Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Eric Denekamp — Fri, 22 May 2009 10:38:40 GMT

I foud that if you install Windows 7 AND Server 2008 R2 in VHD and run them on the same Machine: you only have to install the Apps to either a third VHD OR to the fysical disk, that 20 GB is quite enough for the OS and app registrations. ( I am running this since build 7000) like this. If you use this large a vhd, when running from the VHD, it will expand the disk to the above mentioned size and 200GB of diskspace will fill up your disks very fast.

Please keep that in mind. I am running both on my laptop ( even dualboot the server 2008 R2 With and without Hyper-V.) from a 160 GB harddrive. and I have room to spare.

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Pie — Fri, 22 May 2009 13:46:02 GMT

Is it possible to use this to run other OSes ? (besides Win7 and W2k8 r2)

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Michael Sainz — Fri, 22 May 2009 19:42:20 GMT

I just twittered that question above...if you can do it in Win7, why not in Vista? What changes in the Windows Boot Loader have been made?

Obviously Vista would have to know about how to interact with the storage controller to find itself once it initializes but after that what would prevent it?

-Michael

http://twitter.com/michaelsainz

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Bruce — Fri, 22 May 2009 20:58:28 GMT

Can you backup your current system to a VHD and boot that?

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Atomizer — Fri, 22 May 2009 23:38:50 GMT

As far as I understood the bootloader in this case is the one that comes with W2K8R2, right?

Is it possible to boot from the VHD file using any other bootloader, like GRUB for example?

I would suspect so, I believe something along the lines of http://www.geocities.com/epark/linux/grub-w2k-HOWTO.html

Also, I have heard that you will be able to use the same VHD files on the Hyper-V servers as well. How is the boot organized here?

Thanks a lot for a very interesting post and screencast. You are bookmarked :)

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Keith Combs — Sat, 23 May 2009 01:32:13 GMT

Regarding other boot managers, they would need to understand the .VHD file format which is published. They would also need to understand the BCD store, how to modify it, etc. I have no doubt some bright programmer will do something interesting but at the moment this technology is designed for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 only.

As for booting the resulting .VHD using Hyper-V, it doesn't work for me and it doesn't appear SR will recognize how to fix matters so you can.

The scope of this technology is pretty narrow at the moment and I rather doubt you'll see support for Windows XP and Windows Vista boot scenarios.

On the other hand, if you used imagex to create a WIM of your current physical machine, then used that for the imagex apply into the VHD, you might get lucky and have it work with the RC version of WinPE. I would imagine some of you will be doing a little research over the three day weekend. Have fun and let me know what you come up with.

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Donald — Sat, 23 May 2009 03:33:33 GMT

How can I have Win7 install on drive V as you did and not rename it to C is it did for you? All my systems have a drive C and I put shared 'greenware' programs with links to C: so that all multi-boot operating systems can have access to these programs without installing and setting up the menu. I've had to create junction points to get my folders to look like they are on C, not a nice way to do it.

Also, could I take my native install of Win7, back it up and restore to a newly installed .vhd install of win7?

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

femi — Tue, 26 May 2009 08:29:13 GMT

Can these .VHD files be "migrated" or "copied" for use/deployment on another machine or in Hyper-V?

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Joerg — Wed, 27 May 2009 22:50:03 GMT

Hi Keith,

i have the experience that the vhd doesn´t have the name "windows" inside.

source: http://www.windowsblog.at/post/2009/01/12/34765.aspx

Kind regards

Joerg

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Brian — Wed, 27 May 2009 23:31:02 GMT

Here is what I have done with this technology:

Use Windows System Image Manager to create an autounattend.xml file to include partition information, driver folder locations and license key information. Boot to WinPE 3.0 (with scripting installed) and run diskpart script to create partitions including virtual. Install to virtual disk...

My experience is that setup always puts the bootloader files in the root of the first partition of the physical disk, even with clean installs from DVD. The boot loader loads the driver to support the OS in the .vhd file. Use "bcdedit /enum all" to examine the entries. Also, the OS installed to a .vhd actually does not appear to use virtualized hardware as in Virtual PC... My installs detect the physical hardware and require the drivers.

