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How To: Dual Boot Windows 7 and Vista

Posted January 15, 2009 – 2:20 pm in: Vista Tweaks, Windows 7, Windows 7 Guides
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If you are planning to dual boot Windows 7 with the Windows Vista, then you have come to the right place. If you are still thinking on Windows 7, I recommend Windows 7, not just because it’s new but also you will love its performance and stability.

Win7Logo

Here I assume that you have already installed Windows Vista on your machine and now you want to install Windows 7.You can also use my guide “Install Windows 7 from USB guide” to install Windows 7 in just 15 minutes.

Minimum recommended specs call for:

* 1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor

*1 GB of system memory

*16 GB of available disk space

*Support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128 MB memory (to enable the Aero theme)

*DVD-R/W Drive

*Internet access (to download the Beta and get updates)

Also read my “10 Things to remember before installing Windows 7” guide to make things works fine.

Below are the steps you need to do to install Windows 7 in dual boot with Vista.

1. Download and burn Windows 7 ISO file using any free burning programs. If you don’t have a DVD drive then you can use either my “Installing Windows 7 without using DVD/USB drive” guide or “Install Windows 7 Using USB Drive” guide to install Windows 7 quickly.

Windows 7 DVD

2. Once you have bootable USB/DVD next step is to create a partition with minimum 16GB (see hardware requirements) free space. As Vista has inbuilt partition manager you can create a new partition easily.

Vista disk managemetn

3. Next step is to change your BIOS boot priority to CD/DVD drive from the default HDD (Hard Disk Drive). If you are using USB drive to install Windows 7 then enable the option “ Enable USB Boot” to make the system boot from the USB drive. I hope you know how to change boot priority as you have installed Windows Vista previously on your machine.

boot_no_floppy

4. Insert your DVD into the optical (DVD drive) drive and follow the simple Windows 7 installation procedure.

Install Windows 7 final

5. Once you finish the Windows 7 installation, you will see a new entry in the boot screen and will look similar to the below screenshot.

Image135

6. Enjoy! The thing is installing Windows 7 on Vista is very easy and simple.

Also check out install Windows 7 from USB flash drive and how to create bootable USB guides.

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5 Comments

  1. Stephen
    Posted January 16, 2009 at 4:57 pm | Permalink

    How the disk manager works? I like to understand that more.

  2. Siddanth
    Posted January 19, 2009 at 4:35 pm | Permalink

    Hey the bootloader is same for windows 7 and vista rit ??? so bootloader conflicts rit ??

  3. Brian
    Posted June 3, 2009 at 5:29 pm | Permalink

    I have been running Win 7 build 7100, 7127 and then 7137. Had problems with “Not Responding” programs.

    Installed Vista x64 on a new hard drive. I only have Vista boot. How do I enable dual boot so I can get to my Win 7 boot?

    Thanks

  4. admin
    Posted June 4, 2009 at 10:37 am | Permalink

    Boot using Windows 7 DVD and use boot repair option.

  5. Brian
    Posted June 4, 2009 at 11:10 pm | Permalink

    admin,

    Thank you for your response. I think I’m going to have a find a tool that does this. I have tried booting with both the Windows 7 CD and the Win 7 Repair CD (that I created) but the CD drive and hard drive just spin forever. It does not actually boot.

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