Introduction and Tutorial:

If you have a Windows 7 PC but aren’t sure you’re ready to upgrade to Windows 8 yet, a dual-boot system might be a good way to ease into it. This will let you use both operating systems, side-by-side, until you’re comfortable enough with Windows 8 to go all in. To configure your PC for dual-boot, all you have to do is creating a new partition for Windows 8, and then install it.

Since the Windows 8 Developer Preview hit the streets back in September 2011, I’ve written a bunch of articles on the new operating system covering such topics as the improved Windows Explorer, Windows 8 shortcut keys, Storages Spaces, and File History, just to name a few. However, I was recently reminded that there is one topic that I haven’t covered for Windows 8 and that is how to set up a dual boot machine.

Caution: Before you begin, make sure to back up your system. This is a simple procedure, but there’s always a risk of data loss whenever you modify disk partitions. If you have Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image handy, cloning your drive/partition is probably the best way to recover from any problems you might run into.

Step 1: Back Up:

Before you attempt this, however, you should back up your existing Windows PC. You never know what will happen when installing a new OS. At least back up all your photos, videos, and documents. A complete image backup of your hard disk is preferable, however. Windows 7 has a built-in backup feature to secure your data files, but for image backup, you’ll need third-party software such as, our Editors’ Choice.

Step 2: Create new partition in Windows 7:

o In Windows 7, hit the shortcut Win+R, then type “diskmgmt.msc” to start Disk Management.

o To make room for Windows 8, you first need to shrink the C: volume. In Disk Management, right-click on your hard drive and select Shrink Volume, then choose how much space to shrink.

o Once the shrink task has completed right-click on the unallocated partition, then select New Simple Volume. Go through the New Simple Volume Wizard and make sure to format the new partition in NTFS and give it a volume label, like Windows 8.

Step 3: Install Windows 8:

o Insert a bootable Windows 8 DVD or USB flash drive into your PC, and then reboot it to begin Windows 8 installation.

o When prompted to choose the type of installation, choose Custom.

o For the location of your Windows 8 install, select the new partition you created.

o After selecting the new partition on which to install Windows 8 and clicking next, the installation will begin, as below.

Step 4: Dual-booting Windows 7/Windows 8:

Once Windows 8 finishes installing, the boot menu will appear with both Windows 8 and Windows 7. By default, Windows 8 will start automatically after 30 seconds, but you can set Windows 7 as the default by clicking on “Change defaults or choose other options” from the boot menu.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 4th, 2014 at 10:00 am and is filed under Windows FTP. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.