dual boot

I have a new desktop running windows 7 64 bit with plenty spare capacity in
the hard drive.
Would it be possible for me to create a dual boot pc with Windows 8 on one
partition while retaining windows 7 on the other partition?
I think I can purchase a copy of windows 8 for around £70.
Thank you

On 12/20/2012 9:20 AM, Stewart wrote:
I have a new desktop running windows 7 64 bit with plenty spare capacity
in the hard drive.
Would it be possible for me to create a dual boot pc with Windows 8 on
one partition while retaining windows 7 on the other partition?
I think I can purchase a copy of windows 8 for around £70.
Thank you

Sure you can as long as it meets the minimum specs. Here is what
Microsoft recommends before you start.

Upgrade to Windows 8 - Microsoft Windows
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...e-to-windows-8

--
Bill
Dell Latitute Slate Tablet 128GB SSD ('12 era) - Thunderbird v12
Intel Atom Z670 1.5GHz - 2GB - Windows Pro 8

Bill, thank you; I have just done that and while some things won't work the
only real problem seems to be with "Secure Boot" as I get a message saying
it isn't compatible with the pc. I do not know how important that is but I
would not have thought so.


"BillW50" wrote in message ...

On 12/20/2012 9:20 AM, Stewart wrote:
I have a new desktop running windows 7 64 bit with plenty spare capacity
in the hard drive.
Would it be possible for me to create a dual boot pc with Windows 8 on
one partition while retaining windows 7 on the other partition?
I think I can purchase a copy of windows 8 for around £70.
Thank you

Sure you can as long as it meets the minimum specs. Here is what
Microsoft recommends before you start.

Upgrade to Windows 8 - Microsoft Windows
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...e-to-windows-8

--
Bill
Dell Latitute Slate Tablet 128GB SSD ('12 era) - Thunderbird v12
Intel Atom Z670 1.5GHz - 2GB - Windows Pro 8

On 12/20/2012 10:20 AM, Stewart wrote:
Bill, thank you; I have just done that and while some things won't work
the only real problem seems to be with "Secure Boot" as I get a message
saying it isn't compatible with the pc. I do not know how important that
is but I would not have thought so.

Oh that could be a serious problem! According to Paul that posts here
says if the CPU doesn't support it, then Windows 8 won't even install.
Oddly enough 20+ here support it. Even these two tablets. Although
Windows 8 installs and runs well, Windows 8 says I can't enable Secure
Boot since it isn't available. Go figure.

So what is the make and model of your CPU anyway? Then we can look it up
to see if it is compatible with Windows 8.

--
Bill
Dell Latitute Slate Tablet 128GB SSD ('12 era) - Thunderbird v12
Intel Atom Z670 1.5GHz - 2GB - Windows Pro 8

On Thu, 20 Dec 2012 15:20:13 -0000, "Stewart"
wrote:

I have a new desktop running windows 7 64 bit with plenty spare capacity in
the hard drive.
Would it be possible for me to create a dual boot pc with Windows 8 on one
partition while retaining windows 7 on the other partition?


Yes.

But why do you want to do that? Are you aware that Windows 8 comes
with two interfaces: the Modern/Metro Interface and one that's almost
identical to Windows 7's? Just add a third party program like the free
Classic shell, or the even better $4.99 US Start8, and you can barely
tell it from Windows7.


--
Ken Blake

BillW50 wrote:
On 12/20/2012 10:20 AM, Stewart wrote:
Bill, thank you; I have just done that and while some things won't work
the only real problem seems to be with "Secure Boot" as I get a message
saying it isn't compatible with the pc. I do not know how important that
is but I would not have thought so.

Oh that could be a serious problem! According to Paul that posts here
says if the CPU doesn't support it, then Windows 8 won't even install.
Oddly enough 20+ here support it. Even these two tablets. Although
Windows 8 installs and runs well, Windows 8 says I can't enable Secure
Boot since it isn't available. Go figure.

So what is the make and model of your CPU anyway? Then we can look it up
to see if it is compatible with Windows 8.


Well, not to mis-quote me or anything, what a desktop needs is NX/XD
support, which means probably any AMD 64 bit processor would work
(any including S754, S939, AM2, AM2+, AM3 and so on - yes, there
are a few stinky 32 bit processors in the early ones, so that
list is not 100% true). On the Intel side, very late P4 in LGA775
supports XD. The ark.intel.com site gives details on hardware features,
if you need to look up your Intel processor.

