Pulled from a website that I did not want to link directly to:
How to Dual-Boot Windows 7 and Windows 8 Side By Side
The Windows 8 developer preview is out for all to try, but installing
it over your main Windows setup is a scary (and unrealistic) prospect.
Here's how to dual boot Windows 8 with your current Windows 7
installation so you can run them both side by side.
If you've ever dual booted a machine before, this shouldn't seem too
foreign. All you need to do is create a new partition for Windows 8,
install it on that partition, and then edit your new boot menu so
Windows 7 stays the default OS. Here's how to do it.
Step One: Create a New Partition
Before you start, make a backup of your data—you're going to be
formatting drives and installing OSes, so anything could go wrong, and
you don't want to lose your whole system. When you're ready, we'll
need to create some space for Windows 8 on your hard drive. Assuming
you have at least 20GB of space free on your drive, you're going to
use Windows' Disk Management to set partition those 20GB for Windows
8. Open the Start Menu and right click on the "Computer" option. Click
"Manage", and in the window that appears, click on "Disk Management"
in the left sidebar.
Find your system hard disk in the graphical list that appears in the
bottom pane. Right-click on it and then click "Shrink Volume". Shrink
it down so you have at least 20GB of space left on the end of the
drive, and click OK. Then, click on the "Unallocated" block of that
drive that appears and click "New Simple Volume". Click Next on the
next few windows until you get to the "Format Partition" window. Here,
give it a volume label you'll recognize (like "Windows 8") and click
Next. It should format the drive for you. Now you're all set to
install Windows 8.
Step Two: Install Windows 8
If you haven't downloaded the Developer Preview ISO yet, head over to
the Windows Developer Center and download it. Burn it onto a DVD using
something like ImgBurn, or burn it to a thumb drive if you don't have
a DVD drive in your machine. Make sure your computer is set to boot
from CD or USB, stick in your installation media, and reboot.
If you get a prompt to "Press any key to boot from DVD", then hit a
key on your keyboard. You should boot right into the Windows 8
installer. It actually looks almost exactly like the Windows 7
installer, so it should seem a little familiar. Just pick your
language, hit "Install Now", and choose "Custom" when asked what type
of install you'd like to perform.
On the next screen, find your new partition on the list of drives.
Make sure it's the right one, because you're about to write over
whatever's on it. Hit "Next" and let the installer do its thing. When
you're done, your computer should reboot into Windows 8. It'll
probably reboot one more time after it does, then you'll be greeted
with the Windows 8 Start screen. If you choose to enter a Windows Live
ID here, make sure you have access to your email and can confirm your
computer—otherwise it might not let you boot into it.
Step Three: Make Windows 7 the Default (Optional)
You'll notice when you first boot up into Windows 8 that you're
presented with a new graphical boot menu that'll let you choose
between your Windows 7 and Windows 8 installations. Windows 8 will be
the default, meaning if you don't manually choose Windows 7 from the
menu, your computer will boot into Windows 8 after three seconds of
inactivity. Chances are, you don't want to make Windows 8 the default
quite yet, so here's how to make Windows 7 the default.
On the boot menu, click on the button at the bottom that says "Change
Defaults or Choose Other Options", and hit "Choose the Default
Operating System". From there, you can pick Windows 7 from the menu.
From now on, your computer will boot into Windows 7 by default, but if
you feel like playing around with Windows 8 that day, you can just
pick it from the boot menu. Enjoy playing with the developer preview,
and let us know what you think in the comments.
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