How to boot into Windows 7 from Windows 8 without double restart

If you have installed Windows 8 as a secondary OS along with Windows 7 or XP or Vista, you must be aware that your computer has to reboot twice when switching to any other OS except Windows 8. This is what any typical Windows user is doing right now :

When you Turn on PC :

• Reach the Windows 8 Dual or Multiple Menu Boot screen.
• Select any other OS other than Windows 8.
• The system restarts again instead of directly booting into that OS.

Worth is When Booting from Windows 8 To any other OS : First Restart and then repeat the steps above.

So the real question, here is “Why does Windows 8 Boot loader needs to reboot the PC before loading the selected OS which is anything apart from Windows 8“. In one line, I could say that’s how the OS Boot loader works  but then it will be a dumb way to answer that, so lets get a bit technical and analyse this.

Windows 8 Loads Damn Fast

Let us ask this question to ourselves. What is the difference in experience after you select Windows 8 from the boot menu option compared to any other OS (except the reboot) ?

Windows 8 starts instantly while when you get into Windows 7, it loads the OS and takes some time to give you the login screen. Right ? So the point, here is that Windows 8 is already loaded by the time you come to the boot menu option. In fact, when you turn your PC On, you already see the Start Logo and bit of loading animation, even if its for a small time. During this, the OS is already loaded and just needs you selection in case of Multiple OS.

So when you select a different OS, Windows 8 must be writing something dynamically into the boot loader, instructing it to load the second OS, and skip loading Windows 8, when the computer reboots.

So how to escape it ?

There is one way to skip this double reboot and get into Windows 7 or any other OS right from Windows 8 in a single reboot. Follow the steps below :

• First Save all your work as there you will be signed off from here.
• Go to PC Settings > General > Advanced Start-up
• You will be logged off and will see a couple of options of which one will be Use Another Operating System, select it
• Now you will come to the same boot menu which you see when you start your PC.
• Select the other OS, System restart and takes you directly into that OS.
• One Restart Saved.

So while, technically its not possible to skip when you turn your PC on (at least I am not aware of any solution), you can at least save one reboot when you need to restart from Windows 8.