In computing, booting (or booting up) is the initialization of a computerized system. The system can be a computer or a computer appliance. The booting process can be. I am currently able to boot from an external drive or multiboot USB. Taking this concept one step further, I have 3 questions: 1) Is it possible to install and run. If you like to try Windows 8 but don't want to give up Windows 7. Here's how to dual boot Windows 8 with your current Windows 7 installation so you can run them both. ![]() Fix : External USB Hard Disk drive not detecting / not working properly problem in Windows 8, 7, Vista & XP.Dual- boot Windows 7 and Windows 8 using a VHDIn my last blog post, Dual- boot Windows 7 and Windows 8, I showed you how to configure your Windows 7 system to dual- boot Windows 8 from a partition on your existing Windows 7 hard disk. You can use that technique in all versions of Windows 7. However, if you have Windows 7 Ultimate or Windows 7 Enterprise, which provide the Boot from VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) feature, you can install Windows 8 on a VHD. In this edition of the Windows Desktop Report, I'll show you how to prepare and configure your Windows 7 system to dual- boot Windows 8 from a VHD. While I'll be using the Windows 8 Release Preview for this article, I've heard that the procedure should be very similar with the actual release version. Even so, I'll revisit this topic in the near future once Windows 8 is available to the general public. This blog post is also available in the slideshow format in a Tech. Republic Photo Gallery. Editor's Note: Since this article was published, it has been discovered that Native VHD Boot is available in all versions of Windows 7, which means that you can set up a Windows 8 dual- boot configuration in Windows 7 Home Premium. See the article Native VHD Boot is available in all versions of Windows 7 for more detail. Prerequisite. For this article, I'm going to assume that you have already visited the Windows 8 Release Preview site and followed Microsoft's instructions for downloading and converting the ISO file to a DVD in Windows 7. If you haven't, you should do so before you get started with this article. The process is pretty straightforward and Microsoft has documented the steps you need to follow. Creating a System Image. The first thing that you'll want to do is create a System Image from within Windows. Backup and Restore. When you do, you'll end up with a complete image of your hard disk. That way, if anything out of the ordinary were to occur as you follow the steps for creating a dual- boot system, you will be able to return to your current configuration. Furthermore, I recommend that you also create a separate backup of your data. Maybe just make copies of all your data files on CD/DVD or on an external hard disk. While it may sound like overkill, having an extra backup will give you peace of mind. To create a system image, you'll need to have a CD- RW/DVD- RW drive, an external hard disk, or access to a network drive. To access Backup and Restore, click the Start button, type Backup in the Search box, and press [Enter] when Backup and Restore appears in the result pane. Once you have Backup and Restore up, select the Create a System Image option and choose your backup location. As you can see in Figure A, I used an external hard disk attached to this system. Figure AOn my test system, I'll use an external hard disk to create my system image. As you can see in Figure B, on this test system there is only one partition. To initiate the operation, just click Start backup. On my test system with a 5. GB hard disk, it took just over an hour to create a System Image on an external hard disk. Figure BCreating a System Image on an external hard disk is easy. When the System Image is complete, you'll be prompted to create a System Repair disc, as shown in Figure C. This is the disc that you will use to boot your system and restore your system image in the event that you need it. Figure CWhen the System Image is complete, you'll be prompted to create a System Repair disc. Setting up a VHD. With your System Image completed, you'll use the Disk Management tool to create the VHD on which you will install 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, pull down the Action menu and select the Create VHD command, as shown in Figure D. Figure DYou'll select the Create VHD command from the Action menu. When you see the Create and Attach Virtual Hard Disk dialog box, click the Browse button and use the Browse dialog box to create a folder and specify a name for your VHD file. As you can see in Figure E, I have created a folder called VHDs in the root directory and named the VHD file Windows. RP. vhd. You will then specify a disk size and disk format. I have specified the size as 5. GB and set it up as a Fixed size. You can use whatever size you want and choose Dynamically expanding format if you wish, just be sure that you have enough room on the hard disk to accommodate your VHD. If you look back at Figure D, you can see that on my test system I have 3. GB of free space and specifying a 5. GB Fixed size VHD was an easy choice.). Figure EFor my example VHD I choose a 5. GB Fixed disk. When you click OK, Disk Management will go to work creating the new VHD file. As it does so, you will see the progress in the Status bar, as shown in Figure F. Figure FDisk Management displays the VHD creation progress in its Status bar. It will take a few minutes to create a Fixed size VHD file. When the VHD is complete, you will see the new disk in Disk Management, as shown in Figure G. Here you can see that my 5. GB VHD is listed as Disk 2 and will notice that it is also marked as Unknown, Not Initialized, and Unallocated. Don't worry; we'll take care of establishing the disk during the Windows 8 installation procedure. A this point, you can close Disk Management. Figure GThe new VHD will be marked as Unknown, Not Initialized, and Unallocated. Installing Windows 8. Now that you have your VHD established, 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 shown in Figure H and will specify your language settings before clicking Next. Figure HThe first step in the installation is to specify your language settings. Once the initial steps are taken care of, you'll see the Windows Setup screen shown in Figure I and will click the Install Now button. However, keep in mind that we aren't exactly ready to install Windows just yet; you must first access your VHD. Figure IWhile you will click the Install Now button, you're not quite ready to install Windows 8. When you see the next Windows Setup screen, you will immediately press Shift +F1. Administrator Command Prompt window as shown in Figure J. Figure JWhen you press Shift- F1. Administrator Command Prompt window. To prepare your VHD you'll use the command Diskpart utility. Follow these steps: diskpart. Once the Diskpart environment is ready, you'll use the select command to instruct Diskpart to access your VHD file as follows: select vdisk file=c: \VHDs\Windows. RP. vhd. After you have selected the VHD file, you'll use the attach command to essentially connect the VHD to your system as follows: attach vdisk. This entire procedure is illustrated in Figure K. Figure KAfter each command, you should see a success message. Once you are done, you can type exit to leave the Diskpart environment and then click the Close button the close the Administrator Command Prompt window. When you return to the Windows Setup screen, you select the Custom option, as shown in Figure L. Figure LMake sure that you select the Custom Install Windows only option. At this point, Windows Setup will prompt you to choose the location to which you want to install Windows 8 and you can now select your VHD, which will be designated as Unallocated Space and be the size that you specified. As you can see in Figure M, I have selected my 5. GB VHD. Keep in mind that when you select the VHD, you'll see a Warning message that says that Windows cannot be installed to this disk. Even though Windows Setup displays this warning message, you can ignore it as the procedure does indeed function correctly. In fact, the installation procedure will progress quite rapidly and restart several times as it completes the installation on the VHD - just like it would on a normal hard disk. Figure MSelect your VHD drive, ignore the warning message, and click Next. As soon as you click Next, the installation will begin, as shown in Figure N. This part of the operation will take a while so go get yourself a cup of coffee. Figure NAs soon as you click Next, Windows Setup will begin copying files to the new partition. Dual- booting Windows 7 and Windows 8. Install Windows 8, Server 2. Win 7, 2. K8 & Vista from multiple ISO files on the same Flash drive. The guide below is for advanced users. I assume you already know how to mount images using Image. X (or DISM or GImage. X) or can use similar tools. It is easiest to download and install the Windows 7 WAIK (over 1. GB!). However, you can use Tutorial #8. Image. X in about 3. Please refer to my other tutorials (e. WAIK and Virtual Clone. Drive see Tutorial #1) for details on installing and using the WAIK.
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