Dual Boot

What Does Dual Boot Mean?

A dual boot is a technique through which multiple operating systems can be kept within the boot sequence on the same computer. It enables a user to select from more than one operating system at the initial boot sequence or system startup.

Techopedia Explains Dual Boot

Dual boot makes it possible to keep more than one installed and live operating system on a computer. Typically, dual boot is achieved through a purpose-built boot loader utility that creates multiple instances of boot sequences. In dual boot mode, the user will be provided with the option to select any of the installed and configured operating systems when the computer starts. To revert to another operating system, the user must restart the computer and initiate the dual boot selection menu again. Dual boot requires that all of the operating systems be installed on separate hard disk or drive partitions.

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Margaret Rouse

Technology Specialist

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.

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