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Question

Access to my Windows 8 files in different OS

Feb 22, 2015 10:39PM PST

Hi,

I'm looking to install Windows 7 on an external SSD on my working laptop, to use it in parallel with the pre-installed Windows 8.

The thing I'm afraid of is that I will not be able to easily access my Win 8 files when I am booted with my Win 7 OS.

Was thinking to make the exact same user with same password in windows 7 so that I can access files without permission issues. Will it work or do I have to do something else?

I don't want to use "Take ownership" every time I switch between OSs.

Thanks!

Discussion is locked

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Answer
A couple of things here
Feb 22, 2015 11:16PM PST

You can't install any version of Windows on an external drive. However you can partition a hard drive and have one version on say C: and the other on say E:. If you do that, you won't have any trouble accessing one system's files from the other one.

Good luck.

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it should work
Feb 24, 2015 3:04PM PST

My laptop has the option to boot from USB HDD so I am pretty sure it can be installed on an external HDD. As for permissions I will make the same user name with the same password. It works when accessing computers in networks so why wouldn't it work on different OS as well? I'll try it in the weekend see how it goes.

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No and no.
Feb 24, 2015 4:12PM PST

1. Windows can't be installed on an external disk. The Windows setup just doesn't include them in the list of disks to choose from.
2. Access via a network is different from access from another OS on the same PC.

Kees

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Answer
Tell more.
Feb 23, 2015 1:06AM PST

While the issue of Windows on external drives is a well done topic, Windows 7 on USB is so intricate that I would be guessing if you know how bad that trip is.

But about permission issues. I guess you could put them into another partition and use folder relocation for the user home folder but then dealing with the user OS specific files would make yet another trip to the tar pit. That is, you first Mikey.

-> With Classic Shell giving us back a lot of why folk want to run 7, why do this sticky tar pit trip?
Bob

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Answer
FAT32
Feb 23, 2015 9:54AM PST

formatted partitions don't set ownership permissions, so for any files less than 4GB in size, you could put them in such a partition (volume) and have anyone access it.

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Answer
original question
Feb 24, 2015 4:58AM PST

generally speaking, if you are the only user of those computers, just don't save the files in the user folders. use the public folders and you should be able to share most files between operating systems.