Dual booting Windows is the most challenging of the three options; however, making it work can be very rewarding. The process of creating a dual boot environment differs from Windows Vista to XP. Please follow the instructions according to which version of Windows you are currently using. To run two operating systems on your computer, you will need to add a second partition. If you are not familiar with adding a partition, you can learn how in this section. Please note: each operating system will be able to see the other partition; thus, you can share files between them.
Dual Boot Windows XP with Windows 7 You will need third party software to create a second partition for Windows 7; once you have created the partition, you can install Windows 7 on it.
Create a New Partition(XP)
To create a second partition on your hard drive in Windows XP:
1. Download the GParted live CD here.
2. Burn the image to a CD(Appendix G: Burn an ISO Image to a Disc), reboot your computer, and boot from the CD (Appendix H: Boot from a CD or DVD.)
3. Once you’ve booted into GParted, create a partition for Windows 7 (16 GB+ recommended) (Appendix I: Create a Partition with GParted.)Refer to the Install Windows from Scratch section of this chapter to learn how to install Windows 7 on your newly created partition.
Dual Boot Windows Vista with Windows 7 Windows Vista natively manages partitions; you will need to create a second partition for Windows 7. Once you have created the partition, you can install Windows 7 on it.
Create a New Partition(Vista)
To create a second partition on your hard drive in Windows Vista:
1. Click the Startbutton, right click Computer, and click Manage.
2. In the left pane, click Disk Management.
3. Now create a new partition by shrinking a previous volume so you can use the newly created space. Right click on the partition and click Shrink Volume.
4. Input the size, in MB, by which you want to shrink the partition. I recommend 32 GB (32,768 MB.) Windows 7 requires a minimum of 16 GB (16,384 MB.)
5. Now right click the free space and click New Simple Volume…
6. Click Next.
7. Specify the volume size and click Next.
8. Assign an unused letter to the drive and click Next.
9. Format the drive as NTFS, give it a label, and click Next.
10. Click Finish.
Refer to Install Windows from Scratch to learn how to install Windows 7 on your newly created partition.
