Installing Windows 10 and Windows 7 using different SSDs to dual-boot

[hotter-than-Vishera]

I want to purchase a copy of Windows 10 Pro. I currently own Windows 7 Ultimate. I do not want to lose Windows 7 Ultimate because I have games and other files that I am concerned will be incompatible with Windows 10 in the same way that they are incompatible with Windows 8.

My system specs:
Intel Core i7-4790K
Asus ROG Maximus VII HERO
Club3D R9 290
Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD
Western Digital Black 1TB WD1003FZEX
Asus DRW-24B1ST DVD-RW
G.Skill Trident X DDR3-1600 CL7

The 840 EVO has Windows 7 Ultimate installed on it. There are many basic programs installed to this drive, such as Microsoft Office, my Daemon Tools, Fraps, and other "mission-critical" things that I want to access quickly and reliably.
My mass storage drive is the Western Digital Black drive. All my games are stored there, as Steam has a folder it reads most of its games from. A few other large programs are stored there. It only has one partition.

What I've been thinking of doing is when Windows 10 comes out, I want to grab a 256GB Samsung SM951 M.2 drive for my Maximus VII Hero and install Windows 10 onto that. I'm hoping that way, I can access my games via either Windows 7 or Windows 10, so that if there's compatibility issues, I can boot to either Windows 7 or Windows 10 and not have to worry about being able to play my games. I don't really want to do the free upgrade path because I'm concerned that it will replace Windows 7. I don't want that.
I'm also wondering if I can still run the games on the WD Black from Windows 10 using Steam launching from the SM951, as I currently do with Windows 7 on the 840 EVO.
I'm pretty certain that I won't be able to access Microsoft Office, which is on the 840 EVO imbedded into Windows 7's Program files. Or will I?

Will Windows 7 and Windows 10 peacefully coexist on my system if they're on separate SSDs yet both capable of accessing the WD Black?

 

[orlbuckeye]

You will be able to access Office

 

[Joseph DeGarmo]

Yes, you will be able to install Windows 10 onto a new drive or even the same drive using a new partition. You can access the HDD the same way with both OS's, but some programs or even games will only work on one OS (single-PC licenses). I'm kind of in the same boat as you. I want to access Windows 10 as the primary OS on a new SSD and keep Windows 8.1 as a backup OS on my original drive, then even get Windows 7 on yet another drive for a 3-way boot. Windows should create a boot manager menu whether you install the different Windows versions on the same drive using separate partitions or separate dedicated physical drives.

 

[giantbucket]

a legally-questionable option is to make a system image of your Win7, and restore it onto your new SSD, and then upgrade that restored W7 to W10. so on one SSD you have your original W7, and on the other you have a replica of your W7 that's been upgraded to W10.

although with something like that, I'd have a hot-swap bay and just insert whichever SSD you want to use, and have the other one safely in a box.

 

[saas1980]

Giantbucket is this something you have tried? Truth is I didn't like Windows 8, hated it. Hence want to try Win 10 but keep Win 7 (original SSD intact). If I did it your way, system image > new drive > upgrade to win 10, will this keep my Win 7 License intact on the original drive?

If Win 10 is desirable, I would then stick with it and format the original drive with Win 7. (not looking for dual boot)

 

[USAFRet]

a legally-questionable option is to make a system image of your Win7, and restore it onto your new SSD, and then upgrade that restored W7 to W10. so on one SSD you have your original W7, and on the other you have a replica of your W7 that's been upgraded to W10.

although with something like that, I'd have a hot-swap bay and just insert whichever SSD you want to use, and have the other one safely in a box.

That is not "a legally-questionable option"...that will not work and is against the licensing
According to current info from MS...a valid Win 7 upgraded to Win 10 does not allow you to continue to use the old Win 7 license.

Now...if you have some documentation that states otherwise, I'd be happy to see it.

 

[USAFRet]

OP...if you wish to use both Win 7 and Win 10, you'll need to buy a new license for 10.

Dualboot? Sue. My old crappy laptop currently dualboots 7 and 10. Same drive, 2 partitions. But could just as easily be 2 physical drives.

 

[saas1980]

I have a quick question.

If I upgrade my Win 7 to 10, and later choose not to stick with it. Is there an option to revert back without having to reinstall windows 7 again.

