Users are always interested in installing trial versions of the new Windows, But it does not make sense to install a trial version as the main operating system. In this article, we will install dual boot Windows 10 and Windows 11.
Many users like to install and check Windows 11 before the final release, But there are always concerns about the stability of test versions of Windows, and it does not make sense to install a test operating system as the main operating system. Fortunately, setting up DualBoot in Windows is simple enough. All you need is a Windows 11 compatible system and a Windows ISO file. In this article, we will teach dual boot Windows 10 and Windows 11 in two different ways.
Prerequisites for Dual Boot Windows 10 and Windows 11
We need a series of prerequisites before we start. First we need to have a computer that supports the minimum declared specifications for Windows 11. If your computer has the minimum specifications to run Windows 11, boot the ISO file on a flash drive, and if you do not have access to the flash drive, mount the ISO file on Windows.
Step 1: Create a new partition to install Windows 11
We must first shrink one of the partitions; That means taking part of that partition space and turning it into a new drive. Normally if we want to create a new partition, there is no other way but to delete and rebuild that partition; But with Shrink you can get a new partition from the previous partition without deleting the data.
To do this, press the Win + R key combination together and on the Run screen, type diskmgmt.msc and finally OK to run the Disk Management tool.
Right-click on the desired partition and select Shrink Volume.
In the box that opens, enter the amount of space you want to get from the drive-in megabytes. For example, if your drive size is 153122 MB (150 GB), enter about 70,000 MB in the Shrink field; This reduces the size of your drive to 80 GB and shows 70 GB as unallocated space.
Step 2: Create a new drive
To create a new drive, right-click on Unallocated space and select New Simple Volume.
In the New Simple Volume Wizard window, click Next and enter the size of the new driver; Note that this value is sufficient to install Windows 11. Finally, select the Assign the following drive letter option and click Next.
Now we come to the settings of the new drive, which should be in the following order.
- File System – NTFS
- Allocation unit size – Default
- Volume Label – Windows 11
Selecting the Windows 11 name for the drive during installation makes it easier to identify the drive. Select the Perform a Quick format option in the same window and click Next to create the drive.
Step 3: Install Windows 11 from within Windows 10
Connect the bootable flash drive of Windows 11 to your computer. If you do not have a bootable flash drive from Windows 11, use the Windows 11 ISO file. To install via the ISO file, right-click on it and select Mount to add Windows to your computer as a new drive. Next, enter the Windows 11 drive and run the setup.exe file from the Sources folder. If Windows 10 asks you to rent the file, click Yes.
After running the setup.exe file, select the No thanks option, and in the next step, activate the license check and click Next.
In the next step, select the Custom: Install Windows only (advanced) option. In the Windows Where install to install screen section, select the drive that you previously specified as Windows 11. Now Windows 11 installation will start and it will take a long time depending on your computer hardware. During installation, the computer will restart several times, and each time after booting the system, select the Windows 10/11 Setup option. After the installation, when you reset the computer, you will see Windows 10 and Windows 11 as dual boot.
Method 2: Install Windows 11 from a bootable drive
If you wish, you can install Windows 11 from a bootable drive. First, follow the steps in the first step and shrink part of a drive. When the title Unallocated space is created, connect the bootable flash drive to the computer and finally reset it. Now press the F12 key to enter the BIOS settings.
In this step, select the bootable drive from the Boot Manager. In the United States language selection window, select English and click Install Now. On the next screen, select Custom: Install Windows only. On the Where do you want to install Windows page, select the drive you already created and click Next to start installing Windows 11. After the installation of Windows 11 is complete, the computer selects this operating system by default.
How to select the default operating system
You can change the operating system in advance at boot time with the following settings.
Hold down the Win + I keys to open the settings section.
- Select the About option from the System section.
- Click Advanced System Settings on the right side of the window that opens
- From the Startup and Recovery section, select the Settings option.
- From the Default operating system section, select Default Windows.
- Set the duration of Time to display list of operating systems and Time to display recovery options when needed to 30 seconds.
- Finally OK the settings and reset the computer.
- After the reset, the system will ask you to select an operating system. If you do not select any, the default operating system will boot.
Disable Fast Startup in Windows 10 and Windows 11
If you still do not see the dual boot option after the above settings, you should turn off Fast startup as follows.
- In the Windows search section, search for Control Panel and enter this section.
- Go to: System and Security> Power Options> Choose what the power buttons do
- Click Change settings that are currently unavailable.
- Now from the Shutdown settings section, turn off the Turn on fast startup option
This way, with dual boot, you can use the trial version of Windows 11 alongside Windows 10. Of course, dual boot is not completely flawless and may negatively affect system performance.
What do you think about Windows 11 and do you use the dual boot method to install the trial version of Windows 11?
