Dual Boot - Vista and XP

[gordo]

Currently, I have a good computer running XP SP2 plus updates. The computer
has two 80 Gb hard drives, C: and D:. I would like to install Vista on the
D: drive and configure the system for dual booting. My C: drive is show as a
Basic drive (Disk 0) and my D: drive is designated as a Dynamic Drive (Disk
1). Both are formatted NTFS.

I tried to follow a thread lately about not being able to install Vista on a
Dynamic drive. Is this really true? And, if so, I suppose I will have to
designate my D: drive as Basic. I have read the knowledge base article on
how to do this.

Is there any truth to this supposed requirement?

Thanks,

Gordo

 

[babaloo]

You are wise to install Vista in a dual boot system, so you will be able to
boot to XP to do real work, high end graphics, play games and use streaming
media off the internet. In short, you will need XP to actually do anything
with your computer besides futz with a dubious OS.
When you install Vista and select the dual boot option Vista will not
install on your D drive if it is not a bootable drive/partition.
If that is the case you will need to either back-up whatever is on your D
drive and reformat it or see if a utility like Partition commander will
allow you to do this.
Vista will install its own dual boot selector in the boot sector of your c
drive which is impossible to remove without reformatting your C drive as
well should you later choose not to waste disc space on Vista.
However there are utilitities, like Vista Boot Pro, that install under XP
and allow you to control the boot process selections and options more
easily.
Realize that in their consumer friendly brilliance Microsoft punishes dual
booters by deleting the Vista System Restore Files when you boot into XP.
Hence an unstable OS is rendered even more unusable and unstable.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

One cannot install Windows Vista on a dynamic drive.
You'll need to delete all the volumes/partitions on that
drive, create a new partition, then format it NTFS in
order to install Windows Vista. Vista will automatically
create a dual-boot loader.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User

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:

Currently, I have a good computer running XP SP2 plus updates. The computer
has two 80 Gb hard drives, C: and D:. I would like to install Vista on the
D: drive and configure the system for dual booting. My C: drive is show as a
Basic drive (Disk 0) and my D: drive is designated as a Dynamic Drive (Disk
1). Both are formatted NTFS.

I tried to follow a thread lately about not being able to install Vista on a
Dynamic drive. Is this really true? And, if so, I suppose I will have to
designate my D: drive as Basic. I have read the knowledge base article on
how to do this.

Is there any truth to this supposed requirement?

Thanks,

Gordo

 

[Richard Urban]

You are wise to install Vista in a dual boot system, so you will be able
to boot to XP to do real work, high end graphics, play games and use
streaming media off the internet. In short, you will need XP to actually
do anything with your computer besides futz with a dubious OS.

#########################################

Many, myself included, dual boot for a month or two till they got used to
Vista. Then they delete the Windows XP partition, add the unallocated space
to another partition, and never look back

#########################################

When you install Vista and select the dual boot option Vista will not
install on your D drive if it is not a bootable drive/partition.
If that is the case you will need to either back-up whatever is on your D
drive and reformat it or see if a utility like Partition commander will
allow you to do this.
Vista will install its own dual boot selector in the boot sector of your c
drive which is impossible to remove without reformatting your C drive as
well should you later choose not to waste disc space on Vista.
However there are utilitities, like Vista Boot Pro, that install under XP
and allow you to control the boot process selections and options more
easily.
Realize that in their consumer friendly brilliance Microsoft punishes dual
booters by deleting the Vista System Restore Files when you boot into XP.
Hence an unstable OS is rendered even more unusable and unstable.

#########################################

By using a third party boot manager you can eliminate this problem.

#########################################


--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

 

[huwyngr]

Just be aware that if you install VISTA dual with XP then each time you
go to XP it will delete all the VISTA restore points.

So far as I know the only way around this is to use BootItNG to control
the dual boot system that VISTA sets up very nicely since that boot
manager is VISTA comaptible and can be set to hide the system not in
use which I understand protects the VISTA System Restore Points when
you are in XP.

My two SATA hard drives are not dynamic and it installed very smoothly
with XP on Drive 0 = C: and VISTA on Drive 1 = D: -- although it
changes drive letters around. When I'm in XP VISTA is on H: and when
I'm in VISTA XP is on D:

I'm not using the version of BootItNG that hides drive and the changes
do not matter since my other drive letters are set in Disk Management.

 

[Milhouse Van Houten]

Is that really necessary? I ask because I was reading about this debacle
yesterday, and he made it seem like conversion from dynamic to basic was a
momentary diversion. You seem to be saying it all needs to be blown away and
reformatted.
http://blogs.msdn.com/andypennell/archive/2007/06/21/installing-vista-my-personal-hell.aspx

 

[Guest]

Hi gordo, Is this hard to do yourself or did you have to take it to a repair
place.

 

[UnswoleLilDude]

The link below shows you how to dual boot Vista and XP. It's not hard.
http://www.maximumpcguides.com/how-to-dual-boot-windows-vista/

--

MAXIMUMpcguides.com
Helping you get the MOST out of your Vista PC.

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