Microsoft has recently released the Pre Beta of Windows 8 and this Pre Beta version is available for public download. With the release, many don’t have patience to wait until the official debut and they rather risk installing it and try to explore as much as possible the new features and capabilities of Windows 8.
As we can expect, Windows 8 Pre Beta gives a glimpse of what to ought to be in the official Windows 8 but this version is not stable to run your day-to-day PC routines. The best way to explore the new features of Windows 8 without compromising your daily work is by having both Windows 7 and Windows 8 run in the same machine [dual OS].
Here’s a simple guideline on how to get Windows 8 Pre Beta installed together with Windows 7.
1. Download Windows 8 Pre Beta (Developer Preview)
Windows 8 Pre Beta which was released recently is available in 3 version; 32-bit (2.8 GB), 64-bit (3.6 GB) and Windows 8 Pre-Beta ISO with developer tools (4.8 GB). All files are available in ISO formats. You can find the download links (direct download) from the this post [Download Windows 8 Pre-Beta ISO 32 bit & 64 bit].
2. Burn the Windows 8 Pre Beta ISO on a DVD or a USB device
After downloading Windows 8 Pre Beta ISO image files, you can proceed with burning the ISO files onto a physical DVD or you can put it on a USB flash drive. You can learn how to do it by visiting this post [Create Bootable Windows 8 USB flash drive].
3. Create new hard disk partition
To fully enjoy the experience of exploring Windows 8, you need to have an empty hard disk partition of 25 GB or more. If you already have the partition then it’s great but if you don’t have it yet, no worries, I got it covered in this post [How to create a Partition in Windows 7]
4. Install Windows 8
After completing step 1 through step 3, now you need to plug in Windows 8 Pre Beta installer (DVD or USB flash drive). Select the “custom” option from the Windows 8 installation screen where you should see the new partition you created on step 3. Select the partition and click next.
By clicking the next button, Windows 8 installation commences and it will take roughly quarter to half an hour to complete. When the installation is completed and restarted, you should see the option to boot into either Windows 7 or Windows 8.
