How to Dual Boot Windows 8 Developer Preview

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

How to Dual Boot Windows 8 Developer Preview

9/14/2011 07:40:00 PM Neil No comments

Disclaimer: You are about to do a risky process on your machine. Do this at your own risk. I will be not liable for any damage to your machine. Windows 8 is still in it's unstable release.

Dual booting is always a good idea if you are installing a beta, unreleased, or unstable operating system. It is also good so you won't mess up with your primary installation.

Read the whole process after the break.

STEP 1 - HAVE A HUGE DISK SPACE
You will need to have a huge disk space to dual boot Windows 8 Developer Preview along with Windows 7/Vista/XP. I recommend having 40GB or more of disk space for the VHD itself.

STEP 2 - DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL WINDOWS 7 USB/DVD TOOL
Download and install the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool. Visit this webpage for more information about that, everything is there including the download link. Be sure that you have a 16GB flash drive on hand.

STEP 3 - MAKE A VHD
Next is we will make a virtual hard drive. This is where you will install the Windows 8 Developer Preview. I personally prefer doing this on the Disk Management GUI because you may go wrong on the command line method.
a) Search for Disk Management on the Start menu.
b) Click Create and format hard disk partitions.
c) Click Action on the menu bar, then click Create VHD.
d) Browse on where you want to save the VHD. Do not save it on the C:\ drive! Add a name, say Windows 8.
e) Enter your preferred VHD size. Enter 40GB or more if you have sufficient hard disk space. Then click Fixed size (recommended). Wait for the process to complete. Check the status bar on the bottom of the window.

STEP 4 - BOOTING FROM THE USB DISK
Now that you've already have your Windows 8 USB Key, it's time to boot from it. Restart your computer and enter the Setup mode on your BIOS. This is usually done by pressing the specific hotkey for your machine. In my case, it's F2. It maybe F1, F10, F12, or even DEL in older machines. I have a tip though, before your BIOS loads, you will see a fast screen showing something like this

"Press [hotkey] to enter Setup".

STEP 5 - ATTACHING THE VIRTUAL HARD DISK
This is an important step here. Read this carefully. After you've booted to the Windows 8 Developer Preview installation screen and clicked Install now, you will be offered to choose where to install the OS. You will not see the VHD that we've created on the previous steps now. You will need to attach it first.
a) DO NOT SELECT ANY HARD DRIVE. Press Shift + F10 on your keyboard to enter cmd.

b) Attach the VHD. Type the following, one at a time per line.

dikpart
select vdisk file=D:\Windows8.vhd
attach vdisk

It should look like this.

c) Press Alt + Tab to go back to the Setup window. Hit the refresh button and you should now see the VHD that we've created and attached.
d) You will get a warning something that looks like on the image below. Ignore it, and hit Next.

STEP 6 - CONTINUE THE INSTALLATION AS NORMAL
Now that the Windows 8 is now installing on your machine, just wait for it to ask for a restart. Once your machine restarts, enter the BIOS setup again and set the boot order to boot from your hard disk again, not on the USB key. You may now remove the USB key.

STEP 7 - ENJOY WINDOWS 8 DEVELOPER PREVIEW!
You're done!

Some good additions here. In older versions of Windows, when selecting an operating system to boot from, you will be presented a black, uninteresting screen. But on Windows 8, it's a totally new look!