Secure boot is mentioned here, but it's optional on a desktop.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...m-requirements

"Additional requirements to use certain features:

Secure boot requires firmware that supports
UEFI v2.3.1 Errata B and has the Microsoft Windows
Certification Authority in the UEFI signature database
"

Secure boot is mandatory for WinRT (that's Windows 8 for ARM mobile
devices). I could be wrong, but there would not be a secure boot
required for Windows 8 (desktop version) now on sale. The open
source community (Linux) are concerned that Secure Boot will be
used to lock out other OSes.

There is a tool here. Perhaps it will review hardware
features and tell you whether Windows 8 is a good fit or not.
If there are no major issues mentioned, then you could stop
the tool, run off to the store and buy the boxed version if
you want. While it's possible this tool only works in North
America, test it and see. When I run this, it warns me about
28 different issues.

"Download Upgrade Assistant"
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...e-to-windows-8

Now, when I run that here, it tells me:

"Secure Boot isn't compatible with your PC

Your PC's firmware doesn't support Secure Boot so you won't
be able to use it in Windows 8.
"

No big deal.

I like this one.

"Your screen resolution isn't compatible with snap

If it's possible, change your screen resolution to at least
1366 x 768 to snap apps.
"

Oh, dear.

This is what I'll be missing, by only owning a 17" monitor.
This is the snap feature. In the picture, a Metro app appears
along side the Desktop.

http://cloud.addictivetips.com/wp-co...11/09/Snap.jpg

I get no warning about NX/XD, which condemns most of the PCs in
my house. I know this machine has XD, so "I'm laughing".

Paul

Bill, thanks again; as far as I can see the processor is:-
a 3.4 gigahertz intel core i7-3770 with 256 kilobyte memory cache, 1024 kb
secondary and 8192 kb tertiary.
It is multi-core (4 total), hyper-threaded (8 total).
The board is an ASUSTekCM6330-UK0020.
Is this enough to identify it?



"BillW50" wrote in message ...

On 12/20/2012 10:20 AM, Stewart wrote:
Bill, thank you; I have just done that and while some things won't work
the only real problem seems to be with "Secure Boot" as I get a message
saying it isn't compatible with the pc. I do not know how important that
is but I would not have thought so.

Oh that could be a serious problem! According to Paul that posts here
says if the CPU doesn't support it, then Windows 8 won't even install.
Oddly enough 20+ here support it. Even these two tablets. Although
Windows 8 installs and runs well, Windows 8 says I can't enable Secure
Boot since it isn't available. Go figure.

So what is the make and model of your CPU anyway? Then we can look it up
to see if it is compatible with Windows 8.

--
Bill
Dell Latitute Slate Tablet 128GB SSD ('12 era) - Thunderbird v12
Intel Atom Z670 1.5GHz - 2GB - Windows Pro 8

On 12/20/2012 11:23 AM, Ken Blake wrote:
On Thu, 20 Dec 2012 15:20:13 -0000,
wrote:

I have a new desktop running windows 7 64 bit with plenty spare capacity in
the hard drive.
Would it be possible for me to create a dual boot pc with Windows 8 on one
partition while retaining windows 7 on the other partition?


Yes.

But why do you want to do that? Are you aware that Windows 8 comes
with two interfaces: the Modern/Metro Interface and one that's almost
identical to Windows 7's? Just add a third party program like the free
Classic shell, or the even better $4.99 US Start8, and you can barely
tell it from Windows7.

I totally agree! Although I am learning there might be a good reason why
you might want to keep Windows 7 on a portable machine running on
batteries (or a desktop running off of an UPS). As I have two brand new
Dell Latitude Slate Tablets. There is no wear level on either battery
yet and they still have full capacity.

One I kept Windows 7 Pro and the other has Windows 8 Pro. And BattStat
says Windows 7 uses 6 watts on average and Windows 8 uses 8 watts on
average. Thus here Windows 7 will run 5 1/2 hours and Windows 8 only
runs for 4 1/2 hours on a full charge.

