How to Easily Dual Boot Windows 11 and Windows 7

Why Dual Boot Windows 11 and Windows 7?

Typically, most computers come with only one operating system. If you want to install Windows 11 on your computer but want to keep the original Windows 7 operating system. Then you can choose to dual-boot, which means installing two operating systems on your computer and choosing between them at boot time.

About why you need dual boot system, this article summarizes these important reasons for you.

• Experience all features of both systems: Compared to virtual machines, setting up a dual boot configuration on your hard drive gives you full access to graphics, memory, input/output devices, and other hardware, and you can experience all the features of your system.
• Flexibility to switch between the two systems: This way, you can experience the latest Windows operating system or run an older system based on your own needs.

Backup Your System before Dual Boot to Prevent Data Loss     

Before setting up a dual boot, it is recommended that you backup your system in advance. If Windows fails to boot, you can use the created system backup to quickly restore your system and make sure that no data is lost.

The free backup software AOMEI Backupper Standard can help you achieve the goal easily. It also lets you choose different backup destination paths, you can backup system to external disk, local disk, USB flash drive, cloud disk, NAS, or a network location according to your needs.

First, download AOMEI Backupper Standard, install and launch it. If you are a Windows Server user, you can select AOMEI Backupper Server.

Step 1. Open the software and click Backup > System Backup.

Step 2. It will select system partition and boot-related partitions automatically. And you just need to select a destination.

Step 3. Click Start Backup to backup the Windows system.

Note:

• Option: You can write comments, choose the compression level for your system backup or set email notifications. It also offer encrypt function and you can upgrade to the Pro version to enable encryption for backups.

How to Dual Boot Windows 11 and Windows 7

To dual boot Windows 11 and Windows 7, you had better install two operating systems on separate partitions. This is divided into two situations, one is installing Windows 11 on Windows 7 and the other is installing Windows 7 on Windows 11.

In this article, we will use the first situation as an example for a step-by-step guide. The steps for both are similar, except that the method of creating a bootable disk in Windows is not quite the same. If you don't have a second hard drive, you can create a new partition for Windows 11 on your PC. Make sure this partition has at least 64 GB of storage space.

Preparation

To install Windows 11 on your computer, you must ensure that the machine meets the following  system requirements for Windows 11. You can use PC Health Check or AOMEI Windows 11 Update Checker to perform a compatibility check to see if your PC is compatible with Windows 11. If you find that your device cannot meet the requirements of TPM, Secureb Boot, you can learn how to fix cannot install or upgrade to Windows 11.

• CPU: 1GHz or more, 2 cores or more, compatible 64-bit processor
• RAM: 4GB or more
• Storage: 64GB or more
• Firmware: UEFI, Secure Boot capable
• TPM: Trusted Platform Module 2.0
• Graphics card: DirectX 12 compatible with WDDM 2.0 driver
• Display: 720p 9-inch display

Create a New Partition for Windows 11

To create a new partition in Windows 7, you can right-click Computer > Manage to open Disk Management. Then, right-click one partition and choose Shrink Volume. Enter the amount of space to shrink based on your needs and click Shrink to get an unallocated space.

Next, right-click the unallocated space and choose New Simple Volume, set the maximum size, choose a drive letter, decide the file system, volume label, and click Finish.

Download Windows 11 ISO File and Make It Bootable

You need to download the Media Creation tool for downloading Windows 11. Users with the Media Creation tool, won’t need third-party applications. As the option is available inside the Media Creation tool. In Media Creation Tool, you will find Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file) for another PC option. Then you will select the USB that you want to burn the ISO file on and the procedure will begin.

Install Windows 11 on a Windows 7 Computer

Insert the bootable USB drive you have created into your computer. Then restart the PC, press a specific key to enter BIOS, and then change the boot order to boot the PC from the drive. Next, follow the instructions to start installing Windows 11.

Note: Remember, when selecting the Windows drive to be installed, you need to select the partition created for storing windows 11 as the installation destination.

Set Default Operating System

After the installation is complete, when you start your computer again on the Choose an operating system page, you will see an option to "Change defaults or choose other options". In the new screen, you can select a default operating system and decide how long the selection of operating system appears before the default version of Windows is automatically started.

Besides, you can use another method to set the default operating system to boot. After booting to the Windows version, you can press Win + R to open the Run window, and type Sysdm.cpl in it and click OK to launch the System Properties window. Click on Settings from the Startup and Recovery section and select Default OS from the System Startup section.

Summary

Dual-booting Windows 11 and Windows 7 allows you to experience the features of the new system while being able to keep the old system you are familiar with. Before setting up the dual system, to avoid data loss, it is recommended that you backup your system in advance with the free backup software AOMEI Backupper Standard.

If the system fails to boot properly, you can use the previously created system backup image to quickly restore and then use your computer normally. After the backup is completed, you can start setting up the dual system according to the method mentioned in the article.

Besides, AOMEI Backupper also provides many useful functions to protect your computer in all aspects, such as File Backup, System Clone, Data Recovery, Create bootable media, etc. You can download this software to explore more useful features.