Dual Boot Vista and XP

[Rob]

I would like to dual boot xp and vista on 2 separate hd's. Does any body
have any suggestions on how to do that. Any help is appreciated Rob

 

[thecreator]

Hi Rob,

More information is needed. Are the operating systems already installed?
Are the Hard Drives already in the computer? What Hard Drive is your
computer booting to?

Ideally, first Windows XP is installed, where it creates its Boot
manager. Then the Vista DVD is inserted and booted up. You must select
Custom Install, otherwise you can't select where to install Windows Vista.

Vista will control the Boot process for both Hard Drives, but can be
installed on its seperate Hard Drive.

Note: You do not want to give the operating system the entire Hard Drive,
because if you do, then you won't be able to reinstall, if the need arises,
to preserve your Documents and personal files like E-mails, Favorites,
Address Book, without a major Backup.

With partitions created, you can keep My Documents in its seperate
partition, on the same Hard Drive without worry about reinstalling the
operating system, if the need arises.

 

[peter]

Rob gave you details dual boot...........here is my version.
Check to see if your BIOS supports an F? key ..display boot HD during
POST..a lot do nowadays some dont. If yours does not it just makes it a
little harder to chose which HD to boot from when you start your system.The
method I have used creates 2 bootable HD each with its own OS and you must
chose which one to boot from.There is no software interference...no MBR
changes....and when or if you ever decide to go with just one OS you simply
remove or format the other HD .
Lets say you already have Vista installe onto HD-0.........disconnect that
drive.
restart your system with the XP CD in place and boot off the CD
Install XP onto the connected HD..HD-1..........once its done and working
Install your Mobo drivers..Video drivers....audio drivers....ann all other
drivers...printer/scanner/etc.....
Be sure to install the correct drivers for whatever OS you are
installing...XP drivers under XP..Vista drivers under Vista.

So now you have 2 HD each with its own OS and its own MBR.
All you need to do after hooking the original HD back up is to tell the BIOS
which HD you wish to boot from.Either by menas of that F? key during the
boot process or by entering the BIOS and setting the correct boot order..ie
C(hd-0) before D would boot Vista,D(hd-1) before C would boot XP.Of course
in the BIOS they would be listed by name.
your choice
peter

 

[Paul Randall]

I would like to dual boot xp and vista on 2 separate hd's. Does any body
have any suggestions on how to do that. Any help is appreciated Rob

Do you want to allow XP to delete all of Vista's restore points each time
you boot up in XP? On bootup, XP searches for and deletes all Vista restore
points on every partition it sees. Some boot managers can hide partitions
you don't want XP to see.

-Paul Randall

 

[Don]

,;I would like to dual boot xp and vista on 2 separate hd's. Does any body
,;have any suggestions on how to do that. Any help is appreciated Rob

Life will be much simpler if you install Win PC (a free download from
MS) and install any other OS on a virtual PC. That way you will be
able to switch between operating systems without rebooting. You can
have both operating systems on the same partition if you want that
configuration.

This way XP will not be messing with your Vista restore points. When
you abandon the second OS you just delete it in your virtual PC.

Now if you just gotta dual boot you need to hide the partition
containing Vista. You can do this with third party software or get
Vista with Bitlocher.

If eventually you plan to abandon one of the OS put that version on
the virtual PC.

The

 

[Rob]

The ms virtual pc looks interesting. I have been looking into a program
called vista boot pro. I would start with 2 blanked out drives and
install the operating systems from scratch. I do not want to have to
change the boot up order each time. I would like it to come up with a
menu and choose xp or vista like xp can do with the recovery console.
With the virtual pc do i need to leave unpartitioned space on the hd? I
looked at the website but can not find any technical information or i am
just blind. Thank you to all that responded. Rob

 

[Rob]

The ms virtual pc looks interesting. I have been looking into a program
called vista boot pro. I would start with 2 blanked out drives and
install the operating systems from scratch. I do not want to have to
change the boot up order each time. I would like it to come up with a
menu and choose xp or vista like xp can do with the recovery console.
With the virtual pc do i need to leave unpartitioned space on the hd? I
looked at the website but can not find any technical information or i am
just blind. Thank you to all that responded. Rob

 

[Don]

,;The ms virtual pc looks interesting. I have been looking into a program
,;called vista boot pro. I would start with 2 blanked out drives and
,;install the operating systems from scratch. I do not want to have to
,;change the boot up order each time. I would like it to come up with a
,;menu and choose xp or vista like xp can do with the recovery console.
,;With the virtual pc do i need to leave unpartitioned space on the hd? I
,;looked at the website but can not find any technical information or i am
,;just blind. Thank you to all that responded. Rob

Virtual PC sets up a virtual HD. Here is an article which should
answer your questions. As I understand what you want to do Virtual PC
will do it. You will have your OS and have a Virtual PC on the
desktop. If you open VPC you will have a list of the operating systems
which YOU have installed. You can run any of these OS and switch back
and forth between OS without rebooting. Each OS runs as a program from
within your original OS.

Check this article:

http://www.windowsecurity.com/articles/Microsoft-Virtual-PC.html

A disadvantage of Virtual PC is it does not have USB support. Vmware
also will run virtual machines and I believe has USB support. It is
not free.

You can work around the USB support problem by transfering files to
your C drive and then copying them to the virtual HD.