can boot Windows 7 separately.

When I tried bcdboot d:\Windows it said "Failure when attempting to copy boot files." (D: is where win 7 resides.)

With what I've shown above was dual boot with 2 Windows running 64 bit. Your Windows 7 is running 32 bit version so I am not sure it will work with UEFI.

Your best bet is not to dual boot. With new MB, just set your BIOS for both Legacy+UEFI, the default OS to boot is the first disk in the boot priority and when you want to boot the other OS, just use the quick menu to access the boot screen and select it. different MB manufacturer use different function key to display the boot menu. For example, My MB is from MSI, so F11 is the function key to display the boot menu, yours might F12 or whatever, you need to find out from the manual.

Your HD error is another problem, just let chkdsk run to fix it, it might take a while for it to complete so be patient.

If you continue to get the chkdsk, you might try turning off the Windows 8 Fast Startup option and test in that configuration for a while.

Saltgrass said:

If you continue to get the chkdsk, you might try turning off the Windows 8 Fast Startup option and test in that configuration for a while.

Click to expand...

Yeah, found out about fast boot here: https://neosmart.net/forums/showthread.php?t=12890