Dual boot dilemma

I recently acquired Windows 7 Professional. Did a clean install over Vista. Had been toying with the idea of having two seperate installs of Windows 7, each on its own partition and also a 3rd partition which would be visible and accessible to both OS partitions. I do not want the OS partitions to be aware of each other though. I bought PM 10 thinking that it might simplify the creation of this configuration but I have just run into problems so far. I have been researching and learning what I can in my spare time for the past couple weeks but still a lot of confusion remains on how to properly create this kind of configuration. Can anyone help me out by explaining or referencing how to do this? It would be much appreciated.

 

Not sure why you want to Hide the two 7 installations from each other.

Easiest is to create a partition - install the second 7 either by booting the dvd, ( or - depending on the bit version , run the setup.exe from the desktop , or from a virtual cdrom drive) onto the new partition.

You will automatically get a dual boot menu. You don't need to use Paragon boot manager at all in this situation.

To hide one partition from an o/s - just do a simple registry change ( there are free tweak apps which will do it for you).

Or you can d/l the .reg files to do it for you from here:

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/155795-drive-hide-unhide.html

 

You can also clone your existing Windows 7 partition and put it on a 2nd partition. Boot to the original Windows 7, use a program like EasyBCD, add the additional Windows 7 to your boot list and you'll have identical OSes without going through the installation twice. You can hide the partitions with PM 10 simply by right-clicking the partition and hide.

 

That's a good point Tommy.

I assumed he wanted separate installs so he could have one of 32 bit, and the other 64 bit.

If you want the same bit version - there is an easy way with PM10.

Make Unallocated space for the second installation (at least as large as the first partition )

Then just use the copy partition function - copy the partition containing the existing 7 installation into the Unallocated space and you will have the dual boot menu.

You won't need to get any updates, or reinstall programs - it is a much easier and quicker way than reinstalling.

Hope it helps.

 

Hiding Windows OS partitions from each other is my preferred method. I like them isolated and independent (including the booting files). I've seen my share of cross-linking between similar OS partitions and it's nasty to try and fix. In addition, if super-hiding is available, I use it. That way, each Windows OS is not even aware of the existence of the other partitions.

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When you copy a partition as suggested, does PM10 automatically adjust the Registry's MountedDevices values? If not, then wouldn't the copy still have the C: partition referencing the original Windows partition?

 

Thanks for all the advice guys. I really didn't think I would get any responses this soon. Unfortunately, I didn't read this in time to create the 2nd partition and winced through another 7 installation. Oh well. I'll definitely keep the cloning option in mind if I would want to do this again. The reason for wanting the seperate OS's that are hidden from each other is mainly because one of the OS partitions is going to be exposed to some nasty stuff. File sharing, etc. It will undoubtedly be compromised, infected, screwed or what have you, at some point in the future. Would be nice if and when that day comes to know that I have a working OS on a seperate partition that I can still boot from and which safely contains all my personal stuff. This 3rd partition that I mentioned would be visible to both OS partitions and allow an easy way to pass media or whatever between them. I realize and accept the security risks involved in having this 3rd partition setup that way. So, that's the setup I was looking to create and the reason why. I appreciate the link you suggested SIW2. What it describes is how to hide or unhide partitions through Local Group Policy. It seems that implementing this would essentially accomplish what I intend along with restricting access to a drive as mentioned here: http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/155588-drive-access-restrict-unrestrict.html. Ideally though, I would want the OS partitions to not even be aware of each other's existence as MudCrab mentioned. Any suggestions or thoughts on this are appreciated.

 

calitrash006,

I sent you a PM.

 

Hi Mudcrab,

I'd like to know your sugestion for that - if it's not private.

Thanks

 

SIW2,

I sent you a PM.

 

Thanks.