I am also assuming the Product Key will continue to work if I was to reinstall 7 again.

For some reason I did not like many of the features of 8 hence still not comfortable switching to 10. With all the hype, im curious though

 

[USAFRet]

I have a quick question.

If I upgrade my Win 7 to 10, and later choose not to stick with it. Is there an option to revert back without having to reinstall windows 7 again.

I am also assuming the Product Key will continue to work if I was to reinstall 7 again.

For some reason I did not like many of the features of 8 hence still not comfortable switching to 10. With all the hype, im curious though

Do you have your existing Windows 7 install media? And the License key?
I expect you could do a full reinstall of Win 7, if you find you do not like Win 10.

However...there has been no official statement from MS on doing this.

 

[saas1980]

Yes, I have Windows 7 OS on a USB stick (bootable) also original Product key (laptop sticker).

I wonder if MS will offer a free trial period for Win 10

 

[USAFRet]

"free trial period"?

Probably not...Oct 1, the Tech Preview expires.
Much like Win 8/8.1...you'll need to enter the license key during the install.
Unlike Win 7, when there was a 30 day grace period before you had to enter a valid license key.

 

[hotter-than-Vishera]

OP...if you wish to use both Win 7 and Win 10, you'll need to buy a new license for 10.

Dualboot? Sue. My old crappy laptop currently dualboots 7 and 10. Same drive, 2 partitions. But could just as easily be 2 physical drives.

TBH, I acquired Windows 7 through less-than-legal means. Don't tell Bill Gates.

And yes I would be buying a Windows 10 copy. I expect that the upgrade, if it even works for my special copy of Windows 7, to replace Windows 7 competely, which is something I don't want.

 

[orlbuckeye]

I want to purchase a copy of Windows 10 Pro. I currently own Windows 7 Ultimate. I do not want to lose Windows 7 Ultimate because I have games and other files that I am concerned will be incompatible with Windows 10 in the same way that they are incompatible with Windows 8.

My system specs:
Intel Core i7-4790K
Asus ROG Maximus VII HERO
Club3D R9 290
Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD
Western Digital Black 1TB WD1003FZEX
Asus DRW-24B1ST DVD-RW
G.Skill Trident X DDR3-1600 CL7

The 840 EVO has Windows 7 Ultimate installed on it. There are many basic programs installed to this drive, such as Microsoft Office, my Daemon Tools, Fraps, and other "mission-critical" things that I want to access quickly and reliably.
My mass storage drive is the Western Digital Black drive. All my games are stored there, as Steam has a folder it reads most of its games from. A few other large programs are stored there. It only has one partition.

What I've been thinking of doing is when Windows 10 comes out, I want to grab a 256GB Samsung SM951 M.2 drive for my Maximus VII Hero and install Windows 10 onto that. I'm hoping that way, I can access my games via either Windows 7 or Windows 10, so that if there's compatibility issues, I can boot to either Windows 7 or Windows 10 and not have to worry about being able to play my games. I don't really want to do the free upgrade path because I'm concerned that it will replace Windows 7. I don't want that.
I'm also wondering if I can still run the games on the WD Black from Windows 10 using Steam launching from the SM951, as I currently do with Windows 7 on the 840 EVO.
I'm pretty certain that I won't be able to access Microsoft Office, which is on the 840 EVO imbedded into Windows 7's Program files. Or will I?

Will Windows 7 and Windows 10 peacefully coexist on my system if they're on separate SSDs yet both capable of accessing the WD Black?

First of all if you have the little Windows icon on your taskbar click on that then click on the bars in the left corner and left the tool look at what you have and the compatibility of your stuff with Windows 10.

I ran it on my machine an Alienware 18 with Nvidia 860 SLI
I have a 1 TB Samsung EVO 840 with a 1 TB WD HD and a 750 GB WD HD
Windows 8.1

I ran the test and the results were:

Norton 360 won't run
VMPlayer will need to be reinstalled after Windows 10
Intel bluetooth drive not compatible

I go a message from Symantec that the Fix for Windows 10 will be ready in the next couple of weeks
and I expect Intel to fix soon

This is the .largest beta program ever.

If you purchase Windows 10 you can put it anywhere. Windows 7 if OEM is tied to the same machine.

