How to Create a Partition in Windows 7

Windows 7 makes it fairly easy to create a partition because it has a built in utility to partition a hard drive. Most people want to partition their hard drive so they can boot from a different Operating System, however if you have Windows 7 Ultimate, you can boot from a VHD (Click here to find out how to create a VHD).

Here's how you can create a partition in Windows 7:

1. Go to the Start Menu, right click My Computer and select Manage. The Computer Management program will appear

2. Click on the Storage bars and under it click Disk Management

3. Select the drive you want to partition and right click it. Then, select Shrink Volume

4. Now you will see a window showing you the size of the hard drive and the total amount available to shrink. Enter in the amount you would like to shrink, this will be the size of the new partition

5. After you have entered in the values, click Shrink and it will start

6. When it's done shrinking, you will see an Unallocated Space. Select it and then right click it and select New Simple Volume

7. The New Simple Volume Wizard will appear. Type in the size of the partition, this will be the size you just shrunk the hard drive by

8. Assign a drive letter to your new partition

9. On the Format Page, make sure you select NTFS and enter in a name for your drive. Now, click Next and then Finish

Now you will have a new partition on your hard drive that you can use for booting from another Operating System or you can use it just for file storage.