Need to convert Win7 laptop to Dual Boot Win7/Win10

[AMR Labs]

I have this Dell D630 travel laptop running Win7 that I use strictly offline (no Internet) for some very specific programs and control applications, some requiring a physical serial port, hence the choice of this specific laptop model. Applications run fine on Win7 but now one of the recent updates to one application requires Win10 to work. So wanted to try and get Win10 "side-installed" so that I could actually choose which OS to boot into depending if the situation will require that one application under Win10. Otherwise I just weep on Win7 which is annoying enough, but not as much as Win10. And I really don't want to go full time into Win10 (and even less into Win11), as Win7 works fine, and also want to avoid having to take two separate laptops on field trips. Yes I have also considered taking two HDs (SSDs), one for each OS, but again, the ideal solution would be to have a dual booting laptop.

I do have some IT tinkering experience since the 90s with DOS, Win3.1, then 95 (skipped 98 altogether), then Win2K, and ultimately settled on W2K3, and Win7 only for some specific requirements, and now I got to content with Win10 thank you not so much. But before this I never really went into Win10 and beyond after I was already forced into "upgrading" a whole separate machine to Win7 some years ago for the purpose described earlier and everything was fine until now.

I am assuming dual booting 7/10 should be possible as I have done some light reading on the subject, however no specific instructions where given as to what would be needed in terms of the specific Win10 installer media. So do I need to look for one of those $20-$25 installer CDs on ebay with the product activation code, or rather download a Win10 installation file (not my favorite option), or are there any other options available? And for activation of Win10 would entering the product key on the CD be sufficient, or does it still require some form of hopefully uncomplicated procedure? (but with MS I doubt it will be simple).

I want to keep this process as simple as possible, just backup my current Win7 C drive, open some space and create a new partition on the disk and use it to install Win10 completely separate from Win7 and then get a boot menu selection upon power up.

Hoping to get some A-B-C instructions here. Thank you for any pointers.

[MarkF]

I can't remember any more. But, I believe that if you install Win10 on a
separate partition that the Windows installer will ask you to create the
bootup menu for you at the end.  Maybe someone here can verify that.

First though, I would investigate whether your other apps would run on Win10.
If so, take the leap and move all to Win10.
I have two laptops (one Win7 and the other Win10) and have not found an app that
doesn't run on both.

[MarkF]

Follow up:

This looks like a pretty comprehensive how-to video:

 

[AMR Labs]

First though, I would investigate whether your other apps would run on Win10.
If so, take the leap and move all to Win10.

Of course everything in win7 works on win10, but in case I did not make it clear, I find the win10 interface to be very annoying compared to win7 (not to mention the lag everything has), compared to a good old "pro" interface that used to be the norm in older OSs like WinNT and Server OS, without all all those (to me (annoying) convenience nonsense layers and wizards just to make access and procedures more "user friendly" to the non-tech savvy user, and that also end up creating those lags and reaction slow downs.

Win7 is as far as I want to go unless like in this case that an application really demands Win10 which in the end its just all about selling more copies of windows by forcing you to "upgrade" to a crappier OS. And this is definitively as far as I want to go discussing the pro and cons of "modern" OSs, so just wanted to make sure to clarify that any suggestions about permanent OS "upgrades" are not an option.

As it is I can barely muster having to use Win7 and its annoyances and idiosyncrasies just because there was no other option, but definitively and absolutely don't want Win10 to be my everyday OS in that laptop. Too much of yet another uphill battle to tame and tweak it, customize it and get used to the new to me interface, and I really don't feel like having to go through that anymore as I have done on other previous OSs in the past. So really just want to keep exposure to Win10 as little as possible, just to use that one application that requires it when needed.

[MarkF]

I too prefer Win7 and it is my daily driver.

On the other hand, I have tweaked and disabled so much of Win10 that is
not that much different from Win7.  And Win11 is a total NO-GO. It is
not an operating system.  It is a dumb terminal with AI learning as much
as it can about you.

This video comes to mind:
 

[digsys]

I have a few PCs, of all types, with at least XP, Win7 and 1 with W10 as well. I use a dedicated 3rd party boot / partition manager, which makes it a piece of cake.
It even did one  laptop with a dual W11 / Win7 which works quite well. It does do a 2nd start sorting out the boot manager / UEFI etc etc but it works.
I am at work currently, will post it tonight. I use Win7 99% of the time, as I too have 100's of low level / machine code programs for dozens and dozens of emulators etc etc
I reluctantly switched form 99% XP a year ago, as I needed "better" access to some newer fancier :-) programs.
My Win11 partition, I started a year ago, still slowly fighting to install / at least get running 100s of my favourite apps.

