Preparing Your Hard Drive

• 1). Download the free GParted partitioning application from the link in Resources.
  
  
• 2). Burn the ISO file that downloads to a blank CD. Leave the CD in the drive when you are finished.
  
  
• 3). Restart your computer. Instead of loading your normal operating system, your machine will boot from the GParted CD.
  
  
• 4). Select "GParted Live (Default settings)" from the instruction screen that pops up. Go through the next two pages of instructions to select your language and keyboard settings.
  
  
• 5). When the main user interface opens, right-click the line that says "ntfs" (likely the top line) and select "Resize/Move."
  
  
• 6). Move the slider bar that appears to free up as much space as you need on your hard drive for Vista. You can see how much space you are freeing up where it says "Free Space Following (MB)." You will need at least 10 gigabytes, or 10,000 megabytes, to install Vista, so that box should read 10,000 at minimum. Any more just allows additional file storage on your Vista system.
  
  
• 7). Click the "Resize/Move" button. Click the "Apply" button to save the changes.
  
  

Partitioning the Drive

• 1). Turn off your computer. Replace the GParted CD in your drive with the Vista installation DVD. Start your machine.
  
  
• 2). Select your language from the prompt and click "Install Now."
  
  
• 3). When the page asking for your "Product Key" pops up, press "Shift" and "F10" to launch a command-line prompt.
  
  
• 4). Type in "diskpart" (no quotation marks) and press "Enter."
  
  
• 5). Type "list volume" and press "Enter." You will see a list of options very similar to what you saw in the main GParted window. Find the one that says "NTSF" and see what volume number it is. In most cases it will say "Volume 0."
  
  
• 6). Type in "select volume [#]", where "[#]" refers to the volume number you found in the previous step. Again, most users will type "select volume 0."
  
  
• 7). Type "shrink" and press "Enter." This will free up the space on the partition to install Vista.
  
  
• 8). Exit the command-line window.
  
  

Installing Vista

• 1). Follow the on-screen instructions to continue your Vista installation.
  
  
• 2). When a box appears asking where you would like to install Vista, select "unallocated space" and click "Next."
  
  
• 3). Reboot the system when your installation has finished. You will be presented with the "Dual Boot" prompt, asking whether you wish to start your machine with Vista or your other system. Your Vista Dual Boot setup is complete.