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Dual-Boot Windows 7 and Windows 8 (Single Hard Drive)

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Do you want to try out Microsoft's latest Operating System, but don't have 2 hard disk drives? Or you don't want to spend money on a new Windows 8 PC? In this article I will explain to you how to dual-boot with your current Windows 7 Machine.

Before you begin, make sure you follow these steps:

  • Make a backup of all your important data
  • Make sure your current hard drive has atleast 20GB of free space
  • Have a Windows 8 installation disc ready, or a bootable USB drive
  • Product Key
  • Internet Connection (optional)
Let's get started:

**Create a new Partition

**

  • In Windows 7, open Disk Management by pressing Windows Key + R, and typing diskmgmt.msc and clicking on OK
  • To create a new partition that will be used by Windows 8, we need to shrink our current harddrive. In Disk Management, right-click on the hard drive, and select Shrink Volume then select by how much you want to shrink it (atleast 20GB).
  • Once the shrink operation has completed, right-click on the unallocated partition, and select New Simple Volume. Follow the steps in the New Simple Volume wizard, and make sure to format it in the NTFS filesystem and give it a volume label such as Windows 8.

Install Windows 8

  • Insert the bootable Windows 8 installation disc, or the bootable USB drive into your PC, then reboot it to start the Windows 8 Installation.
  • During Setup, when you reach the Which type of installation do you want? screen, choose Custom: Install Windows only (advanced).
  • On the Where do you want to install Windows? screen, choose the new partition you created.

Once the Windows 8 Installation finishes, you should see the Windows Boot Menu. Here you can choose which operating system to load (Windows 8 will be set as the default OS). You can also change some more advanced settings by clicking on Change defaults or choose other options.