Beyond quad-boot: how to multi-boot Windows 7 & all preview versions of Windows 8

A

Audio-Purity

Weaksauce
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Jun 8, 2012
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I want to multi-boot the following operating systems, using a single SSD:
Windows 7: Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
Windows 8: Developer Preview (64-bit)
Windows 8: Consumer Preview (64-bit)
Windows 8: Release Preview (64-bit)
Windows 8: Release Preview (32-bit)

Does anyone know the best way to do it?
 
I know how to do it using the built-in tools in Windows 7.
I'm wondering if there's a better way or better software to use.
 
CrimsonKnight13 said:
EasyBCD (now has support for Windows 8)
http://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/

Free & quite good
Click to expand...

Agree that it is quite good, and it's got a great UI. The ONLY thing I don't like about EasyBCD is that you can't "hide" partitions. Say you're booting up a Win 8 partition. You don't necessarily want that install to be aware of your other Win 8 installs or your Win 7 "production" install. Or turn that around. You're doing an install of a program into your Win 7 production environment. Is there a potential issue with all those Win 8 partitions visible?

EasyBCD allows you to use grub to accomplish partition hiding, but grub is good if you're into complex scripts and command-line options.

I have tried several boot managers that do claim to hide partitions. I can tell you that you WILL have grief if you use the OSS part of Acronis Disk Director Home Suite. (Just read their forums to see all the grief you will avoid by never installing OSS.)
 
Does anyone know what makes EasyBCD better than the built-in disk management tools in Windows 7?
Is there any commercial software available that's better than EasyBCD?
 
EasyBCD has a lot of power user options that aren't given in any Windows 7-based tools. I only know that it works quite well & does what I need it to do (when I do use it). bcdedit & its siblings don't always give me the quick route that EasyBCD does. Sure I can get crazy granularity but that might end up in frustration if I kept going with the command line tools. I usually recommend GUI over command line first for most people. If you want the diehard experience, use bcdedit to make it how you want it to be.

Maybe this one as an alternate?
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootit-bare-metal.htm

I've never tested it though.
 
Audio-Purity said:
Does anyone know what makes EasyBCD better than the built-in disk management tools in Windows 7?
Is there any commercial software available that's better than EasyBCD?
Click to expand...

You can't use the Win7 boot manager with Win8 as Win8 uses EFI (or whatever it's properly called) and does not work the same.

EasyBCD worked well for me back in the XP/Vista days and if it supports Win8 now then it's probably your best bet.
 
Seems like virtual machines might be the best route. But that depends on what the purpose is.
 
CrimsonKnight13 said:
Maybe this one as an alternate?
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootit-bare-metal.htm

I've never tested it though.
Click to expand...

I did, and I even bought it. But I found the support so lacking, so "arrogant," that I actually asked for my money back. Which they agreed to. The main issue is that bootit bare metal is very, very hard to configure. And the support guy's attitude seemed to be, "that is YOUR problem, our product is great." Well, screw that. I'm a pretty hardcore user, if I can't figure out how something works, it wasn't designed for ordinary mortals, or even "gods." But I did get my money back. :)
 
x509 said:
I did, and I even bought it. But I found the support so lacking, so "arrogant," that I actually asked for my money back. Which they agreed to. The main issue is that bootit bare metal is very, very hard to configure. And the support guy's attitude seemed to be, "that is YOUR problem, our product is great." Well, screw that. I'm a pretty hardcore user, if I can't figure out how something works, it wasn't designed for ordinary mortals, or even "gods." But I did get my money back. :)
Click to expand...

Good to know. The sad part about this thread is that the OP hasn't thanked anyone or given any feedback. Strike 2 for 2? :confused:
 
I've been reading these forums about once a month but had to take issue with someone talking down my favorite utility of all time, BootIt Bare Metal. It's great, I've been using it since it was BootIt Next Generation (BING) and find it very easy to use and very reliable. To each his own I guess.
 
deecatch said:
I've been reading these forums about once a month but had to take issue with someone talking down my favorite utility of all time, BootIt Bare Metal. It's great, I've been using it since it was BootIt Next Generation (BING) and find it very easy to use and very reliable. To each his own I guess.
Click to expand...

I'm the guy who "took down" BootItNextGeneration. All I can say is that the support people had a pretty bad attitude in response to my questions, and that's just not a formula for success for me.

As you say, to each his (or her) own.
 
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