[dustyjay]

Never really tried dual booting before except a try with Ubuntu and Xp. I would like to try Win7 32bit and win7 64 bit. I have 32bit currently installed on my boot drive formatted as a single partition. I have a second drive with a clean and formatted empty partition that I could install 64 bit to. Will this work? ALso is there anything that I will need such as a bootloader to make it dual boot? Any help would be appreciated. The hardware I have will support 64bit.

[RootbeaR]

"If you already have another existing partition with enough free space and want to install the Windows 7 RC on that partition to create a multiboot configuration, select the partition you want to use, and then click Next to begin the installation. (Be sure to install the RC on a different partition from where your current version of Windows is installed.)"
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...tructions.aspx

[dustyjay]

Since I already have Win7 32bit installed on c: drive, I want install Win7 64bit on d: drive which is physically a different drive, I am asking whether this will work in a dual boot set up or will I need to shrink the single partition on c: drive to install Win 7 64 bit there? I would prefer putting it on a separate drive if it will work.

[RootbeaR]

Originally Posted by dustyjay

Since I already have Win7 32bit installed on c: drive, I want install Win7 64bit on d: drive which is physically a different drive, I am asking whether this will work in a dual boot set up or will I need to shrink the single partition on c: drive to install Win 7 64 bit there? I would prefer putting it on a separate drive if it will work.

When you start up your PC, and have option to enter BIOS, is there also an option for "Boot Options?"

That will be the simplest method I believe. Giving choice of which HD to boot from.

[Noyb]

Which computer .. the Compaq ???
I think the Compaq will enter a boot loader if you tap the Esc key at boot up.
At bootup .. does it say at the bottom of the screen ..... Esc=<boot menu> ??

The boot menu will let you choose which HDD to boot from ... easily.
I'd install W7 on a different HD .. and boot to it.

[moozer]

Anyone heard of easyBCD?

Install your additional windows 7 on EITHER a seperate partition or seperate HD. The boot options show automatically and you can select whch OS you want to use.

If after you have installed the new OS and can only get into one, then download and install the latest version of easyBCD. Follow instruction on how to use it and it will sort out all your OS versions at boot.

I have choice to go into XP pro, Vista, Windows 7

easyBCD is a great tool for multi booting

Good luck

[dustyjay]

Yes it is the Compaq. I no longer for the moment have Vista on this computer. I am running Win7 32bit as my primary OS on it. I would rather not have to reinstall Win 7 32 Bit.That is why I am asking if it would work installing the 64bit to a second hard drive.I have two other computers here that have "mission critical" designation, and this is my experimenting computer at the moment.

[dustyjay]

Easy BCD may be a good choice if I run into that.

[dustyjay]

Well Install of the 64 bit went quick. Dual boot works fine. Only glitch is that both incidents of win 7 are identified as Windows 7 on the boot select screen. Had to figure out which one was 32 bit and which on is 64 bit. Other than that it went swimmingly.

THanks for everybodies help and advice.

[moozer]

Great news. With easyBCD (sounds like I work for the darn company!!!), you can edit the names of each OS.

You can get it from manufacturers website here: http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1

Scroll down to bottom of page and click blue download button. Really easy to use.

[dustyjay]

Dual boot is working well, I did use EASYBCD to rename the boot options. Thanks for that input. The 64bit RC seems to work much better on my computer than it did when I tried the Beta version. It was installed solo at that time though. I have not run tests on all my programs to see which will work yet though. The next is my Office XP Pro (I know, OLD but it is paid for and so far has not failed me.).

[aka Brett]

2 gigs of ram with the 64 bit and running good?

[dustyjay]

yep it so far is running good. I can't go any higher on the ram. Limited to 2 Gb by the propriatary motherboard. Of course I haven't tried going with more on it. Though it is an Asus M2N board it is a custom board for Compaq. Hopefully in the near future I will be getting a new board. The Motherboard is really the only vestige of the compaq left. Even the case is after market now. Of course if I do get a new Motherboard, the original Compaq will be put back together and become either my daughters computer and her old dell will become a back up. Or the Compaq will become a back up.

I am still not sold on the 64Bit OS yet. My Laser pronter has no 64 Bit drivers, and I can seem to get it to work at all as the 32bit drivers won't even install. So I may just stick with the 32 Bit OS. My Laser Printr works with that.

[aka Brett]

I have 2 gigs of ram..i might give 64 a try just for the heck of it..i like the 32...but always thought 2 gigs wouldnt be enough for 64

[dustyjay]

Well supposedly 2 gig is the minimum recommended requirement for Win 7 64bit, but like I said I see no problems so far. Though, take that for what it's worth, I still haven't given it much to work with yet. Going to try installing my Office XP Pro now and see if it complains it is not written for a 64 bit os.