Dual or triple boot problems

S

SeattleSam

Member
I have Windows 11 on the first of three larger partitions on my hard drive (not including the small partitions created when I installed Windows 11). I cloned my working Windows 10 installation to the second partition, and cloned my working Windows 7 installation to the third partition. I added the Win 7 and 10 partitions in the Easy BCD interface. On startup, however, the Windows 11 partition boots normally, but when I select either of the other two, they don't boot. I've done this before successfully on an MBR drive, but this is a GPT drive. Does this make a difference? If so, is there a fix for this?
 
  1. All OS versions must support UEFI. Windows 7 does have UEFI support, but it can be tricky, especially with older installation media.
  2. Cloning might not transfer over the necessary UEFI boot files or update the EFI System Partition (ESP) correctly.
To fix:

  1. Ensure your motherboard's firmware is set to UEFI mode, not legacy or CSM.
  2. Repair the boot for Windows 7 and 10 individually using their respective installation media and the "bootrec" tool.
  3. Consider using Windows 11's boot manager or another third-party tool that supports GPT/UEFI multi-boot scenarios.
 
Avacole said:
  1. All OS versions must support UEFI. Windows 7 does have UEFI support, but it can be tricky, especially with older installation media.
  2. Cloning might not transfer over the necessary UEFI boot files or update the EFI System Partition (ESP) correctly.
To fix:

  1. Ensure your motherboard's firmware is set to UEFI mode, not legacy or CSM.
  2. Repair the boot for Windows 7 and 10 individually using their respective installation media and the "bootrec" tool.
  3. Consider using Windows 11's boot manager or another third-party tool that supports GPT/UEFI multi-boot scenarios.
Click to expand...
How do I use Windows 11 boot manager?
 
Thanks for this information. The bootrec tool failed on /fixboot (access denied) for both the Win 7 and Win10 installations. I have had bios set at CSM. I'll see what happens if I switch it to UEFI only.
 
I think I figured out a way to do this. It's clunky, but it works for me. It's necessary to have at least one installation that will boot. It's also necessary to have Windows installation disks for the OS's you are cloning. You don't have to have activation codes for them, just the ability to install with or without activation.

First, create a partition a little larger than the size of the installation you unsuccessfully tried to clone.

Second, using your installation disk, install Windows on the partition (or disk) that you had just created. After that installation, you can boot into it.
Now you have two bootable partitions, the original good installation and the new "throwaway" version.

Third, reboot into the original "good" installation and use Easy BCD to add that the throwaway installation. On reboot, you should have the ability to boot into either the original or the throwaway version.

Fourth, re-clone the OS of the formerly unbootable installation to the same location where you just created the throwaway version. The cloning software (or command prompt) will overwrite the throwaway version.

You should now be able to boot into either the original version or the cloned version. You can do this with any number of partitions.

Here's the takeaway: Each time you install Windows, you create a bootable partition (or disk). The partition is bootable because you directed Easy BCD to add that partition, even if you delete its contents and copy or clone another installation on to it.
 
Back
Top