[wilfred]

Do you "need" the updates to that application? If you are not inclined to hug the bleeding edge as retaining Win7 would suggest, can you just not upgrade?

In any case I would discourage dual booting just to support a single application. And definitely make a backup HDD with your pre dual boot setup. And test it. and then do a trial run dual boot on this drive to make sure you don't accidentally choose an option that overwrites (as Windows is wont to do) the existing Win7 setup.

Then remake the backup and go forward with the permanent dual boot setup based on notes you made the first time around.

In any case I suggest installing Win10 in a virtual machine and then you will have your application and the current Win7 without the constant need to reboot.

[AMR Labs]

Follow up:
This looks like a pretty comprehensive how-to video:
youtube.com/watch?v=y04stVHmKxs

Yes, very clear win10 side install guide, thank you. A bit over explained, but better getting too much info than too little.
However the download link for the media creation download seems to have gone from the description, but I found it anyway by searching.
BTW does Win10 really require all of 30GB to install? My Win7 HD is a bit limited, so only want to give it the absolute minimum space to run somewhat decently.
In any event the laptop only has 4GB RAM anyhow, so not expecting any miracles.

[coromonadalix]

why dual boot

if you have a 32 bit windows 10, compatibility mode works very well ??  unless you do have very restricted win 7  softwares who detect the host ... 

compatibility mode has the needed settings ...

as for win 10 interface, there are plenty of ways to revert the look and feel
and there are free aps  who will lock windows 10 updates to help stabilize your machine ... and avoid Msoft crappyness

you're simply took a longer road ... no pun

[AMR Labs]

Do you "need" the updates to that application? If you are not inclined to hug the bleeding edge as retaining Win7 would suggest, can you just not upgrade?

In any case I would discourage dual booting just to support a single application. And definitely make a backup HDD with your pre dual boot setup. And test it. and then do a trial run dual boot on this drive to make sure you don't accidentally choose an option that overwrites (as Windows is wont to do) the existing Win7 setup.

Then remake the backup and go forward with the permanent dual boot setup based on notes you made the first time around.

In any case I suggest installing Win10 in a virtual machine and then you will have your application and the current Win7 without the constant need to reboot.

If that question was aimed at me, then yes, I needed to upgrade the application to the latest version, which happens from time to time as new features or modifications are added, and not upgrading precludes you from communicating with newer devices which would come with updated firmware that would not talk to previous versions of the application. Only this time I got the surprise that the application did not want to be upgraded under Win7, so had to get a separate low cost laptop off ebay with Win10 just for the purpose. But having to take two separate laptops during field service trips is starting to get to be a burden so don't want to keep doing that. Hence the dual boot option. And I absolutely do not want to go full time into Win10. Just don't have the time or energy to tweak and fix it up yet another OS anymore, as I have been doing with any of the ones that I have used in the past since the 90s.

BTW as a side note my everyday main computer still runs Windows Server 2003, first Standard version then upgraded to Enterprise to be able to use more RAM (only up to 8GB which is what this machine allows, but ever since switched to Enterprise not entirely happy the way those 8GB RAM are being managed by W2K3 as it seems to never be able to use all of it for applications). I actually upgraded from W2K as at the time some "bigger" application updates where no longer able to get enough resources from the OS, so went straight onto W2K3. Other than the RAM management nuisance, in my opinion and experience to me W2K3 is still the very best ever Windows OS of all times: super stable, fast and capable, and technically accessible, so really optimized and made for persons with the necessary knowledge without using any wizards or stupid time and resource wasting procedures. And over the years I've tweak the hell out of it among others with nLite, and in these modern time, absolutely hardened security. Another "tweak" I always have done to all my machines is that any program data and storage is always been located on a separate partition instead of C, so if the OS (or the whole of C) ever needs to be restored from a crash, absolutely no data is ever touched or lost. I've also somewhat tweaked the win7 machine as well to make it more towards the "classic" feel, but only so far as to not getting too involved, mostly just for the most obvious performance and appearance tweaks.

