How to Dual Boot Windows 8 and XP

After serving customers for more than 12 years, Microsoft has recently withdrawn official support for technical and security issues offered to Windows XP PCs after April 8, 2014. As per rough estimate, nearly one-third of the Windows PCs were running on this amazing OS that has recorded global sale of 400 million copies within its first five years of availability. Since the company has withdrawn the official support including technical assistance, automatic updates, security patches, and service packs, XP have now become a secondary choice of users. The hardware and software partners of the company continue to believe in the company policies and have invested to support recent technologies that deliver better experiences for the Windows users. This shift of focus from existing to emerging technologies has enforced a user to try something new that is being made available by the company. Windows 8.1 is the latest OS by Microsoft and it can be easily accessed on your Windows XP device by installing it on a partition.

In this article, you will read about how to allow both Windows XP and Windows 8 to co-exist on the same PC.

What are the system requirements of to run Windows 8?

If you want to install Windows 8 on your Windows XP device, you will be required to meet the minimum system requirements mentioned below:

·1 GHz or faster processor

·1 GB RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)

·16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)

·DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

·Minimum of 1024×768 screen resolution for running Metro style applications

·1366×768 screen resolution for the snap feature

After confirming that the system meets the OS requirements, you will be required to create some space on your hard disk to install the Windows 8 OS. To allocate this space to Win 8, you can easily create partitions on your hard disk drive and install the new system software in it.

How to create partitions in your PC’s hard disk drive?

Find below the step-by-step guide to easily create hard disk partitions in Windows XP:

Step1. Go to the ‘Computer Management’ tool by opening the ‘Start’ menu and typing ‘Computer Management’ in the search bar. Now press ‘Enter.’

Step2. Select the ‘Disk Management’ tool. To see all of the disks and their partitions on your computer, click on ‘Disk Management’ section, located on the left side of the window.

Step3. To create a new partition, right-click on the hard disk partition that you wish to re-size and select the ‘Shrink Volume’ option.

Note: Never re-size the partition named ‘System Reserved’ as it may affect the PC functioning.

Step4. To shrink the drive, enter the desired size in megabytes and click on the ‘Shrink’ button.

Step5. Since the size of the drive is shrunken, you can now create a new volume. As soon as you see a newly unallocated partition in your Disk Management window, right-click on it and select the ‘New Simple Volume’ option.

Step6. This will open a ‘New Simple Volume’ wizard and you are required to click on the ‘Next’ button to continue.

Step7. Enter the size of new partition and the amount of memory you wish to allocate for your new partition and then click ‘Next.’

Step8. Add an appropriate letter name or path to the new volume by clicking on the ‘letter name for your new partition’ option from the menu. Once done, click the ‘Next’ button to proceed further.

Step9. Now, manage ‘Settings’ for the new volume. You will be required to click on the ‘Format this volume’ option and adjust them according to the following settings, and then click the ‘Next’ button:

·Select ‘NTFS,’ for File System setting

·Select ‘Default,’ for allocation unit size setting

·Type-in the desired name of your new drive under ‘Volume Label’ settings

·Click to checkmark the ‘Perform a quick format’ option

Step10. Now, you’ve successfully created the new volume, confirm your settings and click on the ‘Finish’ button to exit the wizard.

Step11. Now, it’s the time to format the new volume. Perform the following steps to finish the process and start using your partitioned section of the hard disk drive.

·As soon as you will close the wizard, a popup asking you to partition your new drive will appear and you will be required to click on the ‘Format disk’ button.

·Now, a new window will popup, check the settings, and click on the ‘Start’ button to continue.

·A warning pop-up will appear on the final screen, here you need to click the ‘OK’ button to create a new partition.

Step12. The moment all the wizards, pop-ups, and windows will be closed, you will be able to see your new drive in the ‘Disk Management’ window.

Step13. Your computer will restart and changes will be made to the partition layout.

Once you’ve successfully created a partition, it’s time to install Windows 8 OS on the XP-based PC.

How to install Windows 8 on Windows XP device?

After the desired partition is created on the hard disk drive, you will be straightaway booted to the Windows XP desktop. Since Windows 8 comes with an advanced array of features, you can’t do a custom install within Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7. To install Windows 8 on the device, you will have to boot from the Windows 8 DVD or install using the Web Installer. If you have chosen the second option, then ensure that you use the option to create a bootable Windows 8 DVD using the .ISO file or bootable thumb drive. Now, insert the Windows 8 disc, restart your PC, and command it to boot from the DVD.

After inserting the Windows 8 disc into the system, follow the below listed steps to complete the installation process:

Step1. Once your computer is set to boot from the DVD, you will see the Windows 8 logo on screen.

Step2. After a few minutes, you will be presented with the first screen of the installation setup that will ask you to select your time and currency format, and then click ‘Next.’

Step3. As soon as you press the ‘Next’ button, you’ll be presented with ‘Install Now’ window, here you will be required to click on the ‘Install Now’ button. Users will need to wait for a while to let the setup begin.

Step4. Enter your product key, when asked, and click on the ‘Next’ button.

(Note: The product key becomes available to you when you downloaded the .ISO file)

Step5. Check mark the ‘End User License agreement’ to ‘Accept’ it, and click on the ‘Next’ button.

Step6. On the ‘Which type of installation you want?’ page, click on the ‘Custom install Windows only (advanced)’ option.

Step7. Now, you will be required to select the partition that you’ve created for this install, and then click on the ‘Next’ button.

Step8. Wait patiently while Windows 8 is getting installed on the device as installation time may vary depending upon the system configuration and memory space.

Step9. Once the installation is complete, click ‘Restart now’ and wait.

Step10. When the device will start again, it will boot Windows 8 for the first time and a series of actions will take place and then the setup will update the Windows registry.

Step11. The next screen will ask you to choose the OS that you want to boot into, select ‘Windows 8’ and configure it. In addition to this, you’ll need to complete the below mentioned tasks:

·Get devices ready

·Get system ready

·Restart PC

Once the restart is complete, you will be presented with the ‘Choose the OS that you want to boot into screen.’

Step11. Click on the ‘Windows 8’ option to enter the ‘Out of box experience’ screen and personalize your windows experience. By accessing this screen, you can change the following sections:

·Select your Windows color

·Click ‘Use Express Settings’

·Setup an account name and password, then click ‘Finish’

You will be required to wait for sometime as your settings are getting finalized and saved.

Step12. Once all the things are done, you will log into Windows 8 for the first time.

(Optional)

Step13. In case you want to boot back into Windows XP environment, then simply open the boot manager and click on the ‘Earlier version of Windows’ option.

The above mentioned steps will help you to dual boot your device from Windows XP to Windows 8. It is recommended to create backups of all your valuable data to ensure complete safety of it, in case something goes wrong. Since Microsoft has withdrawn the official support for XP, all the existing users are recommended to switch to other higher Windows versions to escape from a new purchase of device. Dual boot helps in running two operating systems on a single device and ensures that every operation is completed successfully.

About the Author:  Brooke M. Perry is an ardent technician associated with Qresolve online computer support with wide experience of fixing issues with PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphone. With a strong track record of devising effective ways of online tech support and system security, she has so far helped thousands of users across the globe. Her writings on tech issues are the reflection of her in-depth interest and command she carries as a  pc security support technician. Her blogs and articles have been rated high for their lucid style and easy to understand language.