Dual boot to Vista

[Jim]

I'm considering adding a second HD to my Windows XP Pro system and
installing Vista Ultimate. My system passes the Microsoft upgrade advisor.

I'm not sure exactly how to procedure with the dual boot setup so I would
appreciate any and all suggestions.

TIA

Jim

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

I'm considering adding a second HD to my Windows XP Pro system and
installing Vista Ultimate. My system passes the Microsoft upgrade advisor.

I'm not sure exactly how to procedure with the dual boot setup so I would
appreciate any and all suggestions.

First advice: post your question ONCE and them be patient in waiting
for a reply.

You posted the same question four minutes after you poste this.

 

[Jim]

Sorry about that.

I'm considering adding a second HD to my Windows XP Pro system and
installing Vista Ultimate. My system passes the Microsoft upgrade advisor.

I'm not sure exactly how to procedure with the dual boot setup so I would
appreciate any and all suggestions.

First advice: post your question ONCE and them be patient in waiting
for a reply.

You posted the same question four minutes after you poste this.

 

[- Bobb -]

I'm considering adding a second HD to my Windows XP Pro system and
installing Vista Ultimate. My system passes the Microsoft upgrade
advisor.

I'm not sure exactly how to procedure with the dual boot setup so I
would
appreciate any and all suggestions.

Overview of what I did: ( I assume you're familiar with 'big picture of
dual-boot'?)

Google for / Download and read about " EasyBCD " .
Add new Vista drive as primary boot.
Install Vista on the drive AND EasyBCD
Make sure that drive boots/works Ok.
Then
Into EasyBCD and add your XP drive as a boot option.

Now when you PC boots, it boots to Vista/XP boot menu .
Set your defaults and all set.
If you ever tire of Vista, just remove that drive and the Pc will still
boot from original drive (XP) and XP still sees that drive ( the original
as C so all apps work OK)
ONE thing to be aware of though ... for multi-partitions or multi drives
in XP ....
IF in XP you have 'non-default' drive letter assignments, to keep all
drive letter the same on both OSes ( for instance rather than using D,and
E on my XP install I had my two CD drives as R and W. ), you'll have to
boot Vista, pick drive letters for 'Vista assigned letters and reboot) . I
ALSO have a drive with all my downloaded stuff on a drive - D:\ so I had
to go into disk manager in Vista and assign letters they want I liked so
that D: always equals "the drive I want". That way all shortcuts still
pointed to same places.

One other item ... if you use a mail client ( Outlook / Express etc), I
put my mail on a neutral drive so when I click "mail icon", it goes to the
right place and I don't have to download mail twice - store in 2
locations. Think thru 'that king of thing' BEFORE you start your Vista
install to make life easier for you down the road.

Bobb

 

[- Bobb -]

Overview of what I did: ( I assume you're familiar with 'big picture of
dual-boot'?)

Google for / Download and read about " EasyBCD " .
Add new Vista drive as primary boot.
Install Vista on the drive AND EasyBCD
Make sure that drive boots/works Ok.
Then
Into EasyBCD and add your XP drive as a boot option.

Now when you PC boots, it boots to Vista/XP boot menu .
Set your defaults and all set.
If you ever tire of Vista, just remove that drive and the Pc will still
boot from original drive (XP) and XP still sees that drive ( the
original as C so all apps work OK)
ONE thing to be aware of though ... for multi-partitions or multi drives
in XP ....
IF in XP you have 'non-default' drive letter assignments, to keep all
drive letter the same on both OSes ( for instance rather than using
D,and E on my XP install I had my two CD drives as R and W. ), you'll
have to boot Vista, pick drive letters for 'Vista assigned letters and
reboot) . I ALSO have a drive with all my downloaded stuff on a drive -
D:\ so I had to go into disk manager in Vista and assign letters they
want I liked so that D: always equals "the drive I want". That way all
shortcuts still pointed to same places.

One other item ... if you use a mail client ( Outlook / Express etc), I
put my mail on a neutral drive so when I click "mail icon", it goes to
the right place and I don't have to download mail twice - store in 2
locations. Think thru 'that king of thing' BEFORE you start your Vista
install to make life easier for you down the road.

Bobb

PS re: previous reply: I have SATA with XP , and IDE with Vista , so
easy for me to toggle boot drive. If I remove one, it just tries the next
in my order.
If you're both SATA or both IDE , then you'll have to change boot order of
your drives in BIOS from primary or secondary drive.