 

[Joseph DeGarmo]

So basically once I convert my Windows 8.1 Pro license to Windows 10 Pro, will it become permanent? If I need to reinstall Windows 8.1 from DVD for any reason, will it automatically update to Windows 10? I'm open to converting Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 since I would like to obtain Windows 7 Professional (with XP mode) on its own dedicated SSD for legacy programs and games anyway. Getting Windows 7, Windows XP Virtual, and Windows 10 on the same PC would fit my needs perfectly since I have a few games and programs which are not compatible on Windows 7 or 8.1.

 

[USAFRet]

So basically once I convert my Windows 8.1 Pro license to Windows 10 Pro, will it become permanent? If I need to reinstall Windows 8.1 from DVD for any reason, will it automatically update to Windows 10? I'm open to converting Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 since I would like to obtain Windows 7 Professional (with XP mode) on its own dedicated SSD for legacy programs and games anyway. Getting Windows 7, Windows XP Virtual, and Windows 10 on the same PC would fit my needs perfectly since I have a few games and programs which are not compatible on Windows 7 or 8.1.

If you update your Win 8.1 license to Win 10, your 8.1 license will be null and void (I think). An upgrade is just that, an upgrade. You don't get to use both.
Just like upgrading Win 8 to Win 8.1. You didn't get to keep and use the original 8.

If you buy Win 10 (or Win 7), no problem. Dual or triple boot all you want.

But until I see some documentation direct from MS that says otherwise, my belief is that your Win 8.1 license will be consumed via that 'upgrade'. They're not giving you a second license for free.

 

[Joseph DeGarmo]

So basically once I convert my Windows 8.1 Pro license to Windows 10 Pro, will it become permanent? If I need to reinstall Windows 8.1 from DVD for any reason, will it automatically update to Windows 10? I'm open to converting Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 since I would like to obtain Windows 7 Professional (with XP mode) on its own dedicated SSD for legacy programs and games anyway. Getting Windows 7, Windows XP Virtual, and Windows 10 on the same PC would fit my needs perfectly since I have a few games and programs which are not compatible on Windows 7 or 8.1.

If you update your Win 8.1 license to Win 10, your 8.1 license will be null and void (I think). An upgrade is just that, an upgrade. You don't get to use both.
Just like upgrading Win 8 to Win 8.1. You didn't get to keep and use the original 8.

If you buy Win 10 (or Win 7), no problem. Dual or triple boot all you want.

But until I see some documentation direct from MS that says otherwise, my belief is that your Win 8.1 license will be consumed via that 'upgrade'. They're not giving you a second license for free.

So from personal experience, upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 8 via in-place upgrade was a poor move since Windows 8 never performed as intended. Obtaining Windows 8.1 on its own fixed that problem. With that in mind, I feel rather indifferent towards upgrading from Windows 8.1 unless I could do a clean install using the license key for Windows 10 and an .ISO install. So if there are going to be issues with installation if I try to repair or reinstall from the DVD, then I'd rather buy a Windows 10 standalone license and 3-way boot Win 7, 8.1, and 10.

 

[USAFRet]

So basically once I convert my Windows 8.1 Pro license to Windows 10 Pro, will it become permanent? If I need to reinstall Windows 8.1 from DVD for any reason, will it automatically update to Windows 10? I'm open to converting Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 since I would like to obtain Windows 7 Professional (with XP mode) on its own dedicated SSD for legacy programs and games anyway. Getting Windows 7, Windows XP Virtual, and Windows 10 on the same PC would fit my needs perfectly since I have a few games and programs which are not compatible on Windows 7 or 8.1.

If you update your Win 8.1 license to Win 10, your 8.1 license will be null and void (I think). An upgrade is just that, an upgrade. You don't get to use both.
Just like upgrading Win 8 to Win 8.1. You didn't get to keep and use the original 8.

If you buy Win 10 (or Win 7), no problem. Dual or triple boot all you want.

But until I see some documentation direct from MS that says otherwise, my belief is that your Win 8.1 license will be consumed via that 'upgrade'. They're not giving you a second license for free.

