Dual Boot

[Alex]

Hi I have a copy of Vista Business as part of my Action Pack. I want to
play with it for bit before installing onto other machines. i have a
laptop - Vista ready, but currently running XP Pro fully patched.
The laptop has just a C parition with 143GB free.

My question is there anyway that i can install Vista onto the laptop as a
dual boot so that i dont screw up my existing installation.

Thanks
Alex

 

[John Barnett MVP]

You will need to create a new partition to install Vista. I assume partition
C takes up the whole hard drive? If so you'll need third party software to
shrink the current partition sufficiently to create a new partition (around
40GB).

Once Vista is installed on the second partition when you boot up a menu will
appear offering you the choice to boot to xp or vista. One word of warning
here, though. Because of the way XP shadow copies files, if you boot to XP
it will delete all of the system restore points on the Vista partition. The
only option is to either use a third party boot menu application or, if you
have ultimate or enterprise versions, use the bitlocker encryption. The loss
of restrore points on vista may not bother you, but at least you know about
it before hand.

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

 

[Alex]

Tha nk you John for your post and helpful tips

Can I ask (without any recourse of course!) if you can suggest suitable
partition management software?

thanks
A

 

[Guest]

John,

You seem in the know. Can I do this:

I have MCE 2005 installed on my c:\ and have just ordered Vista Ultimate OEM
and would like to install it on a different drive e:\ and keep my system dual
boot; however, I have heard that OEM version only install on clean drives?
Does this mean since my system has MCE on drive c:\ it won't let me install
on a new clean drive?

Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks in advance

Jeff

 

[Bill Condie]

Hi Alex, I've been wondering about Action Pack. When did you get it?

 

[Bill Condie]

Ah, just found this: So we don't get Ultimate?

Saturday, January 20, 2007 12:16 AM by mssmallbiz
So where's my January Action Pack kit? Anyone wondering this?
If you are wondering where your January Action Pack Kit is and when you'll
have it , here is an update for you. The message below came from the Action
Pack Team and you will see it shortly on the Microsoft Partner Page;
however, I wanted to get it to you as soon as possible so you had the
information. Also, be sure to check out the update I added to the end based
on some information that was confirmed just this afternoon:



===========

Dear Microsoft Partner,



This is to inform you of the estimated delivery date of the January Action
Pack (quarterly update). The January kit is a Special Launch Edition
featuring Windows Vista, Microsoft 2007 Office System and special
information on Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2.



We know that you're anxious to receive this kit, and we want to get it into
your hands as soon as possible. However, in order to meet the customer
demand due to the overwhelming response for the new Windows Vista and Office
products, our January Action Pack kit is delayed. We understand the
importance of our partners receiving these products before the general
public, and we are doing everything possible to make this happen. However,
our estimated ship dates by region are as follows:



a.. North America - January 19th
b.. Europe - January 22nd
c.. Asia Pacific - February 5th

 

[John Barnes]

OEM only installs on a clean volume (partition). No problem dual booting
with MCE. Read the warning about losing restore points in Vista each time
you boot to XP and be aware ahead of time.

 

[Alex]

Not in the Uk - we got Vista Business in fact i have just looked at the disc
properly so I see that it is Business Upgrade, which rather knocks my idea
of creating a dual boot on the head i believe.
Alex

 

[Guest]

Tnx John )

One of the reasons I'm going with Ultimate is to use bitlocker to keep my
restore points.

Jeff

 

[John Barnett MVP]

Alex, you can use Norton partition magic or there is Paragon hard disk
manager.


--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

 

[John Barnett MVP]

Jeff, as John Barnes has already pointed out the OEM will only install on a
clean partition. There is no problem with dual booting other than the
restore point problem which you have covered with bitlocker. But why are you
going to dual boot MCE with Ultimate? Ultimate already contains MCE so are
you just simply dual booting for the sake of the XP operating system?

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

 

[Guest]

Hi John Barnett,

My real reason for staying with the dual boot is I have a lot of software
installed in XP (for work & hobbies) and just want to make sure everything
will run in Vista. Not to mention some/most is activated software and I
don't want to run the risk of losing my activation.

Jeff

 

[John Barnett MVP]

That's understandable. I just thought that you may have not realised that
media center was part of Ultimate too.

Due to the problem with restore points and vista i'm considering
re-installing vista to the C: drive and then installing XP on something
like VMwares Workstation (virtual machine). I only need XP in case i have
someone email me with aproblem and i need to check a particular procedure.

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

Hi John Barnett,

My real reason for staying with the dual boot is I have a lot of software
installed in XP (for work & hobbies) and just want to make sure everything
will run in Vista. Not to mention some/most is activated software and I
don't want to run the risk of losing my activation.

Jeff