Dual boot to Windows Server 2016 within Windows 10

[GnVm]

Hi,

For dual-boot to Windows Server 2016 within Windows 10, I have gone through the link

https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/blainbar/2012/09/25/step-by-step-4-methods-to-dual-boot-microsof...

One of the ways is “Dual Boot to Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012 from within the Windows 7 Operating System using an existing .VHD”.

In this way, a VHD is selected i.e. Server2012RTM.vhd.

Currently Windows Server 2016 is installed as a Guest OS on VMware Workstation 12.5.6 and because of VMware Workstation; the VHD is created with an extension .vmdk.

In this dual-boot process, may I use this VHD (.vmdk) as Attach VHD?

Apart from the way (mentioned in the link), is there another way so that .vmdk can be used as a Dual-boot within Windows 10?

Regards

GnVm

[continuum]

Hi
> Currently Windows Server 2016 is installed as a Guest OS on VMware Workstation 12.5.6 and because of VMware Workstation; the VHD is created with an extension .vmdk.
You are mixing two things here that cant be mixed.

Windows7 and later use bootmgr as the first "step" after the BIOS or EFI-firmware.
Earlier versions used ntldr.
The newer program named bootmgr has a builtin feature, that enables it to either boot from a physical device such as a harddisk, usb-drive or cdrom or alternatively from a vhd-file.

A vhd-file is a Windows proprietary disk-image that was created by Windows.
The vmdk disk-image format is something created by VMware.
Both formats are images of a physical disk - but they are not build in the same way.
You can convert vhd-images to vmdk-images.
But you can not use vmdk-images as a boot-option for the bootmgr program.
So there is no way that would allow you to use a vmdk-file like a vhd-file during a dualboot configuration.

In practical terms this means that you can create a dualboot virtual machine using Workstation in two ways:
You first install Windows 7 or later inside Workstation. This will produce a windows7.vmdk file.

Option A: Next you create a vhd-file and store this image on the same vmdk or another vmdk.
Then you have to configure bootmgr to enable another bootoption using the vdh-image you stored inside the vmdk.

Option B: You add another vmdk to your virtual Windows 7 and then install another Windows to that second vmdk.
This time you configure bootmgr to enable a second bootoption - this time you do not point the second option to a vhd-file but to a second disk.
This are two completely different approaches.
Option A only works when you have the second Windows operating system stored on a vhd-file.

The important difference between A and B is that with #A you provide the second bootoption with a path to a vhd-file, with #B you provide the second bootoption as a pointer to the bootmgr-binary on another partition.

Fun fact: Workstation itself can also use vhd-files instead of vmdks but I dont know for sure if this is still functional on any version after 12.01.
I hope I explained this good enough so that you understand that what you planned to do is impossible.

Ulli