Slideshow: Create a dual-boot machine for Windows 8

Creating a System Image on DVDs takes a little while

On my test system all the partitions on the drive are selected by default. To initiate the operation, just click Start backup. On my test system with a 500GB hard disk, it took over an hour and required eight DVDs.

When the System Image is complete, you'll be prompted to create a System Repair disc

When the System Image is complete, you'll be prompted to create a System Repair disc. This is the disc that you will use to boot your system and restore your system image in the event that you need it.

The Shrink Volume command

Setting up a partition

With your System Image discs safely tucked away, you'll use the Disk Management tool to make room on your hard disk for Windows 8. To launch Disk Management, click the Start button, type Disk Management in the Search box, and press [Enter] when Create and format hard disk partitions appears in the result pane. When Disk Management launches, locate the operating system partition of the drive, right click, and select the Shrink Volume command. As you can see, on my example system, there is a 100MB system partition and a 17GB HP Recovery partition in addition to the 450GB OS, or operating system, partition.

Set up a 50GB partition

For my Windows 8 partition, I set aside 50GB by entering 51200 as the amount of space to shrink the existing volume. Once you've specified the size, click the Shrink button. It will take a several minutes to shrink the partition. When the operation is complete, you'll see the new space at the end of the partition and notice that it is marked as Unallocated. In order to install Windows 8 without any problems, you should covert this unallocated space into a volume with a drive letter. To do so you'll launch the New Simple Volume Wizard.

Select the New Simple Volume command

To continue, right click the new partition and select the New Simple Volume command. When you do, the New Simple Volume Wizard will launch.

The New Simple Volume Wizard consists of five screens

The New Simple Volume Wizard consists of five screens - the first and the fifth are shown. As you progress through the wizard, you'll be prompted to specify the size, assign a drive letter, choose a file system, enter a name for the volume, and choose how to format the drive. For everything but the volume name, you should just go with the defaults. As you can see, I specifically named the volume Windows 8 to prevent any ambiguity in later steps. Since the partition was created from your existing partition, you can just go with the Quick format option.

The 50 GB partition is now ready for the Windows 8 installation

When you're finished, you'll see the new partition in Disk Manager. The screenshot shows the new 50GB partition with the volume name, assigned to drive F, and marked as a Logical Drive.

The first step in the installation is to specify your language settings

Installing Windows 8

Now that you have your partition established and assigned a drive letter, installing Windows 8 in a dual-boot configuration should be a pretty straightforward operation. Let's take a closer look.

To begin, insert the Windows 8 Release Preview DVD and reboot your system. After a few minutes, you'll see the Windows Setup screen and you will specify your language settings before clicking Next.

To get started, just click the Install Now button

Once the initial steps are taken care of, you'll see the Windows Setup screen and will click the Install Now button.

Make sure that you select the Custom Install Windows only option

You'll then see a Windows Setup screen and will need to make sure that you select the Custom option.

I selected the new volume labeled Windows 8 and assigned drive letter F

At this point, Windows Setup will prompt you to choose the location to which you want to install Windows 8. As you can see, on my test system it is showing all available partitions and I have selected the new volume labeled Windows 8 and assigned drive letter F.

As soon as you click Next, Windows Setup will begin copying files to the new partition

After selecting the new partition on which to install Windows 8 and clicking Next, the installation will begin. This part of the operation will take a while so go get yourself a cup of coffee.

The new Windows 8 style boot screen display for 30 seconds before launching Windows 8

When the installation is complete, Windows Setup will reboot your system one final time and you will then see the new Windows 8 style dual boot screen. As you can see, Windows 8 will automatically launch in 30 seconds if you don't choose Windows 7.

If you want to alter the amount of time before Windows 8 will run, you can click the Change defaults or choose other options at the bottom of the screen. There are actually a multitude of options that you can change and I'll cover all of them in a future article.