computer gurus

[LaRue Medlin]

I have a fresh "working" install of windows 8.1 on 1 hard drive, and I have a clean great install of windows 7 on another hd. Without swapping cables all the time, is there a way to choose which one to boot from? I used to use a boot manger (log time ago) that would let me have 2 OS's on the same drive, but these are two separate drives. I've already loaded all my programs on the win 8 and don't have the "activations" to move them over (back) to the 7 drive..

 

[bob k 2]

i found this on a website i think it should work.



you can simply enter the bios at boot up , go to the boot menu and select which drive you wish to boot from , move it to the top , exit the bios and it will boot to the chosen drive .



hope it helps

 

[Zachary Lichliter]

What you need to do is rebuild the Boot Configuration Data (BCD).



First boot up your pc in the Windows 8 with the Windows 7 attached.



Head to the command prompt (not great with Win 8 so not sure where it is, something about the Windows System page).



Sign in if needed and type "bootrec.exe /scanos" (without quotes) and it should list the two OSs there.



If so type "bootrec.exe /Rebuildbcd" (without quotes) and it should ask you if you want to add the other Windows installation to the boot manager.



Once that is done you should be good, just reboot and it should take you to a screen that has the two listed and you get to choose which you want.



If Windows 8 is not the OS you want to be default (after 30 seconds at that screen it will boot Windows 8 as of now) you can change it, just let me know



Good luck,

Zachary L.

 

[LaRue Medlin]

That scares me. If I screw it up will I loose my win 8 disk? could care less about the win 7 stuff. No programs loaded there yet.

 

[Zachary Lichliter]

No worst case you should only loose the Master boot record for your drive, your computer wont know how to boot that disk but all of the windows information will be fine.



Also if you are not comfortable with it I don't recommend doing this....



Or I have found something that may help more.



https://neosmart.net/Download/Register/1



That link will let you download EasyBCD. Once done on your Windows 8 machine head to the following link for a step by step process:



https://neosmart.net/wiki/easybcd/dual-boot/bcd-based/



Now the good news about this program is if it doesn't do what it is supposed to it won't change anything at all, no data loss. If it starts giving you trouble or again you don't feel comfortable I suggest putting it down... I'm still looking for a tutorial for you but they seem to be hard to find on the subject...



Although I have done this before it has been a while so I don't really remember how I did it, that's why I'm all over the place here



If you need any help just let me know.

Zachary L.

 

[LaRue Medlin]

Thanks

 

[Robert Howell]

Install Ubuntu Linux and let GRUB take care of it for you

 

[LaRue Medlin]

I said screw it and just installed the win 7 drive. I got all my apps re-activated on the new drive. I'm happy to be back to windows 7. My windows 8 is set aside. But I can use it fully if I ever need to.

 

[LaRue Medlin]

:banana:

 

[Zachary Lichliter]

:supercool: I'm with you! Windows 8 just drives me crazy, great for some people but Windows 7 is for me.