How to Dual Boot Windows XP/Vista with Windows 7

The process of creating a dual boot environment differs from Windows Vista to XP. Follow the instructions according to the 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, don’t you worry, i’ll show you how to add a partition on your system.

Dual Boot Windows XP with Windows 7

To do this you will need a third party software to create a second partition for Windows 7; once you have created the partition, you can install Windows 7 on it.

How to create a new Partition on XP

To create a second partition on your hard drive in Windows XP:

• Download the GParted live CD here.   
• Burn the image to a CD, reboot your computer, and boot from the CD.
• Once you’ve booted into GParted, create a partition for Windows 7 (16 GB+ recommended).

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 on Vista

To create a second partition on your hard drive in Windows Vista:

• Click the start button, right click computer, and click manage

• In the left pane, click Disk Management.
• 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.

• Input the size, in MB, by which you want to shrink the partition. I recommend 32 GB. Windows 7 requires a minimum of 16 GB. 
• No right click the free space and click New Simple Volume….

• Click Next
• Specify the volume size and click Next.
• Assign an unused letter to the drive and click Next.
• Format the drive as NTFS, give it a label, and click Next.
• Click Finish.

Insert Windows 7 CD, and rebbot your system to install Windows 7. On the Where do you want to install Windows page, simply select your newly created partition and click next to begin installation. 

Note: Each operating system will be able to see the other partition, thus, you can share files between partitions.