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Dual booting Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 r2

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Hey,

I just finished setting up my new dev environment on my work laptop.
There's some key elements to do this in a successful matter.

Start setting your win7 up normally.
When selecting harddisk, make sure you create a partition that fits your need and make sure to leave space for the VHD that will contain Win2k8r2.
After the win7 installation, reboot and put in your Win2k8 dvd.
After selecting language press shift+f10 to get into the winpe console.

  1. Enter DISKPART to run the utility.
  2. LIST DISK to see the available disks in your system.  I am assuming a single raw disk.
  3. SEL DISK 0
  4. CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
  5. FORMAT FS=NTFS QUICK
  6. LIST VOL
  7. ASSIGN
  8. LIST VOL
  9. CREATE VDISK FILE=d:\win2k8r2.vhd MAXIMUM=50000 TYPE=EXPANDABLE
  10. SELECT VDISK FILE=d:\win2k8r2.vhd
  11. ATTACH VDISK
  12. CRE PART PRI
  13. FORMAT FS=NTFS QUICK
  14. ASSIGN LETTER=V:
  15. LIST VOL
  16. LIST VDISK
  17. exit DISPART
  18. exit WinPE command console
  19. Install to the newly created 200GB (fuzzy math) virtual hard disk which looks just like a partition to Windows Setup

This is all there is to it, after installation, your system will boot up with a boot loader, and here you can choose between 2k8 and win7...

AWESOME!!!!!

Comments

  • Anonymous
    April 15, 2010
    Wow, thanks a lot for this tutorial, it solved my problems.
  • Anonymous
    August 25, 2010
    what is VHD? and what's the use of that?
  • Anonymous
    March 17, 2011
    I know this is an old post, but i was wondering, if hyper-v works natively on my machine, will it still work if i install 2008 in a vhd like in this tutorial?
  • Anonymous
    March 29, 2011
    This was very helpful,but a mate of mine could not use this in Vista!Thanks!Eduard MiOwner of: <a href="http://www.howtogetskinnyfastinfo.com">how to get skinny fast</a>
  • Anonymous
    April 13, 2011
    @Chris, yes if you have your win2k8 in a vhd you're still able to utilize hyperv natively on your machine.@Eduard, I have tried this on vista with success :)@khen, if you dont know what a vhd is look it up, but in short its a virtual harddrive that can hold your entire system and you can boot into it...
  • Anonymous
    June 25, 2011
    Thanks a bunch. This was exacly what I was looking for. A mate gave the the link! Im so  gratefulTroy from www.bestpriceelectronicsreviews.com/.../troy-bilt-tb90bc
  • Anonymous
    October 15, 2011
    What about dual booting Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 without using a VHD file for the second OS? Is it possible?
  • Anonymous
    November 14, 2011
    If you install it on 2 different partiions and after the installation edit the BCD settings this is possible :)
  • Anonymous
    April 12, 2012
    Is there a way to use this to install manually like applying a wim file? Or maybe applying a ghost file to the VHD. I've tried just applying a bootable ghost image but it doesn't work. I only ask because I have a corporate image that I have to use but want to be able to use a HYPER-V POCSERVER in Server 2008 also and need the dual boot capabilities.