to run TWO W7 OSs.

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hello everyone;
the nature of what i’m asking might be a little simplistic, but i prefer to be seen as ignorant rather than goofing and regretting later on.
background:
i am navigating a lenovo laptop t410, 320 gb hdd, came with W7 Pro x64 oem installed, it has 4gb ram.
has an intel i5 quad core microprocessor, which is fast enough for my needs.
after formatting and my partitioning, what i have is that w7 resides in a 77gb partition, while all work is in a remaining 221 gb partition which i call DATA.
currently, the files i want open have shortcuts in the desktop; clicking make life easy.
problem:
cannot get w7 x64 drivers some h/w i have, which has forced me to use another pc, a desktop, SINGLE processor, which is EXTREMELY SLOW for my needs; running W7 home premium X32.
i am considering creating ANOTHER PARTITION in the laptop where i would like to install the w7 x32 from MY DISKS
questions to forum:
1) is what i want to do possible?
2) if affirmative, will the bios ask me which OS i want run at power up?
3) should i make ANOTHER DATA partition?, or X32 will access them IF i ALSO place shortcuts in the X32 desktop?
4) will files created with s/w running under x64 be accessed in an x32 environment? ((office, and other s/w programs)

if all above is feasible, i’d appreciate a (sort) of sequencing on what to do from people who has gone through “the experience.”

PLEASE forgive if these Q’s are (rather) stupid, but playing with OSs is (somehow) a bit intimidating for me (even if i create restore points), and i want to be sure before proceeding.

thanks in advance for your ideas / suggestions / alerts.

daniel rozenberg.

ps: i am a FIRM believer that beginning of wisdom DEMANDS admission of ignorance.

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Replies

…
1) is what i want to do possible?
2) if affirmative, will the bios ask me which OS i want run at power up?
3) should i make ANOTHER DATA partition?, or X32 will access them IF i ALSO place shortcuts in the X32 desktop?
4) will files created with s/w running under x64 be accessed in an x32 environment? ((office, and other s/w programs)
…

1) Yes.
2) No.
3) Win7 32bit (x86) should be able to work fine with your documents and other files on your existing DATA partition.
4) 64bit (x64) and 32bit (x86) has to do more with the performance-level and memory-capacity of software/programs. Generally files you create under Win7 64bit will be just the same as those you create under Win7 32bit.

But to run both 32bit and 64bit OSs on the same computer you will need to use a “boot manager” program. I have been using BootIt Bare Metal for many years with excellent results and strongly recommend BootItBM.

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1) Yes.
2) No.
3) Win7 32bit (x86) should be able to work fine with your documents and other files on your existing DATA partition.
4) 64bit (x64) and 32bit (x86) has to do more with the performance-level and memory-capacity of software/programs. Generally files you create under Win7 64bit will be just the same as those you create under Win7 32bit.

But to run both 32bit and 64bit OSs on the same computer you will need to use a “boot manager” program. I have been using BootIt Bare Metal for many years with excellent results and strongly recommend BootItBM.

thanks for tour reply.
when i implement it, will report results accordingly.
dr.

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But to run both 32bit and 64bit OSs on the same computer you will need to use a “boot manager” program. I have been using BootIt Bare Metal for many years with excellent results and strongly recommend BootItBM.

Why not use Windows to do the boot menu? It can ask me if I want to boot XP or 7.

BTW is there a problem with restore points with dual boot scenarios?

:cheers:

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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Try the VEN-DEV method in order to find the needed drivers (VEN = Vendor, and DEV = Device):

Go into Device Manager. Right click on a device which doesn’t yet have the driver installed, and choose Properties. Click on the Details tab. Dig around in there until you find information that includes VEN and DEV. There will be a four character code after each one — this will be the VEN number and the DEV number.

Now go to the following web site: http://pcidatabase.com/

At this website, you can search on the VEN or DEV number. If you are persistent, you will very likely find the needed drivers listed here.

The VEN-DEV method is explained here. I’ve used only the “manual” method; I’ve never tried the program (“UnknownDevices”) that the author speaks of.

If all else fails, you could do a Windows update to try to find these drivers. If you do that, be sure to get only the drivers you need for these devices; don’t get any other updates. You will often read that you should never download hardware drivers via Windows Update. But if there’s no other way to do it, then it’s worth a try.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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Daniel,

I’d recommend EasyBCD for your dual boot needs and it’s free. It has a companion program iReboot which places an icon in the System Tray and makes it easy to boot between the two with just 2 clicks.

As far as problems with restore points this can be solved by hiding the non-current OS partition via a Registry Hack which must be done to each boot partition while that partiton is the active boot partition.

Code:

Hide Drive from View
Key: HKLMSYSTEMMountedDevicesOffline
Create a new DWord entry with:
Name: DosDevicesC:
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 1

Of course you need to change the C: to the appropriate drive letter for the non-booted partition.

You might want to read this old post of mine on Dual Booting.

HTH :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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As far as problems with restore points this can be solved by hiding the non-current OS partition via a Registry Hack which must be done to each boot partition while that partiton is the active boot partition.

Ah good to know, I wasn’t sure if that was a problem.
I used to feel using the BIOS to select a boot drive was the safest, that was before W7,WXP and WX preview had a pissing contest each time I would change from one to the other trashing the others drive. Now I would use a removable drive or SATA power switch (as some one here suggested). :cheers:

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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…As far as problems with restore points this can be solved by hiding the non-current OS partition via a Registry Hack which must be done to each boot partition while that partiton is the active boot partition…

It is very easy to set BootItBM’s boot manager to hide partitions at boot time as desired without messing with the registry or drive letters, and doesn’t affect system restore points.

Also, BootItBM includes “Partition Work” (excellent partition manager), “Image for DOS” (easily create/restore partition images outside Windows, which I have found 100% reliable), and supports scripting (if needed).

Certainly BootItBM is not free; but IMHO it is very good value – I have been using BootItBM very happily since about 2005 when Symantec killed off PartitionMagic.

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hello everyone again;
before proceeding with new partition and boot manager, i kept browsing the net, and bumped into an old [WINDOWS SECRETS] post, which i PDF printed and i’m attaching.
obviously, the issue is not new.
one of the replies recommends VIRTUALIZATION.
i feel more comfortable with it, given that i used it before with W2000 in a scenario similar to the one now; so i decided to give it a try.
downloaded the Windows6.1-KB958559-x64-RefreshPkg, and installed it.
first surprise:
W7 x64 doesn’t allow W7 x32 in the virtualization, and recommends going to XP; which in my case was favorable, as the old stuff i have, i DO know it did run OK in XP.
it even offers an XP suited for actualization.
proceeded accordingly, an now i have the old programs enabling me use of the h/w as desired.
furthermore, everything in the computer is accessible from XP desktop.
from my personal point of view, and in this particular case of mine, i believe this is better that having to boot into two OSs, as it was my original intention.
nevertheless want to THANKS YOU ALL PEOPLE for your replies.
regards,

daniel rozenberg.

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Make at least 1 image backup and confirm you can restore before you do anything.

cheers, Paul

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