/ Windows 7 and Vista Dual Boot

Windows 7 and Vista Dual Boot

I’m dual booting Vista and Windows 7. How do I get Windows 7 to see my Vista programs? Kate Dubensky

File and Program Access on a Dual Boot Computer - Vista and Windows 7

The short answer - I’m afraid you can’t. When you are running a dual boot operating system the two are on different partitions and are unaware of each other. What this means is that when you boot up your Windows 7 installation, it has no idea that the Windows Vista operating system and environment is even there. Your data files will be accessible, as they share the same access, but programs and applications will need to be installed on Windows 7. There are some applications that you can try to load on a third partition and switch back and forth between operating system, setting the program up predominantly on one or the other, but you will encounter conflicts between the different operating systems.

Upgrade to Import Programs

If you decide to keep Windows 7, in the future you can use the operating system installation upgrade to get the latest operating system version on your computer and transfer all your programs along with it. In this case, the jump to Windows 7 doesn’t allow for the upgrade option.

Install Programs on Windows 7

To get back to your original question, you are going to have to load the programs you want to use onto the same partition as the Windows 7 operating system. To do this, you can load your software in a third partition in the hard disk, and then allow both operating system platforms to access them. There is a tutorial and a download here for an ownership tool that allows users to move quickly between operating systems and programs, which you will likely be interested in. With this tool you can click and take ownership of programs in Windows 7, the downside is that you will have to repeat the process if you want to access the same programs in Windows Vista.

Single Installation Software Programs

Unfortunately, many software program installation packages are limited to one installation per product code, meaning that - even though you are loading the same program on the same computer - you can only use the product licensing code once. Instead of buying all your software twice, you might opt to designate certain programs to each operating system, or take some time to sample Windows 7 and decide if you want to upgrade before installing a lot of software. I hope this helps, good luck!