How To Dual-Boot A Windows PC
This guide will show an option all agents and employees can use to have two installations of Windows on their PC's.
This may be especially due to complaints from agents that ESET might be blocking some of the applications they use on their personal profiles, or simply to have a separate Windows instance for work, and one for personal use. Thankfully, Windows is designed with dual booting in mind.
You can create a dual-boot system from pretty much any version of Windows, but here we will add a second instance of Windows 10 to a PC.
What do I need to dual boot Windows?
You’ll need a copy of Windows to install, and this needs to be burned onto a CD or written to a USB memory stick. Microsoft provides a downloadable version of Windows 10 on its site called Microsoft’s Media Creation Tool, although you’ll still need a product key to activate it if you intend to use the operating system long term. The link to the Media Creation Tool is: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10
Saving the installation media to a USB stick is the preferred option:
Always remember to back up your data, as there’s no guarantee something won’t go wrong and you wouldn’t want to lose precious files. These are the steps:
1) Install a new hard drive, or create a new partition on the existing one using the Windows Disk Management Utility;
2) Plug in the USB stick containing the new version of Windows, then reboot the PC;
3) Install Windows 10, being sure to select the Custom option;
4) Select the newly created partition or the other hard disk as the destination for Windows 10. Then click Next to install the operating system.
How do I install a second copy of Windows?
If you have bought a second hard drive or are using a spare one, you can install the second copy of Windows to this drive. If you don’t have one, or you can’t install a second drive because you’re using a laptop, you’ll need to use your existing hard drive and partition it.
# Create a new partition
If you need to install a second version of Windows on the same hard drive as the first, there needs to be enough free space. This can be tricky if you’re running low on storage, as Windows 10 ideally requires around 20-25GB (and we recommend at least 50 - 100GB).
Once you’ve backed up any files that are important, you’ll need to go to the Windows Disk Management utility. To do so, hold down the Windows key and press R. This opens a box, into which you type diskmgmt.msc and, them, press enter.
You’ll now see a list of the partitions on your hard drive. Select the primary partition, usually called (C:), and then right click and select Shrink Volume:
Now, you’ll see another window that shows you the size of the partition and asks you to enter the amount of space to shrink in MB. For example: to create a 25GB partition, you’ll need to enter 25000, then click Shrink. This will modify the partition, allowing you the space you need to install Windows 10:
How do I install Windows 10?
Place the previously created CD or USB version of Windows 10 into your PC and reboot the machine. You should be taken straight to the installation process, but if your machine goes back to your original version of Windows straight away you’ll need to adjust the boot sequence in your BIOS (we’re looking for an option to change the boot order, so removable drives are checked before the main hard drive).
When the install sequence starts, select the Custom option:
This opens up a panel which asks you Where do you want to install Windows? From the presented options, select the one entitled Unallocated Space, which should be 25GB. Click Apply and once Windows has created the partition click Next (if you’re using a separate hard drive, then select that instead).
Now the installation process will continue and finish. The next time you power on or reboot your machine, you will have the option to choose between the two operating systems. The bonus is that as different versions of Windows still use the same file system, you will be able to access your files from either OS.