Dual booting Windows 8 in Windows 7


  1. mentasm
    Posts : 8
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit
       New #1

    Dual booting Windows 8 in Windows 7


    Since I am not allowed to use a VHD boot on my Windows 7 home premium is it safe to use install windows 8 on another partition and then just dual boot it? is dual booting safe?
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  3. Brink
    Posts : 72,043
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
       New #2

    Hello Mentasm,

    Yes, dual booting is used all the time and is safe if done correctly. If you like, post back a screenshot of your Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) window showing all of your HDD's layout. We'll be happy to take a look at it to help you get prepared to dual boot if you have enough space on the HDD. :)

    Dual Boot Installation - Windows 8 and Windows 7 or Vista
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  4. mentasm
    Posts : 8
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit
    Thread Starter
       New #3

    Here I uploaded my diskmanagement.msc (Don't mind the name)
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Dual booting Windows 8 in Windows 7-untitled.png  
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  6. gregrocker
    Posts : 50,642
       New #4

    Should be fine although the space is a little tight. You'll want to link your User folders from Win7 by clicking on them in Win8 to add to the respective Library - Include a Folder - Windows 7 Forums.

    The boot files will be updated on the System Reserved partition so it can indeed be installed to a Logical partition, although you could also convert that partition to Primary using Partition Wizard.

    Be sure to boot the Win8 installer, after downloading the ISO file to burn to DVD using Img Burn at 4x speed. Windows 8 ISO file
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  7. mentasm
    Posts : 8
    Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit
    Thread Starter
       New #5

    How do I increase its hardrive space? I am going to use a flashdrive to install windows 8
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  8. gregrocker
    Posts : 50,642
       New #6

    Delete F, shrink D in Disk Mgmt by as much as you want to add to Win8 partition, then boot the Win8 installer, use Custom>Drive Options to create and format the partition for install.
    Partition or Volume - Delete
    Partition or Volume - Shrink

    I'd write the Win8 ISO to flash stick using UltraISO Software To Create Bootable USB Flash Drive which always works for me.
    Last edited by gregrocker; 07 Aug 2012 at 22:38.
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