Dual-Boot Windows 7 (English) and Windows 7 (German)

B

Bernd B.

Member
Hi Folks,

I come with a rather silly question (maybe) and accept ritual whippings with wet noodles as punishment if this is too silly:

As I need to use Voice Pro 12 to "write", I recently bought a shine new hp laptop with Windows 7 (English) preinstalled, installed Voice Pro 12 and it did not work. Why? VP12 needs a language-specific Windows 7 version, in my case German. So I ordered an original Windows 7 (German) and now am at a loss ...

Can I install a dual boot system with two Windows 7, one German, one English, with no problem - and would the normal Windows multiboot procedure be save enough?

Or would you recommend using EasyBCD in this case? I'll never use it for anything else again ... maybe this would be overkill?

Or would you rather recommend reinstalling Windows 7 (German) completely and losing the hp drivers etc.????

I need a foolproof, easy and fast (yet clean) solution to this and am at my wits end, to be quite honest - unless I find a solution I'll be forced to quit my day job wich involves massive writing tasks.

Sorry for whining!

Thanks in advance ...

Bernd
 
Hi Bernd, welcome to NST.
Are you getting a new HDD, or repartitioning the existing one ?
If the new installation "sees" the existing one, it will automatically add an entry to the existing BCD and the dual-boot will just happen.
If you Install a new version to a new HDD with the original disconnected, you'll have 2 totally independent W7s. Put whichever you want to be dominant as 1st in the BIOS, install EasyBCD 2.0 latest build on it, and add a W7 entry pointing to the partition with the other system, and you'll also have a dual-boot. (slight advantage - If the main OS ever breaks for any reason, you can be up and running in the 2nd by just changing the BIOS sequence. In the 1st scenario, if the boot breaks, you're locked out of both systems till you fix it)
 
Hi Terry,

thanks for the welcome and the quick answer ... which I only got today due to work commitments - my current course of action would be to partition the disk on the laptop as per W7 instructions, than plonk the German version of W7 onto that and let nature (or rather W7) run wild. Keeping fingers crossed, of course.

If I understand you correct this would be perfectly feasible and no further work (except choosing which W7 to start during boot-up) would be necessary ... or am I plain confused?

Regards,

Bernd
 
Yes, adding a 2nd W7 should just create 2 entries in the BCD of the 1st, giving you a boot menu at startup.
Use EasyBCD to change the timeout to something like 5 seconds, the menu names to be your preference and the default system to be your preferred language, and you won't even need to select a menu option. You can leave the PC to boot unattended, taking almost no extra time, but have the option (in a 5 second window) to hit the arrow keys (stopping the clock) and select your optional OS.
 
I just would like to add that in order to avoid the need of 2 independant OS to work with the language packs in the Ultimate version. You only need to log off and log on again - not even reboot:
 
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