Dual Boot - Another issue

[Simon Patten]

I've been running XP MCE on C: and have been experimenting with the
MSDN version of Vista Ultimate on D:. I have now bought Home Premium
(OEM) and am ready to install it but I'm wondering about the best way
to do it.

Given that Vista installed its boot manager, etc. on the C: drive,
it'll be virtually impossible to delete XP in the future so I've been
thinking of using Acronis TrueImage to copy XP to the second primary
partition and then installing Vista on the first primary partition
(presumably having to install XP first but that's no problem).

This sounded like the best plan to me but then I read:

DUAL BOOT DIFFICULTIES
BELOW POSTED BY jimmuh 01-28-2007 within this Forum.
I'm afraid that I'm pretty much a bucket of cold water on this one. If you
want Vista and Windows XP to co-exist as multi-boot partners on the same
system you really need to use Vista Ultimate (RTM, NOT RC2 anything) with
BitLocker enabled and hiding Vista from WinXP BEFORE you ever reboot into
WinXP, or you need to use a third party boot manager to hide Vista from
WinXP. Otherwise, WinXP will immediately set about trashing System Restore
points and Shadow Copy data on the Vista partition during its first session.

Which has got me worried.

I want to keep XP as it is slightly faster for video work and that is
my main usage, as well as the fact that there aren't drivers for some
of the hardware I use so what would be the best installation scenario?
I don't mind reinstalling MCE from scratch if need be but I'd like to
install Vista in a fairly future-proof environment.

TIA,
Simon.

 

[Chad Harris]

Simon--

Maybe I'm missing something, but why can't you simply format D and install
VHP there unless you're trying to keep your MSDN Ultimate, and in that case
make a new partition and install VHP?

CH

 

[steveb]

If I understand your situation correctly, If you move XP to the second
partition it will be on Drive d right? All the internal paths in the
registry are c:\ and nothing will work.

This is how I dual boot:

I had an existing Windows XP installation running on c:\ It was clean and
would take days to reproduce. So I installed Vista on a second physical
disk, again on c:\

On my computer the bios is so user friendly that I cannot disable drive-0 in
less than 30 seconds at boot-up.

When Drive-0 is disable I have XP
When Drive-0 is enable I have Vista

This is a little screwy but it works fine and I don't change between the two
operating systems only once a day or so. This is the only way I could save
a good install of XP and a good install of Vista that I already had.

 

[Simon Patten]

Maybe I'm missing something, but why can't you simply format D and install
VHP there unless you're trying to keep your MSDN Ultimate, and in that case
make a new partition and install VHP?

I can, and probably will, do that. My concern is that if I want to get
rid of XP at some point in the future, I'm not sure if I'll be able to
as Vista will have stored some of its stuff on the C: drive.

Given that I'll be installing an OEM version which is a bit more fussy
about reinstalls, I'd like to get it set up properly in one go so that
I can remove XP without messing with Vista.

Cheers,
Simon.

 

[Simon Patten]

If I understand your situation correctly, If you move XP to the second
partition it will be on Drive d right? All the internal paths in the
registry are c:\ and nothing will work.

I don't think that'll be the case, I am currently dual-booting and
whichever OS is being used appears as the C: drive.

This is how I dual boot:

I'm using a Dell and I don't think the BIOS offers that facility.

Thanks for the suggestion though

Another alternative is to use a disk caddy and swap disks but that's
not great as I have another partition on the same disk so I'd have to
have 2 versions of it or use two smaller drives for the OS and another
for the second partition.

I was going to use PQboot so that each C: drive was completely
independent and the other was hidden when not in use but I don't think
they've caught up with Vista yet, or at least my version hasn't as it
didn't work.

Cheers,
Simon.

 

[Rene Lamontagne]

I don't think that'll be the case, I am currently dual-booting and
whichever OS is being used appears as the C: drive.


I'm using a Dell and I don't think the BIOS offers that facility.

Thanks for the suggestion though

Another alternative is to use a disk caddy and swap disks but that's
not great as I have another partition on the same disk so I'd have to
have 2 versions of it or use two smaller drives for the OS and another
for the second partition.

I was going to use PQboot so that each C: drive was completely
independent and the other was hidden when not in use but I don't think
they've caught up with Vista yet, or at least my version hasn't as it
didn't work.

Cheers,
Simon.

I had no luck dualbooting with XP on a Raid 0 setup, Vista on second drive
,tried Vista, Vistabootpro, BootiNG and a couple others.
Finaly got fed up and did the Brute force boot, XP and all its programs and
extras on drive 0, Vista and all its programs and stuff on drive 1, Cut the
5 and 12 volt lines on a molex extender and wired in a double pole single
throw switch which I mounted on the back panel, this harness plugs into
drive 1
Now I flick the switch to whichever I want and boot up, Also this completely
hides Vista from XP so it can't mess with the restore points.
Not elegant but it works 100% , no software hassles.

Regards, Rene Lamontagne

 

[Simon Patten]

I've been running XP MCE on C: and have been experimenting with the
MSDN version of Vista Ultimate on D:. I have now bought Home Premium
(OEM) and am ready to install it but I'm wondering about the best way
to do it.

Given that Vista installed its boot manager, etc. on the C: drive,
it'll be virtually impossible to delete XP in the future so I've been
thinking of using Acronis TrueImage to copy XP to the second primary
partition and then installing Vista on the first primary partition
(presumably having to install XP first but that's no problem).

To follow up on my earlier post, I've just built a new machine and I
installed Vista on the first primary partition. It was working well so
I then tried installing XP (MCE) on a second primary partition and
guess what, it trashed Vista completely, it wouldn't boot either of
them!

So, it's back to MCE on partition 1 and Vista on partition 2 as that
is the only method that works, short of swapping drives or being
clever with the BIOS.

Grrrrrr, many hours wasted on installing and configuring Vista, all
for nothing. Thank you MS, well thought out, I don't think!

 

[thecreator]

Hi Simon,

The concept is real easy to understand. The older version gets installed
first. Windows XP does not need to reside on the C: partition. You can
install the Acronis TrueImage Copy on the D: partition, but in order to get
it to boot, you need to do a repair of Windows XP MCE, so it runs on D:.

But something to think about before doing it. You created an Acronis
TrueImage Copy of XP MCE on C:, with all the Programs listed in the Windows
Registry in the copied image, pointing to Drive C: not Drive D:. Now you
want to switch the locations of the operating systems. That is a bad idea.

Boot up the computer using the Windows Vista Home Premium (OEM) DVD.
Select Custom Install, instead of Default. Choose the partition, where
Windows Vista Ultimate is installed. You can't upgrade overtop of Windows
Vista Ultimate, but you can reformat and install Windows Vista Home Premium
on D:\, but when you finally boot into Vista, installed on D:, it will
consider itself to be installed on C:\ with the other partitions, renamed.
But only from the viewpoint of Vista. When you boot to XP, Vista will be
D:\.

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

To follow up on my earlier post, I've just built a new machine and I
installed Vista on the first primary partition. It was working well so
I then tried installing XP (MCE) on a second primary partition and
guess what, it trashed Vista completely, it wouldn't boot either of
them!

So, it's back to MCE on partition 1 and Vista on partition 2 as that
is the only method that works, short of swapping drives or being
clever with the BIOS.

Grrrrrr, many hours wasted on installing and configuring Vista, all
for nothing. Thank you MS, well thought out, I don't think!

Not a total waste, you learned something. When dual-booting,
always install the older OS first, then the newer OS.
The older OS doesn't know how to handle the boot sector
for the newer OS.

Gary VanderMolen