>>[Background Music] Installing the Window Seven Beta might sound intimidating especially when you have to factor in that for many users, a drive partition is required if you don't have a separate hard drive to boot from. Partitioning a drive that's already in use sounds tricky but in fact, it's not very complicated at all.
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>>Hi. I'm Seth Rosenblatt [assumed spelling] for cnetdownload.com and in this insider secret I'll be taking you step by step through the install process of setting up a dual boot windows machine. This will work for any operating system but what we're talking about today is Window Seven Beta.
>>Ready to get your hands dirty; first off, download the Window Seven Beta and burn it to a DVD or a four gig thumb drive. When Microsoft gives you your serial number, write it down.
>>Now, your next step depends on your current windows operating system. If your using Vista, you have a built in partition manager so you may want to skip ahead for the Vista instructions. If you're using XP or earlier, go to download.com and grab the easeus partition manager. That's spelled E-A-S-E-U-S. It's a free partitioning program. Start it and click the drive you want to partition and then hit the resize button.
>>The colored portion of the bar is your existing data and it should be on the left side. The right side should be gray. Drag the slider to shrink your C drive; keeping an eye on the size of the new partition. 16 gigabytes is the minimum recommended for Windows Seven. Hit okay and you'll have just resized your C drive. Hit create to change that partition into a useable drive space. Give the volume a name you'll recognize, click apply and you're good to go. Vista users don't need a separate partitioning program since that feature has been baked in. There are several ways to access the feature but the quickest is to go to your start menu. Right click on computer. You might be asked for credentials before continuing. In the left pane, go to storage and then disk management. Right click again on the partition you want to change and then choose shrink volume. You want to create a space that's big enough for Window Seven. That's around 16 gigs. Create a new simple volume in the free space. Label it something sensible and you're ready for the fun stuff.
>>Put the Window Seven disk in but don't let it in install. If you install it now it'll wipe out your current C drive and you'll probably blame me. Nobody wants that. Your drive's partitioned, your Window Seven Beta disk is ready to go, so now, you just need to reboot your computer.
>>The Window Seven installation screen will pop up. Choose install now then custom. This will allow you to choose which drive gets the new operating system. The next page; where do you want to install windows; allows you to choose the partition. Make sure you select your new empty partition then hit next. Enter user name, a password and then your serial number. The following options concern the network hereon and can be adjusted later. That should bring you right into Window Seven Beta.
>>The whole installation process should take about an hour from start to finish; although I've heard of some people going from zero to seven in a quarter of that. Oh, and if you're curious about the new features in Window Seven, we've got a first look video to get you started on that too as well as a couple of quick tips. If you'd like to switch back to your original operating system, simply reboot and you'll be presented with the option to switch operating systems during the boot cycle.
>>[Background Music] Good luck with your new dual boot and Window Seven adventure. For download.com, I'm Seth Rosenblatt.
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