 

[Jim]

Many thanks Bobb.

I have XP on the SATA and Vista on the IDE.

I already did the Vista install (success) before I got your message - may
have another question about changing the boot.ini file to get both OS
choices on bootup. I now use the F11 key to choose the boot drive.


Jim

 

[Timothy Daniels]

Many thanks Bobb.

I have XP on the SATA and Vista on the IDE.

I already did the Vista install (success) before I got your message - may have
another question about changing the boot.ini file to get both OS choices on
bootup. I now use the F11 key to choose the boot drive.

Vista doesn't use a boot.ini file for its boot management. If Vista is
installed after XP, the installer will kludge things for XP's boot manager
if you ask it to, but if you don't have software dual boot now, just keep
using the BIOS's HD Boot Order to switch between the 2 HDs. It'll
make things simpler when you finally get rid of one of the OSes.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Jim]

Thanks Tim,

Vista is installed on a separate HD and yes, I'm using the bios boot order
to switch the drives on boot up. This works fine but just wondering if
EasyBCD would make things simpler?

Jim

 

[Timothy Daniels]

Thanks Tim,

Vista is installed on a separate HD and yes, I'm using the bios boot order to
switch the drives on boot up. This works fine but just wondering if EasyBCD
would make things simpler?

Jim

It might be fun to play with, but it won't save much time at startup.
I'd only use it if I had multiple OSes on the same HD because the BIOS's
HD Boot Order can't select among partitions on a HD. Otherwise
EasyBCD is just something else with updates and bugs to keep track of.
If you like experimenting with free software, though, go for it.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Jim]

Thanks Tim, I think I'll continue to use the BIOS's Boot Order.

Jim

 

[zpap88]

Thanks Tim, I think I'll continue to use the BIOS's Boot Order.

Jim








- Afficher le texte des messages précédents -

Hi,
I just installed Vista after XP. (Vista International UK). And other
than I can read here I get a standard Vista dual boot system:
It displays a screen with the choice:
- earlier windows installed
- windows vista

If I select 'earlier windows', I get then th screen from the win XP
boot.ini and so on --> XP.
If I select 'windows vista, Vista is running normally.
It works fine.
best regards
Luc

 

[Timothy Daniels]

I just installed Vista after XP. (Vista International UK). And other
than I can read here I get a standard Vista dual boot system:
It displays a screen with the choice:
- earlier windows installed
- windows vista

If I select 'earlier windows', I get then th screen from the win XP
boot.ini and so on --> XP.
If I select 'windows vista, Vista is running normally.
It works fine.
best regards
Luc

Yes, if one installs Vista after XP, it's pretty easy to get a
dual-boot system. The Vista installer sees the earlier OS, and
it will make a software adapter for its boot manager that hands
control to ntldr just as the Boot Sector in the NT/2K/XP OSes
did. Of course, if you decide to get rid of XP later, you'd
probably want to delete its boot option as well....

*TimDaniels*
process.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Please be aware that Volume ShadowCopy Services is incompatible between XP
and Vista. Booting into XP destroys all your backup and recovery files in
Vista. There is no workaround short of hiding the Vista volume from XP
through a third party boot manager. If you are just gaming then it may be
of little consequence to you but you should at least know the danger.

Thanks Tim, I think I'll continue to use the BIOS's Boot Order.

Jim








- Afficher le texte des messages précédents -

Hi,
I just installed Vista after XP. (Vista International UK). And other
than I can read here I get a standard Vista dual boot system:
It displays a screen with the choice:
- earlier windows installed
- windows vista

If I select 'earlier windows', I get then th screen from the win XP
boot.ini and so on --> XP.
If I select 'windows vista, Vista is running normally.
It works fine.
best regards
Luc

 

[Timothy Daniels]

Please be aware that Volume ShadowCopy Services is incompatible
between XP and Vista. Booting into XP destroys all your backup
and recovery files in Vista. There is no workaround short of hiding
the Vista volume from XP through a third party boot manager.

Good point and another reason to back up files to offline media
and not to rely on automatic backups.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Yes, unfortunately XP's volsnap.sys kills system restore points and Vista's
new "previous versions" feature. It kills backups made with Vista's Backup
and Restore Center, including CompletePC Backup images (Vista Business and
Ultimate) as well. Some third party backup solutions leverage VSS in their
software. It just is not a good idea to dual-boot XP and Vista on a
primary home computer or in a production environment.