Trouble dual booting windows 8 and windows 7

[Makinde]

Hi guys,

I have been attempting to dual boot windows 8 and windows 7 with very little success. I currently have Windows 7 working perfectly on my SSD, but I have had no success with getting windows 8 installed on my other HDD. I created a primary partition and attempted a custom install selecting that partition, but I was given an error message saying that "This computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk, ensure that the disk's controller is enabled in computer's Bios menu". After searching the internet for various solutions, none of them seemed to work, but then I noticed that even though I was informed that I could not install to that hard drive, the next button was no longer greyed out. So I chanced it and attempted the install anyway. It seemed to install successfully, but whenever I try to actually load up the operating system I am greeted with this error message. Is there way this can be resolved?

Thanks

 

[RetiredChief]

What I did was to clone my windows 7 to a 2nd Drive, Then
1) disconnected windows 7 drive.
2) booted to the cloned windows 7 drive, to verify all was well.
3) Used the upgrade method to install windows 8 on the 2nd drive.
4) When done, alowed for windows 8 updaes, set ti up the way I wanted it.
5) Reonnected the 1st HDD.
powere up, entered BIOS and set to windows 8 disk for boot priority.

6) to boot to Win 7, I just used the Hot key during post that brings up a boot menu

 

[nbelote]

What I did was to clone my windows 7 to a 2nd Drive, Then
1) disconnected windows 7 drive.
2) booted to the cloned windows 7 drive, to verify all was well.
3) Used the upgrade method to install windows 8 on the 2nd drive.
4) When done, alowed for windows 8 updaes, set ti up the way I wanted it.
5) Reonnected the 1st HDD.
powere up, entered BIOS and set to windows 8 disk for boot priority.

6) to boot to Win 7, I just used the Hot key during post that brings up a boot menu

This has pro written all over it. Best solution hands-down. This ensures that you have solid boot sectors on both drives.

 

[PsyKhiqZero]

Check and see if your motherboard has more then one SATA controller. Make sure that the HDD is on the same controller as the SSD.

 

[Makinde]

What I did was to clone my windows 7 to a 2nd Drive, Then
1) disconnected windows 7 drive.
2) booted to the cloned windows 7 drive, to verify all was well.
3) Used the upgrade method to install windows 8 on the 2nd drive.
4) When done, alowed for windows 8 updaes, set ti up the way I wanted it.
5) Reonnected the 1st HDD.
powere up, entered BIOS and set to windows 8 disk for boot priority.

6) to boot to Win 7, I just used the Hot key during post that brings up a boot menu

thanks guys, I will attempt this solution and inform you of the results. My only concern is the whole "This computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk, ensure that the disk's controller is enabled in computer's Bios menu" error. Will that impact the instructions you gave me?

 

[shanky887614]

or instead of using hotkeys use easybcd and add it to the bootmenu


then it will default to one and give you 30 secs to select one and hit enter

 

[Makinde]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the help thus far. I successfully cloned my windows 7 partition but have ran into some issues on the steps after that. When I disconnect my SSD to test the function of my new windows 7 HDD, I get the following screen.

I also took a look at the disk settings in the bios to try and force it to select my HDD as my boot drive after disconnecting the SSD and I saw this screen when selecting the hard disk boot priority.

I picked up on what PsyKhiqZero mentioned regarding the SATA controllers and here is a picture I took confirming that both the HDD and SSD are both in the sata_3 controller.

I'm pretty stumped here guys, what am I doing wrong?

 

[Makinde]

Anybody?

 

[shanky887614]

Anybody?

bassically your boot partition is on your ssd.


you need to create one on your hdd to use just that, use bcd and it will let you create on on your hdd

 

[RetiredChief]

^ Correct.
The program you use to clone drive->drive must clone both he OS partition and THE System partition.
I prefer Ez-gig-VI, but it cost 15->20 bucks for the Sata->usb cable.
alternative is EasyUS TODO as I think that also does both partitions.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812161004
I've used this to clone HDD->HDD->SSD then Back from SSD->HDD. Plus the Adaptor cable has come in handy just connecting 2.5" SSD/HDDs to usp
on desktops/laptops.

EasyUS Todo: http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software.htm

While a software Boot manager is one solution, My personal preference is to NOT use them. Rare, but are problems that when one drive fails, you can not boot to the other drive.

 

[shanky887614]

look for the 200mb partiton or so. you need to clone this youself as well