But obviously in these "mandatory OS upgrade" times, small downside is that I am no longer able to upgrade Firefox past v52.9, so yes some of my sites of interest do now break (not this one), but that is where another dedicated separate Win7 laptop comes in. But since all of my everyday applications run fine, for now not even near to permanently switching OS in this machine. To me it all started to go downhill with the introduction of XP and beyond.

In terms of dual booting, I do have full Win7 backups (with Acronis), so will make sure to be up to the minute on those backups and just go ahead and setup dual boot by following the instruction on that YT video. Besides what can possibly go wrong with a MS product?!

[AMR Labs]

why dual boot

if you have a 32 bit windows 10, compatibility mode works very well ??  unless you do have very restricted win 7  softwares who detect the host ... 

compatibility mode has the needed settings ...

as for win 10 interface, there are plenty of ways to revert the look and feel
and there are free aps  who will lock windows 10 updates to help stabilize your machine ... and avoid Msoft crappyness

you're simply took a longer road ... no pun

The thing is the application will not let me upgrade under Win7 anymore, so not just a matter of running it under compatibility mode. Besides don't even see Win10 on the compatibility mode list if I where even to try to run the updater in Win7. That laptop stays 100% offline all the time, no updates ever, and I want to keep it that way. If it aint broke...

And yes, I assume out there are plenty of the usual tweaks available also for Win10 (Powershell, Power Toys, etc) to make it feel more like Win7, however as I mentioned before, running a bit out of steam, time, and willingness on keep doing those as they tend to get quite involved and time consuming, at least to me. If you have ever sat for 8-10 hours straight in front of a machine, if you know what I am talking about, while installing and tweaking an OS, then get all the applications and programs installed in the right order, plus any utilities etc, and fully document each step. And absolutely make one clean backup of the freshly minted "virgin" OS, and then absolutely do an incremental BU after each important step taken forward, so you can easily backtrack at any point if something goes wrong along the way. That, at least to me, is the only way to end up with a keeper OS that behaves well, and does not do stupid things at the worst possible times.

And that burden would specially apply to a now still quite unfamiliar to me OS like win10, as up to now I had pretty much ignored anything related to it. So far I absolutely hated the "improved" (according to MS) Win10 user interface from the start, and it felt like the OS was fighting me all the time and hiding things on purpose just to keep itself "safe", plus those very annoying pop up security messages all the time (disabled those very quickly). But for now I just quickly do what I need and get out of it when done. Maybe I'll try some Win10 customization tweaks in the future, although admit already done some of the more common recommended performance boosts out there and it seems to have helped a bit with the lags and slowness.

[MarkF]

Follow up:
This looks like a pretty comprehensive how-to video:
youtube.com/watch?v=y04stVHmKxs

Yes, very clear win10 side install guide, thank you. A bit over explained, but better getting too much info than too little.
However the download link for the media creation download seems to have gone from the description, but I found it anyway by searching.
BTW does Win10 really require all of 30GB to install? My Win7 HD is a bit limited, so only want to give it the absolute minimum space to run somewhat decently.
In any event the laptop only has 4GB RAM anyhow, so not expecting any miracles.

I have never installed Win10. My laptop came with Win10 installed on a hard drive and no installation disks.
I just cloned the hard disk onto a SSD.  Win10 really wants a SSD for speed. With the SSD it's (Intel i5 with 8GB memory) as fast as my Win7 laptop.

And yes, the 'Windows' folder is 32GB after installation plus the 'Program Files' folders.  Don't know how much overhead is needed during install.

I have started creating a separate partition for my data files.
If it comes time I need to re-install Windows, my data is protected and I just wipe the Windows partition.

[AMR Labs]

I have never installed Win10. My laptop came with Win10 installed on a hard drive and no installation disks.
I just cloned the hard disk onto a SSD.  Win10 really wants a SSD for speed. With the SSD it's (Intel i5 with 8GB memory) as fast as my Win7 laptop.

And yes, the 'Windows' folder is 32GB after installation plus the 'Program Files' folders.  Don't know how much overhead is needed during install.

That win7 laptop is actually my last machine that still has a mechanical HD, but going to leave it as is for now with the dual boot setup. Not worth replacing yet just to occasionally use win10.
Thank you for confirming the folder size size, have to check what I have on that laptop, I think its a 120 or 160GB HDD, which should be enough to add win10.

