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GoldenRetroGames
Inspiring
August 31, 2015
Question

Anyone installed Win 8 as dual boot after installing Win 10?

Just wondering if anyone here has successfully set up a dual boot between Windows 7/8 and Windows 10, in the case where Windows 10 is installed first.

Doing this on previous versions of Windows was never a problem. It was always a case of simply installing the second version of Windows to its own partition and it modified the boot loader accordingly. I just want to make sure that's still the case with Windows 10 installed first. Can I simply use my Win 8 DVD to install the OS on a separate partition and have it add itself to the boot menu?

    8 replies

    cybereality
    Inspiring
    September 1, 2015
    Not sure if anything changed in Win 10, but with previous versions of Windows you needed to unplug all secondary hard-drives before installing a different OS. Otherwise it overwrites the master boot record on ALL drives so that only the last OS you installed is bootable.
    AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | MSI X370 Titanium | G.Skill 16GB DDR4 3200 | EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 | Corsair Hydro H110i Gigabyte RX Vega 64 x2 | Samsung 960 Evo M.2 500GB | Seagate FireCuda SSHD 2TB | Phanteks ENTHOO EVOLV
    kojack
    kojack
    Honored Contributor
    September 1, 2015
    I didn't feel like messing with boot stuff this time, so I'm just using the motherboard bios drive boot selector. I've got Win8.1 on one SSD and Win10 on another.
    Author: Oculus Monitor , Auto Oculus Touch , Forum Dark Mode , Phantom Touch Remover , X-Plane Fixer Hardware: Threadripper 1950x, MSI Gaming Trio 2080TI, Asrock X399 Taich Headsets: Wrap 1200VR, DK1, DK2, CV1, Rift-S, GearVR, Go, Quest, Quest 2, Reverb G2, Quest 3
    saviornt
    Up and Coming
    September 1, 2015
    As long as you have a boot loader you should be fine, even if you don't, it should come up with a "choose OS" option. I kind of messed up my first install of Windows 10 (I know I requested a clean install!) and it loaded with Windows 7 and it gave me the option to choose. I ended up clearing everything out with diskpart, clean, create part pri, format quick fs=ntfs, active.. in order to do a clean install.
    Current WIPs using Unreal Engine 4: Agrona - Tales of an Era : Medieval Fantasy MORPG
    scottmc87
    Up and Coming
    October 2, 2015
    I have done this since SDK 7 barely supports anything yet. It was pretty easy. I installed the Win8 installation to a USB stick. booted from it and installed the OS. Now when I boot my laptop, it asks me which OS I want to load :D
    Rig: Windows 10 | EVGA GTX 980ti Classified. | i5 6600k | 16gigs DDR4 3000mhz. DK2 (Owned) CV1 ( Pre-Ordered ) Vive ( Pre-Ordered )
    zEr04
    Participant
    October 3, 2015
    After installing Win 10, I decided to dual boot with Win 8.1 on my second SSD. Set in bios the second ssd as primary and installed Win 8. Once installed I set my Win 10 back to the primary hdd. And the dual boot option pops up.
    Here you can set your main OS to which ever one you wish along with 5,30 second or 5min auto boot (think you can custom the timer).
    No issues.
    Had to put 8.1 due to some games not supporting on 0.7 in Win 10. I actually like the setup I'm running now. :D
    Glycogen
    Participant
    October 4, 2015
    Have Win 10 installed to use latest oculus driver. Installed Win 8 afterwards on separate SSD to use oculus .6 . No probs. Win bootloader lets me choose OS at boot.
    ZeroWaitState
    Up and Coming
    October 29, 2015
    i had 8.1 and many HD. disconnected all drives but blank formatted and installed 10. reconnected other drives then got nice dual boot menu

    works a peach
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    OcuKarl
    Participant
    November 3, 2015
    You're not a fan of Win 10 then I suppose? Home come?
    I work as a graphic designer. In my spare time I do VR experiments, PC gaming and write for http://www.headphonesunboxed.com about Bluetooth and gaming headphones.
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