How to dual boot Windows 7 with XP or Vista?

If you like to try Windows 7 but don't want to give up Windows XP or Vista. Let's take a look at how to dual boot Windows 7 with XP or Vista.

Step 1. Create a Partition for Windows 7 installation under XP or Vista

Download and install the free EASEUS Partition Master Home Edition to repartition your Windows XP or Vista hard disk. As you can see in my disk management, I have a 160GB hard disk that is configured with a 30GB partition on which Windows XP is installed and a 130GB empty partition. What I need to do now is to make a new partition for Windows 7 installation.

Launch EASEUS Partition Master.

Drag the left border of Partition E, and shrink its size to 100GB to make 30GB free space to Windows 7 system partition (Windows 7 installation requires at least 16GB partition).

Right click the unallocated space, click "Create". Label the partition as "Windows 7" for example and set the new partition as "Primary". Click OK to start creating.

Apply all the changes to your hard disk.

EASEUS Partition Master will do the changes and partition F is created to install Windows 7.

Step 2: Install Windows 7

After creating the new partition, it's time for the easy part: Installing Windows 7 on your new partition. Insert your Windows 7 disk installation CD and reboot your computer (you'll need to have enabled booting from your DVD drive in your system BIOS).

Windows starts to install automatically. When you're choosing installation type, be sure to select Custom (advanced).

Be careful here. Choosing the wrong partition could mean wiping your other Windows installation altogether, so make sure you pick the new partition created for Windows 7 installation in the first step. Choose Partition F to continue.

After a few times of restart in the process, eventually you'll be prompted to set up your account, enter your license key, and set up Windows.

Congratulations! You should now have a new entry for Windows 7 on your boot screen when you first start up your computer. You've now got all the tools necessary to dual-boot Windows 7 and XP or Vista, or even to triple-boot Windows 7, Vista, and XP.

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