Dual boot Vista and XP

[Guest]

I want to install XP on my Vista machine but I hear this can cause problems
with the boot loader. What's the best way to do this.

Thanks

 

[Chad Harris]

Hi Paul--

How to dual boot Vista and XP (with Vista installed first) -- the
step-by-step guide
http://apcmag.com/5485/dualbooting_vista_and_xp

Good luck,

CH

 

[John Barnes]

Install a second drive. Unplug the Vista drive. Install XP, then plug
back the Vista drive. Make sure it is first in boot priority in the BIOS
and from there you should be able to run startup repair from the Vista DVD
or use EasyBCD or VistaBootPro to set up the link to XP. You would need a
third party boot manager to keep XP from destroying Vista Shadow copies and
restore points, or if Ultimate you could encrypt the drive.

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi Paul,

Dual Booting Windows Vista & Windows XP:
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/dualboot.html

Regards,
Bert Kinney MS-MVP Shell/User
http://bertk.mvps.org
Member: http://dts-l.org

 

[Andre Prins]

You would need a third party boot manager to keep XP from destroying
Vista Shadow copies and restore points, or if Ultimate you could
encrypt the drive.

Look here http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html for a great
partition and boot manager.

 

[John Barnes]

It is a great product.

Look here http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html for a great
partition and boot manager.

 

[Chad Harris]

Paul--

I find the restore point problem awfully moot considering you can reach the
XP boot with a simple shortcut to your XP desktop (and you can reach
wherever you need to on XP).

You simply type into the IE address bar:

XP Drive\Documents and Settings\Paul's XP Profile\Desktop

and drag the url icon to your Vista desktop which gives you the shortcut.
No restore points are involved then, and no 3rd party bootloader is needed.
I've dual booted a lot with XP and Vista through several builds of Vista and
with this shortcut have rarely needed to boot to XP, and it could have been
never and it would not have mattered. I only did it to install certain
applications I was testing. I never use a 3rd party boot loader, nor have
had the need to.

CH