Dual Boot for Bilingual Use?

[Roger]

I teach computer skills at a library in Mexico. We have
English-speaking and Spanish-speaking users. I would like
to be able to set up each computer so that it can boot up
with Windows XP and all programs either in English or
Spanish, depending on the class I'm teaching. I was
thinking of setting up two partitions on each machine and
installing XP in English (+programs in English) on one
partition, and all in Spanish on another. Any
suggestions, comments or ideas would be very welcome.

 

[CS]

I teach computer skills at a library in Mexico. We have
English-speaking and Spanish-speaking users. I would like
to be able to set up each computer so that it can boot up
with Windows XP and all programs either in English or
Spanish, depending on the class I'm teaching. I was
thinking of setting up two partitions on each machine and
installing XP in English (+programs in English) on one
partition, and all in Spanish on another. Any
suggestions, comments or ideas would be very welcome.

Setting up a machine to use two languages is going to require two
copies of XP. One in English, the other in Spanish. You can not
switch languages from English to Spanish or vice versa.

You can change some things to be able to use Spanish in an English
copy of XP, however, dialogs, menus, help, and so forth will remain in
English. Also, there is a good chance some Spanish written programs
may not run correctly in an English copy of XP.

Another problem you're going to run into is that unless you use a boot
manager, you're not going to be able to boot the second copy of XP
from the same hard drive even if it's located in a separate partition.
It's workable with two hard drives if your BIOS allows hard drive
switching from HDD0 to HDD1 and the reverse. But this is a cumbersome
process at best and would not lend itself to use in a library
environment.

I would think it would be easier if you would set aside a certain
number of machines for use in English and others for use in Spanish
and do not attempt to run both languages from the same machine. But
that is just my opinion and you may in fact receive some better
information than I've provided.

Regards.

 

[Frank]

As long as the two installations are on separate
partitions it will dual boot.

-----Original Message-----

 

[CS]

On Tue, 9 Mar 2004 13:40:41 -0800, "Frank"

It won't work without a boot manager. The boot sector will be written
to the first active primary partition on the hard drive. Installing
the Spanish version after the English version will over write the boot
sector.

Try it sometime.

As long as the two installations are on separate
partitions it will dual boot.

 

[Ron Sommer]

I can't understand your reply.
This newsgroup is full of messages about people wanting to reinstall XP and
they ended up with two XPs using a dual boot. XP knew there was an
operating system installed and setup the dual boot.
Are you saying that the Spanish version acts differently?
--
Ron Sommer

On Tue, 9 Mar 2004 13:40:41 -0800, "Frank"

It won't work without a boot manager. The boot sector will be written
to the first active primary partition on the hard drive. Installing
the Spanish version after the English version will over write the boot
sector.

Try it sometime.