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I have partitioned my HDD and installed /cloned Windows 10 Home OS on both, the idea being that if one OS fails I can switch to the other identical one. Both OS show on the dual boot prompt, but unfortunately only one OS boots. I tried just about everything.How can I get them both booting, either one or the other?

It is odd, because on the same partition of the same HDD I used to have Windows 7 along with Windows 10 and I could boot on both if I wanted. I removed Windows7.

Dave M
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Ittiandro Vivona
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  • Are you using the same OEM license for both systems? It may be that one did not activate because of this – John Jan 11 '20 at 14:12

1 Answers1

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Boot to WinRE and use BootRec:

  1. Boot to WinRE:
    1. Settings > Update & Security > Recovery > Advanced Startup - Restart Now
    2. Troubleshooting > Advanced > Boot to Command Prompt
  2. Issue the following:
    • BIOS: bootrec /fixmbr && bootrec /fixboot && bootrec /rebuildbcd
    • UEFI: bootrec /fixmbr && bootrec /rebuildbcd
  3. Reboot
    • Close terminal > Continue to Windows 10
JW0914
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  • Thanks I have already done all of the above , unsuccessfully. I had downloaded tHe Windows 10 installation image from Windows for free by changing some of the parameters on their WEB page, following the instructions of a WEB site I found.The OS was subsequently activated. I think the problem may be that I cloned the 2nd OS from the other partition, instead of fresh installing it. Anyway, one working OS is enough, because I have already made a system BUP with Acronis, in case the current OS becomes unbootable or the HDD fails. Thanks for ypur help anyway Ittiandro – Ittiandro Vivona Jan 20 '20 at 22:41
  • @IttiandroVivona If `BootRec /RebuildBCD` isn't adding the other OS (I'm assuming Windows 7), and Windows 7's boot files still exist on the boot partition, then you'll need to manually add Windows 7 to the newer BCD store via `BCDedit`, which can be done while booted to Windows (see [this](https://superuser.com/questions/511582/how-to-use-bcdedit-to-dual-boot-windows-installations) question & answer) – JW0914 Jan 21 '20 at 12:48