Windows 7 is undoubtedly a classical system of Microsoft, and even today there are a huge number Windows 7 users though Windows 8 and Windows 10 have been released. Windows 10 is the most recent Windows operating system which enjoys many incredible features, such as alive Cortana, Xbox Streaming, and Project Spartan. Therefore, many people want to dual boot Windows 7 and Windows 10. So in this post, we are going to show users how to complete dual boot Windows 7 and Windows 10 on one machine.
Trick: this post can also guide you to dual boot Windows 8 and Windows 10.
Full Guide to Dual Boot Windows 7 and Windows 10
Firstly, we need to create a partition for Windows 10 under Windows 7. If there is the partition for Windows 10, ignore this step. If there is no such partition, please create one in Disk Management by following steps below:
Right-click a partition that has much-unused space, choose “Shrink Volume,” and follow instructions to create an unallocated space. Then, create a new partition for Windows 10 using the “New Simple Volume” feature. However, if you receive the error messages such as “You cannot create a new volume in this unallocated space because the disk already contains the maximum number of partitions” when creating the partition, view the post: Fix – Disk Already Contains Maximum Number of Partitions Error to get solutions.
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2nd Step to dual boot Windows 7 and Windows 10
Then, check whether there is System Reserved Partition or EFI System Partition (ESP) already.
Since Windows 7, boot partition and system partition of Windows could be separated. System partition saves Windows boot files while boot partition installs Windows, and system partition is always the System Reserved Partition or EFI System Partition. Boot files of all versions of Windows will be automatically saved into this partition. Therefore, it’s very necessary to check free space left on the system partition. If a little free space is left, please extend the partition before installing Windows 10. Otherwise, you may fail to complete dual boot.
MiniTool Partition Wizard could help you enlarge system partition by taking free space from other partitions or unallocated space. For detailed steps, refer to the post Quickly Fix: Windows 10 Upgrade Couldn’t Update System Reserved Partition.
When system partition has enough free space to save boot files of Windows 10, you can start installing Windows 10 on Windows 7 computer.
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Last Step to dual boot Windows 7 and Windows 10
Finally, install Windows 10 using installation media.
Please start the computer from Windows 10 installation media and install the system by following instructions. However, if you get error messages, such as “Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style” and “Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk has an MBR partition table”, you’ll need to change partitioning scheme between MBR and GPT. To fix the first error, convert the disk to MBR. To repair the second error, turn the disk to GPT. And MiniTool Partition Wizard could help you complete the conversion in easy steps.
Just launch the program in Windows 7 to get its main window:
Here, please select the disk you want to convert and choose “Convert MBR Disk to GPT Disk” or “Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk.”
At last, click “Apply” button to make all changes performed.
Then, you can start installing Windows 10 on Windows 7 computer.
Are you going to dual boot Windows 10 with Windows 7 or Windows 8? Now, follow out these steps to do it. If in case you have any issues, comment below and I will help you out.