Create a Dual Boot PC

Run Windows 7 on your XP or Vista PC

Worried about ditching XP or Vista in favour of Windows 7? Create a dual-boot PC and you can run both. Written by Will Stapley, Computeractive 28 Oct 2009

Follow this excellent tutorial and you can easily add Windows 7 whilst keeping Windows Vista on a separate partition

Windows 7, Microsoft's new operating system, makes many improvements over Windows Vista, and still more over XP, but it's common to feel a little nervous when switching to a brand-new operating system. For starters, it's possible that older hardware won't work until new drivers have been released and, besides, it always takes time to feel fully comfortable with a new working environment. It's possible to try out Windows 7 while keeping an existing Vista or XP installation in place. By creating a 'dual-boot' computer, you'll be able to choose which operating system to use each time the PC is switched on. Using a technique called partitioning you can split an existing hard disk up and create an area specifically for Windows 7

Be prepared
Before you start, make sure you have the Windows 7 installation disc at the ready. The existing hard disk will also need to have plenty of free space for a practical Windows 7 partition - 25GB should be enough. We also strongly recommend backing up all your important data. Although partitioning hard disks is safe when conducted carefully, it is possible to accidentally select the wrong option and lose photos, documents and other file types. It's better to be safe than sorry.

Partition primer
Before we explain how to install a second operating system, it's important to understand the basics of hard-disk partitioning. If, for example, a new 500GB hard disk is fitted to a PC it will show up as a single 500GB drive. Partitioning is the process of splitting up a single drives such as this into multiple 'logical' drives. Of course, on the outside the hard disk will remain a 500GB model, but once partitioned Windows will see it as two or more individual drives. Each partition will have its own drive letter and they will all be treated as completely separate disks. There are many advantages to partitioning a hard disk. Imagine, for example, three partitions on a single disk: one for all the Windows files, another for installed applications and the third for personal data, such as documents, photos, music and video files. Should Windows ever need to be re-installed, the other two partitions can remain safe and untouched. When it comes to installing two or more operating systems on a single PC, partitioning is essential since each operating system will need to be installed on its own drive (be it a physical drive or a logical partition).

Create a new drive
In this Masterclass we'll be installing Windows 7 on a PC that is already running Vista. If you're running Windows XP, the process isn't as straightforward as XP doesn't include the necessary tools to 'shrink' an existing hard disk (we'll talk more about shrinking in a moment).
In Vista, though, it's a relatively painless process. First, log in to Vista using an administrator account. Now click the Start button and then right-click Computer. From the list of options, select Manage.

After a short wait, the Computer Management window will appear. Look at the list on the left side of the window and click on the Disk Management option. Vista will now gather information about all the hard disks installed in the PC. When it has finished, take a look at the graphical list of drives located in the bottom section of the window. All installed drives (including CD/DVD drives) should be displayed here. It also displays how many partitions each drive has. Many computers come with hard disks that have already been partitioned. One of the partitions may relatively small and home to a set of backup files that can be used to restore the computer to its original state: this is known as a recovery partition, and it will have been put there by the PC manufacturer.

To create a new partition on a hard disk, 'unallocated space' is required. To create some on an existing hard disk, one of the existing partitions will need to be shrunk.
Right-click on the one labelled 'C:' (it may also have a name next to it) and then select the Shrink Volume option.

After a short wait, a new window will appear. The first entry tells you how big the existing partition is, while the second tells you how much it can be shrunk by. The third box is where you specify how much of that space you want to shrink it by, while the fourth indicates how big the existing partition will be after you've made the changes

Choose the disk size
Windows 7 requires at least 16GB of disk space, but it's best to provide plenty of room, because it will expand as time goes on. As a minimum, we recommend at least a 25GB partition for a Windows 7 installation. When choosing the size, bear in mind how much space to leave free on the existing partition; Windows won't allow all the available space to be used, but you'll want to make sure there's enough left on the existing drive for ongoing needs.

With the calculations done, enter a figure into the third box (the only box that allows a value to be entered). This needs to be entered in megabytes (MB), so for a 30GB partition enter the figure as '30000'. Click the Shrink button and Vista will shrink the partition; how long this takes depends on the speed of the computer, but it shouldn't be more than a few minutes. When it's finished a new partition will appear, labelled as 'Unallocated'. Right-click this partition and select New Simple Volume from the window that appears. The New Simple Volume wizard will now appear. Click Next to move on to the first step and then specify how big the partition should be

Unless creating two new partitions, there's no point leaving space free here so select the biggest possible size and click Next. Now assign a drive letter to the partition. Use the dropdown box to select any of the available letters, then click Next.

The last step in the wizard is to format the drive so it's ready for the installation. Make sure the file system is set as NTFS and the Allocation Unit Size set to Default. Now enter an appropriate name in the Volume Label section, such as 'Windows7'. Finally, click Next and, in the window that follows, click Finish. The new drive will now be formatted; depending on the size of the drive, this can take a few minutes. When complete, it's time to install Windows 7 on the new drive partition.

Installing Windows 7
The hard work is now done. To install the new operating system, place the Windows 7 installation disc in the appropriate DVD drive and restart the computer. Shortly after powering up, a message like 'Press any key to boot from CD' will appear - do as it says. If you don't and Windows Vista starts loading as normal, the computer's start-up (or boot) settings may need to be changed. To do this, enter the Bios settings (usually performed by pressing F1 after powering the PC). There are many different Bios menu systems so it's best to consult the computer's manual or contact the manufacturer, but look for an option labelled something like 'Boot Order' and then make sure your CD/DVD drive is top of the list.

When the Windows 7 setup program launches, follow the process as normal. At the point where it asks where it should be installed, be sure to select the newly created partition (it will be listed with the same drive letter/name specified earlier). Be very careful here: select the existing Vista partition and it will be formatted, erasing all your data. Once the installation has finished, a new Windows Boot Manager menu will appear each time the PC is switched on: this displays all installed operating systems. Using the arrow keys select the one you want to load and press Enter. Fail to make a choice within 30 seconds and the default operating system (ie the one at the top of the list) will be loaded.

Boot order
If, after testing, you decide that Windows 7 has earned its place as the number-one operating system it is possible to change the boot menu order. Alternatively, you may feel it's time to consign Vista to the history books and get rid of the boot menu altogether, so that your computer always starts up in Windows 7. Either way, it is easy to make these changes.

First click the Start button, right-click Computer and select Properties. On the left of the window that appears, click Advanced system settings. In the new window, select the Advanced tab and click on the Settings button in the Startup and Recovery section. Using the dropdown menu at the top, you can select the default operating system. This is the operating system that will be loaded if no choice is made when the Windows Boot Manager appears shortly after the computer is switched on.

To always launch into the default operating system, clear the tick from the ‘Time to display list of operating systems’ box. Alternatively, you can adjust how long the menu appears for by changing the ‘seconds’ figure on the left

You can read the complete article here but TWS rates it at 10 out 10 and is very pleased

Edited by MrTWS - 23 Nov 2009 at 6:43pm