How to Realize Dual Boot Windows 7 and XP with Partition Software?

About Windows 7

As we know that Windows 7 is the latest release of Microsoft Windows. Compare to its predecessors, Windows 7 includes many new features, such as advances in touch and handwriting recognition, support for virtual hard disks, improved performance on multi-core processors, improved boot performance, DirectAccess, and kernel improvements.

Therefore, a number of users want to try Windows 7. At the same time, they aren't ready to give up their Windows XP. In such case, they have to dual boot Windows 7 and XP.

How to dual boot Windows 7 and XP?

Before installing Windows 7, the first things you need to do are partition your hard drive and create a new partition for Windows 7 installation on your hard drive.

Step1: Create a partition for Windows 7 under Windows XP

To create a partition in Windows XP, you'll need to download some sort of third-party partition tools. There are a lot of options available, but I recommend you to use Partition Assistant Home Edition, a free, powerful, reliable partition software that enables you to perform basic and advanced partition duties.

• Download and install the free Partition Assistant Home Edition. Then Launch Partition Assistant and it will display the whole disk information in the disk map. I have a 465.76GB hard disk which is partitioned with a 58.59GB system partition on which Windows XP is installed and two data partitions(195.32GB D: partition and 211.85GB E: partition). What I need to do now is to resize one of the data partitions to free up enough space for a Windows 7 installation.
  
  
• Select D: partition (or E: partition). Drag the left borderline rightwards to free up 60.73GB for Windows 7 system partition. (the minimum system requires 16GB)
  
  
• Right-click the unallocated space and select "Create". In the pop-up window, you can set the partition as Windows 7 and create as "Primary Partition". Then click "OK".
  
  
• Click "Apply" to proceed with the changes.
  
  

Step2: Install Windows 7 on the new partition

• Insert your Windows 7 CD/DVD into the optical drive and reboot your computer (you'll need to have enabled booting from your DVD drive in your system BIOS).
  
  
• The fairly simple installation wizard guides you automatically. When you're choosing installation type, be sure to select Custom (advanced).
  
  
• Choose the new partition you created and click "Next".
  Note: Choose the wrong partition could lead to wipe your other Windows installation altogether, so make sure you pick the new partition you just created.)
  
  
• Windows will run through some installation bits, restart a few times in the process. Eventually you'll be prompted to set up your account, enter your license key, and set up Windows.
  
  

At the moment, you are able to easily boot from Windows XP or Windows 7 and get all the tools necessary to dual boot Windows 7 and XP. What's more, if you need to migrate your settings, documents, and applications from XP to Windows 7, the partition copy feature built-in Partition Assistant is the best choice.

Download Partition Assistant Home Edition (FREEWARE)