[JoostDeNys]

It about time to reset my pc, to many bugs, and its getting slow. But with Windows 10 TP released now, i was thinking about upgrading my pc to win 10.
But i dont want to lose my stuff and its my only pc, so i was thinking about a dual boot with win 10 ans win 8.1. But i wouldn't use the 8.1 anymore normally.
Is it safe to make a dualboot? Any risks? Is it good enough already to use as a primary OS?
And when the official version of win 10 will be released I want to fully remove my win 8.1 and undo the partitioning of my hard drive. Are there going to be any risks (such as problems with lisence code, partitioning?)
Any suggestions?

[misterff1]

I'd say that the previous build was stable enough for daily use, but this one isn't. Yeah, you can dual boot it, but my advice is to keep it as secondary system unless you really know what you are doing

[ncxcstud]

I'm dual booting Win8.1 and Win10 right now. Pretty simple. Just partition your hard drive (or add a second drive) and install it on that. It should automatically add the option to select which OS you want to boot into - mine did. I installed from a USB and it worked like a charm.

[JoostDeNys]

Thanks, any experience with adding an empty and a non empty partition back together?

[misterff1]

Thanks, any experience with adding an empty and a non empty partition back together?

Here's a tip: Don't ever do that. Just wipe everything and merge them at that point. Screwed up a HDD doing that and I heard the same things from others

[JoostDeNys]

And if i take a backup before merging? Is it safe?

[misterff1]

And if i take a backup before merging? Is it safe?

Nope, because it won't be just the files being screwed up if you're unlucky..
It'll be the entire HDD.

[SethGlenn]

I just installed Windows 10 as a dual boot with 8.1 as well. Is there any easy way to get programs already installed in 8.1 to work properly in 10? Or does it just need to be a new install for each? I've been able to get a few working, but other not so much. If I have to, I have to; I was just trying to avoid installing games/programs twice.

Thanks!

[DavidinCT]

Thanks, any experience with adding an empty and a non empty partition back together?

If your drive is partly unused (after you deleted a partition), Windows has a built in expand and shrink. I have used this on MANY occasions with no issues.

This is a built in feature of Windows now, I have used this on $100K+ production reference (crazy fast and tons of cores) servers with never an issue.

I have tested in Windows 10 and it works with no problems, and I know it works in 8.1 as well.

I just installed Windows 10 as a dual boot with 8.1 as well. Is there any easy way to get programs already installed in 8.1 to work properly in 10? Or does it just need to be a new install for each? I've been able to get a few working, but other not so much. If I have to, I have to; I was just trying to avoid installing games/programs twice.

Thanks!

No, if you did a inplace upgrade, it would of kept your applications as such. Doing a dual boot installs a clean OS, you would have to reinstall all your applications and settings.

It's always been like this from back in the Windows 95 days...it's just how Windows works..

[Claudia Wey]

I have my Surface 3 Pro with dual boot Windows 8.1/Windows 10 for a little while. It was a bit tricky to install the first time, but it works great.

[FAHMI BASSEM]

Dual booting Windows 8.1 and 10 on my VAIO for about a week, it's really awesome, became my main OS now!
What helped me using our as primary OS is that I can access my files on 8.1