Dual Boot Windows 8 & Windows 7

BroLo

I am considering getting Windows 8 before the 31st January limit.

I do not want to lose Windows 7 and if the following can't be done I will leave it.

Can I buy the Windows 8 Upgrade option (It's €30 or so correct?), and dual boot it with my current Windows 7 Set up?

yoyo

Moved from Comp & Tech.

FSL

Technically yes but it would violate the terms of the licence.

BroLo

FSL wrote: »

Technically yes but it would violate the terms of the licence.

Cheers, I'll leave Windows 8 so. Read a few places saying because I have 7 on the computer it's technically not breaking it or something.

Fysh

Technically it's pretty straightforward; however, part of the terms you agree to when installing your Windows 8 Upgrade is that you lose the right to run the previous installation by doing so. (I'm not 100% sure whether you could subsequently roll back to Win 7 should Win 8 prove a washout for you, but I'd imagine you could argue yoru case).

So yes, you can do, but you'll only be properly licenced only if you've got an additional Win7 licence for the machine in question.

Overheal

Probably still worth grabbing while it's a cheap upgrade.

From a technical aspect (dualbooting 7 and 8 both licensed) there are some things that windows 8 does with shadow volumes and other wizardry that makes it seem a little more confusing to do this than in past versions of the OS. Do your homework first, I remember it was something they warned our bench techs about during the product launch.

ablelocks

don't ask me how, because i didn't choose it, but on boot up i have the option to choose windows 8 or an earlier version. Next time i boot up I'll select that and see what happens. (although knowing my luck, i'll feck something up and be back here looking for overheals help again...)

Capt'n Midnight

BroLo wrote: »

Cheers, I'll leave Windows 8 so. Read a few places saying because I have 7 on the computer it's technically not breaking it or something.

They are wrong.

Depending on the version you'd need two licenses if you installed two copies of the same version of windows on different partitions on the same hard drive.

you don't buy software, you buy a licence to use that software subject to whatever Faustian clauses they can think of

Capt'n Midnight

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

They are wrong.

Depending on the version you'd need two licenses if you installed two copies of the same version of windows on different partitions on the same hard drive.

you don't buy software, you buy a licence to use that software subject to whatever Faustian clauses they can think of

Not to mention two licences for every piece of software you install on it, as it's treated as two separate machines.

Capt'n Midnight

Karsini wrote: »

Not to mention two licences for every piece of software you install on it, as it's treated as two separate machines.

nah most vendors are OK on that,

even something like Office (but not the OEM) allow dual install as long as you don't run both copies at the same time

Moral - read the EULA , sometimes it's not just about restrictions

Fysh

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

nah most vendors are OK on that,

even something like Office (but not the OEM) allow dual install as long as you don't run both copies at the same time

Moral - read the EULA , sometimes it's not just about restrictions

Yeah, vendors like Adobe are surprisingly progressive with that - I noticed with my Elements Suite licence that not only did it come with both OS X and Windows media, but that installing it on a dual-boot configuration using both OS was covered by the single licence so long as both versions aren't running concurrently. I think their full commercial products for corporate use also allow an installation on 1 personal machine at no cost, so long as they aren't used concurrently.

Not all vendords are that sensible, however, so yes, reading the EULA is the way to go.

I know that WinRAR allows installation on as many machines as you own.

Home users may use their single computer usage license on all computers and mobile devices (USB drive, external hard drive, etc.) which are property of the license owner.

That's certainly one of the least restrictive licences I've come across.

Fysh

Karsini wrote: »

I know that WinRAR allows installation on as many machines as you own.

That's certainly one of the least restrictive licences I've come across.

I guess that's at least partly an attempt to convince some of the many, many people who just use the Shareware version indefinitely to pony up for a licence. (Though, at risk of sounding horrible, I don't really get why people use WinRAR anyway when 7Zip is free and open-source....)

Capt'n Midnight

Karsini wrote: »

I know that WinRAR allows installation on as many machines as you own.



That's certainly one of the least restrictive licences I've come across.

Yeah the open source ones are soooo restrictive

Like when you sell their software to a third party you aren't allow to claim you wrote it yourself - spoilsports.


One of the joys of linux/BSD etc. is that as long as you don't go out of your way to include non-free repositories you don't have to worry about licensing


btw 7zip wipes winzip when it comes to compression ratios,