To make your .vhd files portable I think you would have to boot the target machine with PE, create the physical and virtual partitions, create the bcd store with information about booting to the .vhd file, then apply a sysprep'd .wim file to the .vhd. If your .wim capture process is good and includes all of your out of band drivers and apps then your image should be fairly portable.

As far as booting older OS's... look to TechNet Magazine about dual booting Vista and XP with the BCD store. Apply an XP image to the .vhd (add Ghost to your WinPE 3.0 disk) and modify the Windows 7 BCD.

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Martin Hubka — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:46:49 GMT

when i try your steps when i formating drive i got error , i have crypted hdd with bitlocker, but when i disable (decrypt hdd) error are the same, i cant create vhd file,

http://hubka.net/_public/vhd.jpg

http://hubka.net/_public/diskpart.jpg

http://hubka.net/_public/vhderr.jpg

help me

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Darryl — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:55:46 GMT

If I follow this step by step, installing Windows 7 or Windows 2008 R2 to an expandable vhd on a Dell Latitude D830 causes a blue screen after the first reboot following the "Installing updates" section of the install. If I duplicate the process step by step using a fixed size vhd then the install is successful. Any suggestions?

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Keith Combs — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:51:07 GMT

Sorry Darryl, I don't know why that would fail, and a fixed disk would work.

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Patrick Foley — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:36:13 GMT

There's a very useful scenario here that I just verified works (on my machine) ... multi-booting Vista as the base install (not in a VHD) with Windows 7 (and presumably WS08R2) in VHD's. I have one machine that I can't convert to Windows 7 until I complete a specific project ... well, I had enough free space on the C: drive that I simply followed Keith's process above to boot the Win7 install disk, create/attach a VHD file on the C: drive and install Win7 to that VHD.

It modified the boot manager appropriately, and I now can use Vista until I'm done with the project, but I can also use the machine for Win7 ... and the best part is, when I'm ready to cut over, I can just copy off the VHD to my 1.5 TB external USB backup drive, wipe the internal hard drive, install a minimal win7 on the metal (or to a separate VHD), copy the new VHD over, and modify the boot record to point to it again.

Going forward, I assume I will always install to a VHD because it makes it so easy to restore my machine and switch between profiles. But for right now, it gives me a great hybrid solution with Vista and Win7.

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

staticanime — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 13:18:24 GMT

From looking at this, I surmise that I can probably transplant the Windows 7 boot loader into Vista, and use that to boot VHD's to test Windows 7 in, also should be able to clone my existing XP to a VHD and boot that too. Gonna have to give this a try later :)

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Brad — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:45:54 GMT

I have a brand new laptop coming in this week and love this setup. I would like to follow it exactly as I will be using Windows 7 and Server 2008. I may do one thing differently and that's to partitiion my drive into two. On one side I want to install Vista for apps I use that are not supporting Windows 7. On the other primary partition I want to replicate what you have shown here. From the comments I do not beleive this will be an issue as I will have a primary Windows Vista (non vhd) partitiion and then a second partition with the bootable vhd files on it.

(My laptop is also upgradable to have 2 hard drives, but for now i'll have one. Dell Precision M4400)

I think I may give the following space allocations per your :

Partition #1: 175GB (C: Drive)

Vista 64 (Native)

-Everyday applications & tools, possibly a game or two

Partition #2:

Windows 7 - 50GB (W: Drive)

- Just for fun, for now

Server 2008 - ~95GB (S: Drive)

- Will have SharePoint 2007 installed and related tools

How does this sound, any feedback?

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

edward alimario — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 03:55:59 GMT

sir,

i am interesting your screencast video win7 to win2008 vhd how can i download your blog video for my tutorial installation.

thanks

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Stewart — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 05:24:04 GMT

When the VHD is booted it has full access to all of the hardware on the machine. Does this include the disk/partition it resides on? How is security managed on the NTFS partition under the VHDs?

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Hazem Elshabini — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:17:37 GMT

Excellent video, maybe if someone have a way to make this native vhd with the drivers installed also run using virtual server or virtual pc.

as you can fairley predict the kind of emulated hardware virtual pc creates for you, maybe there is a way to also support it.

This way you will have a vhd on a portable hard drive which runs natively on your laptop, but also can run in a virtual enviroment on someone else's computer.

