With a dual-boot system, you can install Windows 11 on a Windows 10 PC. This allows you to test the new offering from Microsoft without having to uninstall the existing operating system.
Setting up a Windows dual-boot system is easy enough. All you need is a Windows 11 compatible system, an ISO image, enough storage space, and a few minutes of your time. Sounds good? Let’s look at the two ways to dual-boot Windows 11 with Windows 10.
Prerequisites to Dual-Boot Windows 11 With Windows 10
You need to do a little bit of prep work before you can dual-boot Windows 11. First of all, and to nobody’s surprise, you have to have a computer that can run Windows 11. This is easier said than done, because the system requirements to run Windows 11 are quite a bit higher than what people expected them to be.
If your PC can run Windows 11, download the Windows 11 ISO image and create a bootable flash drive. If you don’t have a flash drive, you can mount ISO image files instead.
Where Do I install Windows 11 on My Windows 10 PC?
You can shrink an existing volume and create a new partition on your disk to install Windows 11. We will walk you through the steps required to shrink, format, and create a new partition.
Method 1: Dual-Boot Windows 10 and Windows 11 From Within
You can install Windows 11 by running the setup.exe file directly from the Windows Source folder. This is useful if you don’t have a bootable flash drive. This method involves multiple steps, so follow what’s necessary in your case.
Step 1: Shrink a Volume or Partition
First, we will shrink the current partition to make another one large enough to install Windows 11. To do this, press Win + R to open Run. Next, type diskmgmt.msc and click OK to open the Disk Management tool.
In the Disk section, right-click on any volume with enough free space and select Shrink Volume.
In the dialog box that appears, enter the amount of space to shrink in MBs and click Shrink. For example, if your current volume has 153122 MB (150 GB) space available, enter 70000 in the Shrink field. It will shrink your current volume to 80 GB, and the remaining 70 GB will show as unallocated space.
Step 2: Create a New Volume
To create a new volume, right-click on the Unallocated space and select New Simple Volume.
In the New Simple Volume Wizard window, click Next. Then, enter the size for the new volume and click Next. Make sure you allocate enough space to install Windows 11.
Select the Assign the following drive letter option and click Next.
Next, select Format this volume with the following settings and choose the following:
- File System – NTFS
- Allocation unit size – Default
- Volume Label – Windows 11.
Labeling your volume will make it easier to recognize the drive during installation. Also, check the Perform a quick format option. Finally, click on Finish to create a new partition.
Step 3: Install Windows 11 With Windows 10
Connect your bootable Window 11 flash drive to your PC. If you don’t have a bootable flash drive, mount the Windows 11 ISO image.
To do this, right-click on the ISO image and choose Mount. Once you have mounted the image, it will appear as a new drive under This PC.
Next, open the bootable flash drive or mounted ISO in File Explorer. Then, open the Sources folder and run the setup.exe file. Click Yes when prompted by UAC (User Account Control).
In the Windows Setup screen, select No thanks to proceed. Next, accept the applicable notices and license terms and click Next.
Select the Custom: Install Windows only (advanced) option. In the Where do you want to install Windows screen, select your Windows 11 volume and click Next.
That’s it. Windows 11 will now start installing. The process may take some time and some more on a traditional hard disk.
During installation, your PC will restart and show the Windows Boot Manager. Here, select the first Windows 10/11 Setup option to continue with the setup. If you are using a leaked version of Windows 11, you may see Windows 10 instead of Windows 11.
Once the setup is complete, restart your PC, and you will see the dual-boot option in the Boot Manager.
Method 2: Dual-Boot Windows 11 with Windows 10 Using a Bootable Drive at Boot
If you prefer, you can also install Windows 11 at boot using a bootable drive. Here’s how to do it.
First, follow Step 1 in Method 1 to shrink a volume on your disk to create unallocated space. Once you have an unallocated space large enough to install Windows 11, proceed with the installation.
- Shut down your PC and connect the bootable USB flash drive.
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While restarting the PC, start pressing F12 to access the Boot menu.
- Select your Windows 11 bootable drive as the boot device in Boot Manager.
- In the Setup window, select your language and other preferences and click OK.
- Next, click on Install Now, and accept the terms of the license.
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Select the Custom: Install Windows only option.
- In the Where do you want to install Windows screen, select Unallocated space partition and click Next.
Windows 11 will start installing on your selected partition. Follow through with the setup to complete the installation. Once installed, your device will automatically set Windows 11 as the default OS.
How to Choose the Default OS to Boot Between Windows 10 and 11?
You can change the default OS to boot on a dual-boot system from Startup and Recovery. Here’s how to do it.
- Press Win + I to open Settings.
- Go to System and then open the About tab from the left pane.
- In the right pane, click on Advanced System Settings under the Related Settings section.
- In the Startup and Recovery section, click on Settings.
- Click the drop-down for Default operating system and choose your preferred OS.
- Set the Time to display list of operating systems and Time to display recovery options when needed options to 30 seconds each.
- Click OK to save the changes and restart your PC.
During restart, your system will prompt you to choose your preferred OS to boot. If you don’t select any, it will automatically boot the default operating system. If you are still not seeing dual-boot options during restart, try to turn off fast startup.
How to Turn Off Fast Startup in Windows 10/11
To disable fast startup:
- Type control in the Windows search bar and open Control Panel.
- Next, go to System and Security > Power Options > Choose what the power buttons do.
- Click on Change settings that are currently unavailable.
- Next, uncheck Turn on fast startup under Shutdown settings, and click on Save changes.
Now You Can Dual-Boot Windows 11 with Windows 10
Dual-booting is useful if you want to try out Windows 11 without worrying about its stability and performance issues. However, dual-boot is not without its imperfections. There are risks and issues that can affect your system performance. Knowing the potential dual-booting issues that may occur can help you mitigate them early.