How to do dual boot in windows 10 step by step

The dual boot or dual-boot basically consists of having two different operating systems on our computer. For example, if you intend to try Windows 10 Insider Preview, the best way to do this is to install the system in dual-boot with the Windows you already have on your computer. In order to achieve a dual-boot, in this case we are going to use Windows 10 as the base, but this will work with other versions of the Microsoft system as well.

How to dual boot in Windows 10 step by step

Before continuing, keep in mind that we are going to need another partition of your hard drive for the installation of Windows 10 Insider Preview. Such a partition will need at least 20 GB of free space.

If you don't have another partition on your hard drive, don't worry, as we are going to detail how to divide your partition in two.

You will also need an ISO image of Windows 10 Insider Preview on any storage device. My recommendation is that you use a bootable usb, since this method is the simplest. However, your PC must give the possibility of booting by pendrive, otherwise the Windows 10 Insider Preview image must be burned to a DVD.

Partitioning the hard drive into two partitions

If your hard drive has a partition, it will not be possible to install Windows 10 Insider Preview in dual-boot with Windows 10. We are going to use a method to divide the hard drive into two partitions without having to erase anything or format it.

An important detail is that this will only work if the data on your hard drive is not fragmented in the part where you are going to do the split, that is, Windows can only split your hard drive in case the final portion of it is completely clean.

To divide your hard drive into two partitions, do the following:

1. Simultaneously press the "Windows + R" keys to open the "Run" system box. Inside this box type diskmgmt.msc and press "Enter."

1. Now you must find the partition you want to reduce, right-click on it and select the "Reduce Volume" option.

1. In the next step you must set the desired size for the new partition. In case there is no 20GB or more, please do not continue. In that case you are going to need another hard drive.

1. After shrinking the current partition, your team will have a new partition (the size you have chosen) with an unallocated space, that is, the space without partitions or format.

So you are going to create a new partition. To do this, right-click on the partition with the unallocated space and select "New Simple Volume".

1. In the next step, just follow the steps in the wizard.

And ready, now you have a new partition especially for Windows 10 Insider Preview.

If you do not feel comfortable to configure the partitions in the Windows installation, it is recommended that you modify the name of all the partitions, so you will know exactly in which you should install the Windows 10 Insider Preview, and in which you should not touch anything.

To do this, access "This Computer", right-click on the partition where you want to change the name, and choose the "Change name" option.

Now you will have two partitions named "Windows 10" and "Windows 10 Insider Preview".

At this point, you are ready to install Insider Preview in dual-boot with Windows 10.

Configure the motherboard boot

Before installing Windows 10 Insider Preview, you need to configure the motherboard setup (BIOS) to start by bootable USB stick that you created earlier. In this case, each motherboard works in a different way, so you will have to do a Google search to quickly discover how to modify the boot of your motherboard.

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We recommend reading the best motherboards on the market.

Installing Windows 10 Insider Preview

After the installation starts, choose your keyboard configuration options:

• The choice of your keyboard and the language. Click on “Install Now”. You must accept the terms of the contract to continue with the installation.

To avoid taking the risk of formatting your original Windows 10, you will choose the custom method when creating the partitions, so you will do everything manually.

Our previously renamed partitions make our work so much simpler here. You are going to erase only the empty partition of Windows 10 Insider Preview.

Now you create a new partition with the total space (you don't need to change anything) in the "Unallocated space". All set, now you are going to advance.

After copying the files, remember to boot back from the main hard drive so as not to enter the installation again. If you don't, all of the previous steps are likely to be restored, generating an infinite loop.

Windows will do most of the work for you from here. However, after restarting the system, it will be necessary to choose which version of Windows to use. In this case, you select Windows 10 Insider Preview to complete the installation.

After you fill in some data, Microsoft is ready to go. If you don't have a Microsoft account to access Windows, you will have to do it in the installation process. However, it is not complicated at all.

Below you will see the Windows 10 Insider Preview screen after installation is complete.

To finish, if you want to start your Windows 10 computer, as before, just restart the computer and select it at system startup. We recommend reading our tutorials for Windows and computing.