Hi All I have Windows 7 64bit on a laptop. The internal HD is partitioned into C: (containing the Win 7 OS) and D: (That contains my data). I want to install Windows 8 on the machine as a dual boot. I shrunk the D: drive successfully by 75Gb using the Win7 disk management tool. I then right clicked to set up a new simple partition. I stuck with the defaults other than enabling File and Folder Compression. However on clicking Finish in the Wizard I get this dialog I have checked several blogs and tips concerning creating a new partition. None refer to this dialog. I have also Searched on the conversion of basic to dynamic disks. All I can see is that it may affect either my ability to run Win7, or run Win 8 or both. My first question is why am I seeing this My second is how do I proceed and I guess my third is what do I need to do to safely create a dual boot Win7/Win8 setup. I do not want to update my main Win 7 to Win 8 at this time. Many thanks for your patience in reading this and any help you can give. Jon. Microsoft MVP

Let Windows 8 do the trick. There is no reason to create partition (yourself). You will have single system partition for both system. The choice that is not default will need restart. Regards Milos

Hi Jon, It seems that you already have four partitions on your system. If that is the case, I would not recommend that you convert your hard disk from basic type to dynamic. If your only goal is to install and play with Win 8, I'd recommend you: Expand one of your partittions to full size, so you don't have unallocated space.In your partition with most free space, create vhd drive, fixed size of at least 40 GB (more if you plan to install more stuff).Install Windows 8 in vhd file. Choose your favorite search engine to find out how to install Windows 7 or 8 in vhd (the procedure is same for both Seven and Eight). Good luck Les

Hi Jon, It seems that you already have four partitions on your system. If that is the case, I would not recommend that you convert your hard disk from basic type to dynamic. If your only goal is to install and play with Win 8, I'd recommend you: Expand one of your partittions to full size, so you don't have unallocated space.In your partition with most free space, create vhd drive, fixed size of at least 40 GB (more if you plan to install more stuff).Install Windows 8 in vhd file. Choose your favorite search engine to find out how to install Windows 7 or 8 in vhd (the procedure is same for both Seven and Eight). Good luck Les

Hi Les and thanks for the reply It seems you are correct in the number of partitions. In addition to the C: and D: partitions there is a Recovery Partition and another small one. They have no drive letters so I did not count them at first. I will certainly look into setting up a vhd for Win 8. Jon. Microsoft MVP

Let Windows 8 do the trick. There is no reason to create partition (yourself). You will have single system partition for both system. The choice that is not default will need restart. Regards Milos Thanks for the reply Milos. I am not sure I understand the answer though. Are you saying that Win 8 can create a partition on its own? Jon. Microsoft MVP