Installing Steam on dual-boot PC

[banzaigtv]

I will be adding a Windows 10 drive to a PC with Windows 8.1 already installed. Yes, it's silly to dual-boot Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, but I have my reasons. What I want to know is if I install Steam and log into the same account on both OS's, will I be fine as long as I have one OS running at a time? Basically, my Steam account being logged in on the active OS and automatically logged off of the inactive OS. Also, could I technically install the same games on both OSs as long as my game files are being shared in a pool file on my storage HDD? Will this also apply to Origin and uPlay?

[Air]

It should work but some games, such as L4D2, don't work well between different versions of Windows and you'd have to verify the files for those games each time you'd start the game up on one OS when you last played it on the other.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Just download the ISO for Win10 and then run it in a Virtual Machine first to try it out.
If u ask me, it is still a buggy POS beta that will require major fixes; which won't be addressed until at least end of Aug.

If u have 7 SP1 or 8.1; there is no reason to switch. Until it is fixed; and until there is a need for DX12.

Plus if u are doing the free Win10 Upgrade; u must do the Upgrade first to a qualifying OS; so your old OS can be tied to your new Win10; along with your hardware. Once you've tied your WIn10 Upgrade to your current/old OS; you are free to do a Win10 Clean Install if u prefer.

If you want to dual boot; I'd suggest this:
- Keep your current Win8 the way it is now.
- Disconnect that Win8 drive and hookup another, install your Win8 fresh to this drive. Then upgrade that to Win10.
- After that is done, reconnect any extra drives, such as your current Win8 OS drive.
- To change the boot OS, simply use either your BIOS Boot Options; or Motherboard Boot Options Hotkey; to switch what drive (and thus OS) you will boot to each time u boot or restart your system. But also, set the BIOS boot options to the OS drive u want it to default to; just to make bootups easier, etc.

You can have Steam and Games on as many machines as you like, so there is no issue there. I would just ensure you have SteamGuard and/or SteamAuthenticator enabled on said account.

Once in Win10; u can simply copy the Steam from your old OS over to that drive and then run it. Just don't copy the Steamapps folder. Once you are in Steam on the Win10 drive, u can just change to Steam Library Folder setting in Steam options to reflect that of where the games are on the Win8 drive (or other drive u already have those games on now); and thus share the games between OS on a single machine.

[Teknohead]

What he said win 10 is to say the least bad.

[banzaigtv]

Thanks. I can alternate between Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 for the time being and in a few weeks, completely transition over to Windows 10. The reason I purchased Windows 10 is because I need to keep Windows 8.1 as a reserve OS in case Windows 10 is in need of repair. A few games, such as USFIV, have compatibility issues on Windows 10 anyway. I have a new SSD to install Windows 10 on.

[MuHcOw]

First: Sorry for reviving this old thread.

I have, just like "banzaigtv", one PC with two hard drives installed. My two drives are physically identical - Win 7 is installed on one of them and win 10 is installed on the other.
I use BIOS to select which drive to boot from.

When win 7 is running I am able to access the win 10 hard drive and all the files that's on it - and vice versa when win 10 is running.

Now - I have Steam and all my games installed on my win 7 drive - All is good.
My win 10 drive has a fresh and clean win 10 installation on it and nothing else.

Can I install Steam on my win 10 drive and just tell it to load games from my win 7 drive?

I don't want to copy all my games to my windows 10 drive if I can avoid doing so.

"Bad-Motha" says it's possible - But has anybody tried it??
I guess I have to install u-play and others on the win 10 drive - But that's not a problem (I hope)

Kind regards

EDIT: I've decided to install all my games on both drives after all.
I think that will probably make my life a little bit easier in the long run.