Am I able to install Windows 7 to dual boot with my current Windows 10 installation? Nitro N50-100.

Logiq · January 26

I would like to know if I can dual boot Windows 7 with Windows 10 on my PC.

My PC that I am using is a Acer Nitro N50-100.

Thanks.

AnhEZ28 · January 27

It won't work because there is no driver for Windows 7 to run on.

Logiq · January 27

AnhEZ28 said:

It won't work because there is no driver for Windows 7 to run on.

I don't mind about drivers, I was just wondering if i was even able to boot from it.

Leostat · January 27

In theory, Depending on your use case it may be better to host it inside a VM

Logiq · January 28

Leostat said:

In theory, Depending on your use case it may be better to host it inside a VM

I get that but I want to use it directly from my hard drive with no vms.

AnhEZ28 · January 28

Logiq said:

Leostat said:

In theory, Depending on your use case it may be better to host it inside a VM

I get that but I want to use it directly from my hard drive with no vms.

If you can change to legacy in BIOS, you may success installing windows 7. If there's only UEFI, you can't do it.

Leostat · January 28

Why not? Win7 Supports UEFI

if I remember you needed to do something weird with rufus to get it to boot ( https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/186875-uefi-unified-extensible-firmware-interface-install-windows-7-a.html )

Logiq · January 28

AnhEZ28 said:

Logiq said:

Leostat said:

In theory, Depending on your use case it may be better to host it inside a VM

I get that but I want to use it directly from my hard drive with no vms.

If you can change to legacy in BIOS, you may success installing windows 7. If there's only UEFI, you can't do it.

Would I have to change this setting everytime i wanted to go back to Windows 10, because I do have a UEFI/Legacy option in my bios.

Edit: Would I also get to keep it on the same hard drive or would I have to move it to a partition on my second one?

AnhEZ28 · January 29

Yes, you have to change back to UEFI for using Windows 10.
You can only install it on the second hard drive. Make sure that drive is in MBR partition style.

Logiq · January 29

AnhEZ28 said:

Yes, you have to change back to UEFI for using Windows 10.
You can only install it on the second hard drive. Make sure that drive is in MBR partition style.

Would I have to format it, because I have a lot of games on it, or would I be better off using a Windows To Go install on a 2TB external hard drive?

Logiq · January 29

Leostat said:

Why not? Win7 Supports UEFI if I remember you needed to do something weird with rufus to get it to boot ( https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/186875-uefi-unified-extensible-firmware-interface-install-windows-7-a.html )

I tried this but whenever it gets to the "Starting Windows" screen with the Windows logo animation, it crashes. I think it might be a driver problem because the same happens with Linux because I used to dual boot with Ubuntu and I had to go into a safe mode type thing and install the display driver I needed. After that it was fine. It could also be the UEFI thing but I'm not sure. We'll see when I try on Legacy mode, if I do end up trying it.

AnhEZ28 · January 29

That's why you can only use Legacy boot for windows 7. You don't have to format the hdd, you can create a new volume on that drive and install on it. Make sure that you don't install on the volume where you stored games.

Logiq · January 29

AnhEZ28 said:

That's why you can only use Legacy boot for windows 7. You don't have to format the hdd, you can create a new volume on that drive and install on it. Make sure that you don't install on the volume where you stored games.

So I can have one partition with games in GPT and then another partition in MBR?

Well, before I do that I'm going to try do it on my external hard drive with a WTG install on MBR.

Leostat · January 29

I dont think you can split paritions like that, but you dont need to use legacy mode! whats the SATA mode on these machines?

Logiq · January 29

AnhEZ28 said:

That's why you can only use Legacy boot for windows 7. You don't have to format the hdd, you can create a new volume on that drive and install on it. Make sure that you don't install on the volume where you stored games.

Ok. I tried using an MBR version of Windows 7 and Rufus said it would work on Legacy or UEFI. I tried UEFI first and it crashed and restarted the PC. I tried Legacy after to no more luck but after the crash I saw a bluescreen that came up for a few seconds about a driver error. After that it mimicked what the UEFI one did and crashed and restarted. It is most likely not possible to use Windows 7 on the model PC I have unless you have a driver preinstalled that loads when it boots.