Dual Booting Issues

[freeagent]

I wanted to try Win 10, but because I also need to keep Win 7 just so I can better assist neighbour's who use Win 7, when they have questions. So ideally, I would like to have both Win 7 and Win 10 available. Either need two machines, or a dual-boot set up.

I asked on a Microsoft forum. They say that dual booting is not allowed, unless you BUY a copy of one of the windows versions. So for example, suppose you clone your Win7 installation to a separate disc/partition, then do an upgrade on the version on your main disk. Now you have both versions on your computer and can dual boot. Physically, you can only use one version of Windows at any time, but Microsoft says you need two licenses! Another way of looking at it, is that by doing the upgrade to Win 10, you destroy your Win 7 license. You can reverse this so long as you do it within 30 days, but after that you are SOL.

What I did not ask MS about, was backups. All of us should have a backup of our system on an external drive. I think even MS allows that. So once you have upgraded to Win 10, the Win 7 backup is still there, and no doubt could be used at any time even after 30 days. MS would probably say you should destroy the backup. But then we could not restore our refurbished Lenovos to their original state?

I have a question about System Restore on our refurbished Lenovos. Am I right in that if this is used from the boot screen, it will revert Win 7 to it's basic form with no new apps or data, as it was when we bought our refurbished Lenovos? So now what happens with System Restore after we have converted to Win10? The partition is still there.

[dizmayed]

Dear Freeagent:

You received no replies so I'll add my meager comment/experience. This may not apply to your computer.

I also wanted win 7 and win 10 on the same computer. I also "read" that the traditional dual boot set-up, where the OS is selected at start-up, may require separate licenses for each OS. Perhaps. I don't know.

I refer to a desktop computer that accommodates several hard drives:

I had Win 7 on the original HDD. I made a bootable clone using Macrium Reflect Free to a new HDD in an external USB enclosure. I disconnected the original HDD and replaced it with the bootable clone to test it. It booted okay. Good. I disconnected that HDD.

I reconnected the original Win 7 HDD. From that I performed the Win 10 upgrade. You prob know to do that, right?

This computer now has two HDDs each with its own OS. I must select which HDD/OS to boot using the BIOS setup.

Perhaps helpful?

dizmayed

[jdrou]

I don't think there's much question that it is possible to dual-boot as a technical matter; "not allowed" would only mean in a strict legal sense.
If you have a Windows 7 installed using OEM activation (i.e. it doesn't need to activate online) it doesn't stop working on that system after you do an upgrade. Either separate disks as described above or separate partitions on the same disk should both work. I'd be surprised if that didn't also apply to non-OEM Windows keys.