Trouble with drive letters and boot partitions

[Antslake]

So first I added a SSD, then I went ahead and installed Windows 7 and ungraded to win10. I would up having the boot partition on my old hard drive because I did not disconnect it. I tried EasyBCD but that messed everything up and I had to roll it back.

So then I did a reinstall of win 10 and disconnected my old drive/s and now It can boot up from the SSD into windows 10. Problem is now that the boot partition is still there, and I have 2 drives as C/ drives. I can't turn on my computer with both plugged in otherwise things get real screwy.

I have one SSD 500GB with win10 on it, and another HDD with 750GB and Win7 on it (that I want to keep for a while as a dual boot machine. I also installed a 5TB drive that I have to leave unplugged as well.

I would like my machine to be able to boot up to either win 10 or win 7 on the different drives and have the 5TB as storage for win10. I seem to have got myself in a bit of trouble, and I can't seem to find an answer.

 

[USAFRet]

First off, you can't have Win 7, and upgrade that to Win 10, and continue to use the Win 7.
One or the other, not both. The Win 10 is an Upgrade, not a free second OS.

 

[Antslake]

I did that originally, and it worked fine, but the boot partition was on the HDD, which eventually I will remove. You can in fact do that and have a dual boot machine.

 

[USAFRet]

I did that originally, and it worked fine, but the boot partition was on the HDD, which eventually I will remove. You can in fact do that and have a dual boot machine.

It won't work well for long.

 

[Antslake]

But Win 10 gave me the option to keep it, I don't understand why it wouldn't continue to work.

 

[Darkloudx]

Who says it won't work well??? As long as you can install the 2 on seperate partitions, you just have to have a bootloader in order and that's it. There is no reason this can't be done or else we wouldn't be able to dual boot Linux and Win...

 

[USAFRet]

But Win 10 gave me the option to keep it, I don't understand why it wouldn't continue to work.

Keep what?
The Win 7 to Win 10 is an Upgrade. 1 license = 1 OS. Either or.

How exactly did you install the Win 10?

My typical Win 10 Upgrade text:
----------------------------------------------
"Car Analogy:
Summer 2010, you go down to the car dealer and buy a new 2010 WhizBang7. You love this car. You named it Janet.
Fast forward to summer 2015, your car dealer sends you a letter. Bring in your WhizBang 7, and we'll give you a new WhizBang10. No cost.
'hmm...you think. Let's go check it out'
So you read up a bit on the WB10. Looks pretty good.
You go down to the dealer, hand over your key for the WhizBang7, and he hands you the key for a brand new WhizBang 10.

"And if you really don't like the WB10, bring it back in 30 days and you can have your old WB 7 back. No problem. It will sit right here"

You don't get to drive home with both.
----------------------------------------------

 

[USAFRet]

Who says it won't work well??? As long as you can install the 2 on seperate partitions, you just have to have a bootloader in order and that's it. There is no reason this can't be done or else we wouldn't be able to dual boot Linux and Win...

1 license, 1 OS
If Win 7 was purchased AND Win 10 was purchased...NO PROBLEM. Dual boot away.
The free Win 7 to Win 10 Upgrade does not work like that. One or the other.

 

[Antslake]

I installed Win7 which has a license for more than one computer on my SSD, then upgraded it to win10. My original win7 was on my other HDD, and the upgrade automatically gave me a dual boot option. Same product key.

 

[USAFRet]

I installed Win7 which has a license for more than one computer on my SSD, then upgraded it to win10. My original win7 was on my other HDD, and the upgrade automatically gave me a dual boot option. Same product key.

Well then...that would have been helpful to know upfront.

So...you DO potentially have more than one license.
No problem.

At this point, I'd consider starting over.
Reinstall 7 on each drive, and Upgrade one of them to 10.

How you do it dictates how you will choose the boot options.
Choose from the BIOS
Install 7 on one drive, with only that drive connected. Upgrade it to 10
Install 7 on the other drive, with only that drive connected.

At boot time, F12 and choose

or

Via the Windows boot manager
Install win 7 with only one drive connected.
Connect the second drive
Install Win 7 again
Upgrade that second install to Win 10

You'll end up with a boot menu like this:

Ignore the words "Technical Preview"
Yours will say Windows 10

 

[Antslake]

Well I am not starting over. My original install of win7 I want to keep as I have way too many programs and information that I don't want to lose just yet.
I currently have both operating systems working, but not if they are both plugged in, and the original dual boot option is still on my win7 HDD. I want to remove that, and try to understand why I can't have both drives plugged in.

 

[Darkloudx]

Have both HDDs installed. Install Win7 on the drive that has windows 10. Upgrade it to 10. It should automatically see the other Win7 drive and you should be good... That's how I've done it before.

 

[Antslake]

Have both HDDs installed. Install Win7 on the drive that has windows 10. Upgrade it to 10. It should automatically see the other Win7 drive and you should be good... That's how I've done it before.

Yes that works, but leaves a dual boot partition on the original drive, which will eventually go. I hope I am explaining myself correctly here.

I have a PC with Win 7 installed on a HDD.
I added a SSD
I installed Win 7 on that SSD, then upgraded to Win 10
Everything worked but I was left with a dual boot partition on the first drive.
I formated the SSD
I disconnected the HDD
I installed win 7 on the SSD and upgraded.
Now I have 2 operating systems, one with a dual boot partition that does see another operating system, and if both are connected to the PC, causes everything to lock up and not work at all.

 

[USAFRet]

On the original drive, what does the dualboot menu look like? Like my above image? That allows editing of what to show.

Or, possibly boot into that drive/OS, and change the options in msconfig. It should allow you to delete a boot option.