Come to think of it, I still have yet another D630 win7 32bit just in case stored in a closet, purchased just in case anything happens to the one I use on service trips, and none is available at the time on ebay as a replacement. That way a simple HDD swap and back in business, but will have to check what size drive that one has, but pretty sure its just a 80GB so not worth messing with, but I might be wrong.

Come to think of it, will start looking for any Intel SSDs around 800GB to keep price down as I also need to upgrade my other everyday use Dell E6510 win7 that is already full at 480GB (way too many movies in there), so might as well buy two if available. Only thing with SSDs, I only like to buy new sealed units, nothing used refurbished etc. So far in the past always been lucky and end up finding someone that has a brand new unused and sealed SSD for sale. Let me go check to see whats available.

I have started creating a separate partition for my data files.
If it comes time I need to re-install Windows, my data is protected and I just wipe the Windows partition.

Yes, exactly that's what I was talking about. Having everything stored on C is very risky, specially big MP4 files that are just too large to backup, and most people don't even realize this.

[KE5FX]

Win10 LTSC is the sweet spot.  It can be tamed to emulate Windows 7 in all the respects that matter, while being able to run newer software with (generally artificial, nonsensical and unjustifiable) requirements for Windows 10.

Another alternative is to hack the software in question to run on Windows 7.  Again, chances are that it will work just fine once the artificial requirement is found and removed.  This can be as simple as temporarily installing the software on Windows 10 and copying various files back to your Windows 7 partition, or tasking an LLM to remove the OS version check.  But for the most part it's better to bite the bullet and move to Win10 LTSC.

[MarkF]

I have started creating a separate partition for my data files.
If it comes time I need to re-install Windows, my data is protected and I just wipe the Windows partition.

Yes, exactly that's what I was talking about. Having everything stored on C is very risky, specially big MP4 files that are just too large to backup, and most people don't even realize this.

I've been using Microsoft SyncToy to keep my backups just between my two laptops over WIFI.
Figure both laptops won't crash at the same time.  I do have older (longer updates) on thumbdrives.

I don't know if SyncToy is still available for download.
You just setup folder pairs between the two CPUs and SyncToy compares and updates the files.
Setup multiple folder pairs to scan individually or all at once.
Nice tool even though it's from Microsoft.

[AMR Labs]

Win10 LTSC is the sweet spot.  It can be tamed to emulate Windows 7 in all the respects that matter, while being able to run newer software with (generally artificial, nonsensical and unjustifiable) requirements for Windows 10.

Is there any other difference in this version from the regular win10 pro aside from the Long-Term Servicing Channel?

Another alternative is to hack the software in question to run on Windows 7.  Again, chances are that it will work just fine once the artificial requirement is found and removed.  This can be as simple as temporarily installing the software on Windows 10 and copying various files back to your Windows 7 partition, or tasking an LLM to remove the OS version check.  But for the most part it's better to bite the bullet and move to Win10 LTSC.

But of course it will run fine! And I am sure that there is always a way to trick software, but I am not experienced enough in that to find a workable solution. Probably involves decompiling, editing, and recompiling. But nowadays that most main stream applications are being protected from that kind of tampering, even less sure where even to start.

Really hate those artificial requirements just to force an OS "upgrade", basically so MS can sell some more copies. Its definitively a symbiotic relation between MS, and the hardware and software manufacturers. Want a newer version of your program? now you need to upgrade your OS. But then the machine runs the program slower, so now will also need more ram, a bigger SSD, or maybe even a whole new machine. It just goes round and round.

[KE5FX]

Is there any other difference in this version from the regular win10 pro aside from the Long-Term Servicing Channel?

Nothing meaningful.  The Windows Store isn't installed by default, but I believe it can be added later (I never tried, and never intend to.) 

Everything that runs on Windows 10 will run on the LTSC IoT version.

[AMR Labs]

Is there any other difference in this version from the regular win10 pro aside from the Long-Term Servicing Channel?

Nothing meaningful.  The Windows Store isn't installed by default, but I believe it can be added later (I never tried, and never intend to.) 

Everything that runs on Windows 10 will run on the LTSC IoT version.

OK, so just another variation of the same flavor.

So there is actually a "Windows Store" right inside the OS?
Well, there is a sucker born every day...