So from personal experience, upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 8 via in-place upgrade was a poor move since Windows 8 never performed as intended. Obtaining Windows 8.1 on its own fixed that problem. With that in mind, I feel rather indifferent towards upgrading from Windows 8.1 unless I could do a clean install using the license key for Windows 10 and an .ISO install. So if there are going to be issues with installation if I try to repair or reinstall from the DVD, then I'd rather buy a Windows 10 standalone license and 3-way boot Win 7, 8.1, and 10.

Supposedly, we will be afforded the opportunity to obtain an ISO file of Win 10, for a clean install.
Have to wait and see exactly how this shakes out.

 

[orlbuckeye]

So basically once I convert my Windows 8.1 Pro license to Windows 10 Pro, will it become permanent? If I need to reinstall Windows 8.1 from DVD for any reason, will it automatically update to Windows 10? I'm open to converting Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 since I would like to obtain Windows 7 Professional (with XP mode) on its own dedicated SSD for legacy programs and games anyway. Getting Windows 7, Windows XP Virtual, and Windows 10 on the same PC would fit my needs perfectly since I have a few games and programs which are not compatible on Windows 7 or 8.1.

If you update your Win 8.1 license to Win 10, your 8.1 license will be null and void (I think). An upgrade is just that, an upgrade. You don't get to use both.
Just like upgrading Win 8 to Win 8.1. You didn't get to keep and use the original 8.

If you buy Win 10 (or Win 7), no problem. Dual or triple boot all you want.

But until I see some documentation direct from MS that says otherwise, my belief is that your Win 8.1 license will be consumed via that 'upgrade'. They're not giving you a second license for free.

Your license won't be null and void but you can only use it on the machine it was installed on. Meaning you can use either Windows 10 or Windows 8.1 on that machine. It doesn't matter that Windows 10 is free but what matters you did purchase Windows 8.1 and they can't take that away. I believe you could even run them in a dual boot situation.

 

[USAFRet]

Your license won't be null and void but you can only use it on the machine it was installed on. Meaning you can use either Windows 10 or Windows 8.1 on that machine. It doesn't matter that Windows 10 is free but what matters you did purchase Windows 8.1 and they can't take that away. I believe you could even run them in a dual boot situation.

Right. They can't take that license away, but they are not giving you a free second OS.
One or the other.

As far as I know. If anyone has any actual info stating otherwise, I'd be glad to see it.

 

[terry4536]

In the MS statement, there was listed a provision to revert to the original version of Windows.

This Microsoft faq should answer most of your questions.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-faq

 

[terry4536]

My own concern with Windows 10 was that Windows Media Center is going to be deleted with the installation of Windows 10. I was wondering myself if there were methods to retain a version of Win 7 Pro to run Media Center. Apparently there is a an application to play CD/DVD audio but not video (with Windows 10). I was thinking of a dual boot option, but I haven't looked into it yet.

 

[USAFRet]

My own concern with Windows 10 was that Windows Media Center is going to be deleted with the installation of Windows 10. I was wondering myself if there were methods to retain a version of Win 7 Pro to run Media Center. Apparently there is a an application to play CD/DVD audio but not video (with Windows 10). I was thinking of a dual boot option, but I haven't looked into it yet.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-faq
"Windows Media Center is not part of Windows 10 and won’t be available after upgrading to Windows 10. If you use Windows Media Center, we will alert you during upgrade that Windows Media Center is not available on Windows 10. We know that some users use Windows Media Center to play DVDs, and we are providing a free DVD playback app in Windows 10 for Windows Media Center users."

 

[Joseph DeGarmo]

Will the Windows 10 DVD playback app be compatible with Blu-ray discs?

 

[USAFRet]

Will the Windows 10 DVD playback app be compatible with Blu-ray discs?

Since no one outside of Microsoft has seen it...unknown.
I doubt it, though.

 

[saas1980]

In the MS statement, there was listed a provision to revert to the original version of Windows.

This Microsoft faq should answer most of your questions.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-faq

If this is in reference to upgrading to Win 10 and then reverting back to Win 7 (or other previous version), I viewed the link but couldn't find any reference. Can you confirm pls!

Personally I will not upgrade to Win 10 if I cannot revert back to Win 7 on the same license. What bothers me more is there is no confirmation whether the License would work on a clean re-install of Win 7 after the upgrade. I hope someone can confirm otherwise as it would save me some bucks from purchasing a second OS to try 10 (or maybe a cheaper solution, upgrade to 10 and buy win-7 again)