Multiple Windows 7 Instances

[Torchizard]

Firstly, to clarify the most common replies that this type of topic gets, I am aware of virtual machines (and I do use them) but this is something I would like to do on real hardware and yes, I do have separate licenses for each OS.

I would like to get my laptop to dual-boot two instances of Windows 7, one 64-bit and one 32-bit (for compatibility with 16-bit apps). When I searched on the internet, I got mixed results, some saying you can and some saying there are compatibility issues between these OSes and then others insisted that the OP use a VM.

I would like some opinions here, is it possible to dual-boot 7 x64 and 7 x86?

Edited October 30, 2013 by Torchizard

[Tripredacus]

The "compatibility issues" likely have to do with permissions on any shared volumes. If you keep these truly separate, or have a shared volume that is FAT32 or a network share, you probably won't run into that problem.

Using a VM depends on what kinds of programs you are going to be playing. If you are wanting to run 16bit games, a VM isn't an ideal solution at least in my experience.