That would be pretty usefull

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Doug Lee — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 08:31:37 GMT

I just read your blog entry today, and not a moment too soon. Earlier I ran WinPE on my XP Home Edition PC and shrunk my partition so I could create a second partition to install Windows 7. Instead, when I booted the Seven DVD, I launched a PE command prompt, extended the partition back to the full size of the disk, created a VHD, and installed Seven to the VHD. Everything went smoothly and now I'm booting XP Home and Windows 7. This is a phenomenal technology; my mind reels at the possibilities. Thanks Keith!

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Keith Combs — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 08:39:50 GMT

The possibilities in the data center are mind blowing.

Or using all of the idle machines in an enterprise for coordinated computing. Push a .VHD, reboot, run a specific task, revert when done. Simple.

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Juan Antonio López Fernández — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:08:45 GMT

How do I duplicate the same vhd file in another PC (exactly same hardware) ?

Thanks, and sorry for my english.

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Francisco — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 06:59:14 GMT

Hi Keith.

I might have missed it. But what if I already have a vhd file with Windows 7 RC installed in it, which I have created vith Virtual PC and just want to copy that file to a new machine as the boootable vhd file? How would I install the PE environment, create the virtual disk partition and install that file (copy) instead of doing a complete operating system install? Where may I look for steps to do this?

Thanks and regards

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Casey Kelleher — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:02:05 GMT

This is REALLY stupid, but... if using the Windows Server 2008 disk, it NEEDS to be the Server 2008 r2 RC and not the Server 2008 w/ SP2 disk. (The file date you're looking for is 4/30/09 and not 5/11/09.

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Keith Combs — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:56:11 GMT

Obviously Casey didn't read the article. I said R2. R2 has meaning. R2 is 64 bit only, has DirectAccesss, Boot from VHD, etc.

Casey, next time you want to call someone stupid, get your facts straight first.

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Casey Kelleher — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:23:41 GMT

I thought it was pretty obvious that I was calling MYSELF stupid. I thought the article was put together very well, and very easy to understand. What I had to say was a stupid addition to your article, and my hope was that I could prevent somebody from making the same mistake I made.

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Keith Combs — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 21:00:49 GMT

Oops. I thought you were calling me stupid. I'm the only one allowed to do that (and do it frequently).

Yep, the R2 or Win7 disk is one of the requirements because of the updated version of WinPE, Diskpart, etc.

Peace !!!

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

jibutoms — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 07:07:06 GMT

Good Article. I have been using the VHD Boot Windows7 for sometime. But recently y organization decided to encrypt all our Laptops with pointsec software. From then on, I am not able to boot with the VHD Image. It Just gives "Blue screen". Any thoughts on this issue?

Thanks in Advance,

Jibu

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

jibutoms — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 07:07:28 GMT

Good Article. I have been using the VHD Boot Windows7 for sometime. But recently my organization decided to encrypt all our Laptops with pointsec software. From then on, I am not able to boot with the VHD Image. It Just gives "Blue screen". Any thoughts on this issue?

Thanks in Advance,

Jibu

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Brandon Scott — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 14:50:21 GMT

Can you use the diskmanagement GUI in windows 7 to create a VHD and install directly onto that?

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Keith Combs — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 19:43:28 GMT

Brandon, the answer is yes. If you are alreadey running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2.

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Andy Helsby — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 19:05:39 GMT

It looks like you can't call the vhd with a filename with c:\windows in it otherwise you get a message that includes "Windows is usually installed to the \windows directory".....

call the vhd file c:\win7rc.vhd and you will be good to go.

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

David Lance — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:17:57 GMT

Ok So I have windows XP installed on the drive that I want to perform the dual boot on. I want to wipe out Windows XP I dont need it anymore. When I go to diskpart I cant create a primary partition because Windows XP is using the entire disk. How do I delete the OS partition it wont let me.

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Roy Mayfield — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:30:15 GMT

Keith, great article - Hyper-V will never be the same in dev and test environemnts. A colleague mentioned that you cannot apply bitlocker to VHDs. If you have the bitlocker requirement for all partitions, your only choice is to use legacy dual-boot, correct?

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Keith Combs — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:12:20 GMT

Roy,

Correct. BitLocker messes this all up right now so you would need to use partitions and the old school. Even then you have to be pretty careful with bitlocker.

re: Dual Boot from VHD Using Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Razvan — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:15:31 GMT

can i use this technique to restore my win7rc installation too ?