At first, I thought it might be an oddity of design of this model. That
is until I learned others have seen the same thing. See for yourself.

http://gizmodo.com/5969012/short-bat...ws-8-notebooks

--
Bill
Dell Latitute Slate Tablet 128GB SSD ('12 era) - Thunderbird v12
Intel Atom Z670 1.5GHz - 2GB - Windows Pro 8

On 20/12/2012 15:20, Stewart wrote:
I have a new desktop running windows 7 64 bit with plenty spare capacity
in the hard drive.
Would it be possible for me to create a dual boot pc with Windows 8 on
one partition while retaining windows 7 on the other partition?
I think I can purchase a copy of windows 8 for around £70.
Thank you

I downloaded a trial version of windows 8 and set my laptop up as a dual
boot with windows 7. It worked ok as Windows 8 produced its own dual
boot loader, if you want to call it that.

But the more I tweaked windows 8 because I don't have a touch screen and
didn't like the tiles, the less I became inclined to use it, as it
looked just like another windows 7 OS. I know it wasn't behind the
scenes, but as I didn't like it at first, I decided to uninstall it
eventually.

On 12/20/2012 12:19 PM, Stewart wrote:
Bill, thanks again; as far as I can see the processor is:-
a 3.4 gigahertz intel core i7-3770 with 256 kilobyte memory cache, 1024
kb secondary and 8192 kb tertiary.
It is multi-core (4 total), hyper-threaded (8 total).
The board is an ASUSTekCM6330-UK0020.
Is this enough to identify it?

Yes, that one is ok. Intel calls it "Execute Disable (XD) bit".

--
Bill
Dell Latitute Slate Tablet 128GB SSD ('12 era) - Thunderbird v12
Intel Atom Z670 1.5GHz - 2GB - Windows Pro 8

Ken, thank you once more; you have helped in the past with other topics.
As I said I have windows 7 64 bit on my desktop and windows 7 32 bit on my
laptop and while both work fine there is a problem with the networking that
I won't go into again.
I thought if I installed a full copy of windows 8 then that would network
and by keeping windows 7 on a separate partition then the programs that
won't run on windows 8 would still be available to me.
I know I can upgrade to 8 but would then have to find new programs or pay
for others. For example;e I use media player and an old versions of
Microsoft money.
Maybe I am just trying to be too clever!



"Ken Blake" wrote in message
...

On Thu, 20 Dec 2012 15:20:13 -0000, "Stewart"
wrote:

I have a new desktop running windows 7 64 bit with plenty spare capacity
in
the hard drive.
Would it be possible for me to create a dual boot pc with Windows 8 on one
partition while retaining windows 7 on the other partition?


Yes.

But why do you want to do that? Are you aware that Windows 8 comes
with two interfaces: the Modern/Metro Interface and one that's almost
identical to Windows 7's? Just add a third party program like the free
Classic shell, or the even better $4.99 US Start8, and you can barely
tell it from Windows7.


--
Ken Blake

On 20/12/2012 19:29, Stewart wrote:
Ken, thank you once more; you have helped in the past with other topics.
As I said I have windows 7 64 bit on my desktop and windows 7 32 bit on
my laptop and while both work fine there is a problem with the
networking that I won't go into again.
I thought if I installed a full copy of windows 8 then that would
network and by keeping windows 7 on a separate partition then the
programs that won't run on windows 8 would still be available to me.
I know I can upgrade to 8 but would then have to find new programs or
pay for others. For example;e I use media player and an old versions of
Microsoft money.
Maybe I am just trying to be too clever!



"Ken Blake" wrote in message
...

On Thu, 20 Dec 2012 15:20:13 -0000, "Stewart"
wrote:

I have a new desktop running windows 7 64 bit with plenty spare
capacity in
the hard drive.
Would it be possible for me to create a dual boot pc with Windows 8 on
one
partition while retaining windows 7 on the other partition?


Yes.

But why do you want to do that? Are you aware that Windows 8 comes
with two interfaces: the Modern/Metro Interface and one that's almost
identical to Windows 7's? Just add a third party program like the free
Classic shell, or the even better $4.99 US Start8, and you can barely
tell it from Windows7.


Exactly, that's why I dumped windows 8.

