Dual Boot

[Guest]

I currently have a C drive with a dual boot, managed by LILO, that boots
either Linux or XP. I have added a second hard drive (G drive), and that 's
where I want to put Vista. I can't get to the recovery console (it won't
install since I have XPSP2) so I can't FIXMBR (don't care\need the Linux
stuff anymore). If I install Vista to the second drive, will Vista modify
(fix) the MBR so I will have a new Dual Boot with XP on the C drive and Vista
on the G drive

 

[John Barnes]

No one can answer your question as you don't provide the complete
information necessary.
Where are you getting your drive letters. Often they are different in each
system which is booted.
Which Vista are you trying to install. Be exact. i.e. Vista 64-bit upgrade
Ultimate

 

[Guest]

The drive letters are what shows up in XP (My Computer). I would be using
Vista 32 bit Basic Upgrade. Linux and XP are on the C drive now. all drives
are formatted.

 

[John Barnes]

If you install from within XP you can retain the G drive letter if that is
your desire. You should have the proper Vista boot file on your 'system'
drive. Since you won't have a valid license for the continued running of XP
you will probably find that your XP system has been rolled up into a .old
file on that drive (I haven't tried, but it has been reported numerous
times), so if you plan to dual boot with XP (in violation of the license),
you should be sure to make a copy of the XP drive first. You can then
install VistaBootPro or EasyBCD on your Vista system and add a legacy drive
entry for your XP system. Hope this is clear and answers your questions.

 

[Jawade]

I currently have a C drive with a dual boot, managed by LILO, that boots
either Linux or XP. I have added a second hard drive (G drive), and that 's
where I want to put Vista. I can't get to the recovery console (it won't
install since I have XPSP2) so I can't FIXMBR (don't care\need the Linux
stuff anymore). If I install Vista to the second drive, will Vista modify
(fix) the MBR so I will have a new Dual Boot with XP on the C drive and Vista
on the G drive

No need to boot Linux? Install Vista and make a dualboot with
VistabootPro.

 

[Guest]

Why would i not have a valid Xp license?? There are pages upon pages by MS

 

[John Barnes]

When you use an upgrade version the qualifying version license is subsumed
into the new license. You would need a full version to have a valid dual
boot.

13. UPGRADES. To use upgrade software, you must first be licensed for the
software that is eligible for
the upgrade. Upon upgrade, this agreement takes the place of the agreement
for the software you
upgraded from. After you upgrade, you may no longer use the software you
upgraded from.

 

[Guest]

ok what if i don't go the dual boot route. If i upgrade to vista, will it fix
the mbr so lilo is gone? or could i install from C drive, install vista to G,
anf then when system boots it will boot from C (master) and then run vista
from g?

 

[John Barnes]

If you want to do a fixmbr you can do it from the Vista install DVD.
Either install to the place where you have a command prompt option or use
shift/F10.
The boot files and mbr will be written to the 'system' drive regardless of
how you install. Normal upgrade install must be done from within the
qualifying os and you can install to your G drive.
Sounds like you are planning a clean install and you should be able to
install to the G drive.
Cautionary note, some BIOS have been very erratic if there is a mix of IDE
and SATA drives. You may have problems if C is IDE and G is SATA

 

[Guest]

I wanted to do an uprgrade, but have vista on the newer bigger faster drive
(it's ATA not an SATA). I suppose i can just upgrade, then clone the drive
over. I just wanted to get rid of LILO, the do the upgrade. So if i just do
an upgrade on the c drive, Vista will remove lilo and perform the upgrade?

 

[John Barnes]

I don't know if you can do an upgrade of XP. Only certain versions of Vista
will upgrade certain versions of XP. All others will require clean installs
and I don't know what version of XP or Vista you have. Make sure with an
upgrade you run the advisor and remove all hardware and software mentioned
as questionable. