Dual boot (and removing it)

Started by Grauniad, November 20, 2013, 08:40:38 AM

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Grauniad

There are many references online for creating systems that can dual-boot Windows 7 and Windows 8.

It is rather simple, one starts with a Windows 7 system, and then allocate space somewhere in the disk subsystem to install Windows 8. The installation process will allocate the necessary information in the MBR (Master Boot Record) belonging to the older (Win 7) operating system. In many cases this MBR is in a small, separate partition on the disk chosen for the Win 7 installation. If that disk is not on SATA port 0, there may be a few complications in this process.

The issue now arise if one wishes to reclaim the Win 7 space by deleting the OS.  In this instance, Win 8 will still depend on the Win 7 MBR (and boot partition). This may complicate things, especially if one used two drives to install the two operating systems on. Knowing this, however, will lead one to search on the web and find the many useful articles written on how to safely remove Win 7 and create a Win 8 MBR on the correct disk, thus freeing up the totality of the Win 7 OS disk.

A goodnight to all and to all a good night - Goodnight Moon