On 12/20/2012 1:41 PM, Bob H wrote:
On 20/12/2012 19:29, Stewart wrote:
Ken, thank you once more; you have helped in the past with other topics.
As I said I have windows 7 64 bit on my desktop and windows 7 32 bit on
my laptop and while both work fine there is a problem with the
networking that I won't go into again.
I thought if I installed a full copy of windows 8 then that would
network and by keeping windows 7 on a separate partition then the
programs that won't run on windows 8 would still be available to me.
I know I can upgrade to 8 but would then have to find new programs or
pay for others. For example;e I use media player and an old versions of
Microsoft money.
Maybe I am just trying to be too clever!

"Ken Blake" wrote in message
...

On Thu, 20 Dec 2012 15:20:13 -0000, "Stewart"
wrote:

I have a new desktop running windows 7 64 bit with plenty spare
capacity in
the hard drive.
Would it be possible for me to create a dual boot pc with Windows 8 on
one
partition while retaining windows 7 on the other partition?


Yes.

But why do you want to do that? Are you aware that Windows 8 comes
with two interfaces: the Modern/Metro Interface and one that's almost
identical to Windows 7's? Just add a third party program like the free
Classic shell, or the even better $4.99 US Start8, and you can barely
tell it from Windows7.

Exactly, that's why I dumped windows 8.

My gut feeling says that might not work out too well. As I think the
future of classic applications may not be developed much anymore. We
seen the same thing back when Windows applications became more popular
than DOS applications. Then DOS development dropped off drastically. My
hope is that Windows 8 won't kill off classic Windows development, but
it might. And if Windows 9 has no desktop at all, that would be a very
bad ominous omen. :-(

--
Bill
Dell Latitute Slate Tablet 128GB SSD ('12 era) - Thunderbird v12
Intel Atom Z670 1.5GHz - 2GB - Windows Pro 8

Maybe like lots of my other ideas I should just stick with what I've got. I
shall wait until after the New Year anyway but thanks to all for talking me
through it.



"BillW50" wrote in message ...

On 12/20/2012 1:41 PM, Bob H wrote:
On 20/12/2012 19:29, Stewart wrote:
Ken, thank you once more; you have helped in the past with other topics.
As I said I have windows 7 64 bit on my desktop and windows 7 32 bit on
my laptop and while both work fine there is a problem with the
networking that I won't go into again.
I thought if I installed a full copy of windows 8 then that would
network and by keeping windows 7 on a separate partition then the
programs that won't run on windows 8 would still be available to me.
I know I can upgrade to 8 but would then have to find new programs or
pay for others. For example;e I use media player and an old versions of
Microsoft money.
Maybe I am just trying to be too clever!

"Ken Blake" wrote in message
...

On Thu, 20 Dec 2012 15:20:13 -0000, "Stewart"
wrote:

I have a new desktop running windows 7 64 bit with plenty spare
capacity in
the hard drive.
Would it be possible for me to create a dual boot pc with Windows 8 on
one
partition while retaining windows 7 on the other partition?


Yes.

But why do you want to do that? Are you aware that Windows 8 comes
with two interfaces: the Modern/Metro Interface and one that's almost
identical to Windows 7's? Just add a third party program like the free
Classic shell, or the even better $4.99 US Start8, and you can barely
tell it from Windows7.

Exactly, that's why I dumped windows 8.

My gut feeling says that might not work out too well. As I think the
future of classic applications may not be developed much anymore. We
seen the same thing back when Windows applications became more popular
than DOS applications. Then DOS development dropped off drastically. My
hope is that Windows 8 won't kill off classic Windows development, but
it might. And if Windows 9 has no desktop at all, that would be a very
bad ominous omen. :-(

--
Bill
Dell Latitute Slate Tablet 128GB SSD ('12 era) - Thunderbird v12
Intel Atom Z670 1.5GHz - 2GB - Windows Pro 8

On 12/20/2012 1:29 PM, Stewart wrote:
... For example;e I use media player and an old versions of
Microsoft money.
Maybe I am just trying to be too clever!

I can't tell any difference between the media player in Windows 7 or
Windows 8. Both are v12. Maybe the build number is different, but it
acts the same.

MS Money? You know the last version of MS Money was released for free?
It is called MS Money Plus. I don't know if Microsoft still has the
download available or not. But I am sure it is out there somewhere from
other sources.

--
Bill
Dell Latitute Slate Tablet 128GB SSD ('12 era) - Thunderbird v12
Intel Atom Z670 1.5GHz - 2GB - Windows Pro 8