Windows 7 Need instruction on Dual boot....

[DittyDum]

I am currently running Windows XP Pro x64, and I have no idea how to safely go about creating a new partition on my hard drive so that I can install Windows 7 and have it able to dual boot between the two. I am only running one 1TB HDD at the moment, so installing Windows 7 on its own disk is not an option for me. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[daprez546]

None of the solutions that come to mind are elegant. The first is to use a third-party program to shrink the existing partition and create a new one. I don't know how much data you have on your system, but if it is not much, then you could also clean install Win 7 RC, use its utilities to create another partition, then load XP into that new partition.

Personally, I would opt for the third-party route. You are less likely to lose any data, and there are some excellent freeware programs to accomplish the task of repartitioning.

In any case, while Vista/Win 7RC can coexist with XP, it must be set up right to make it easy for the user. EasyBCD is an excellent (and free) way to create a multiple-boot solution. Read their FAQ pages about XP.

 

[mrobjo]

I used easeus partition manager to create a partition,without any promblems,but once i installed windows 7 on the partition,i could not boot into xp,please make sure you back up before you patition and install windows 7.
it seems a number of people are having problems dual booting windows 7 and xp,being as you dont know much about patitioning backing up is vital.good luck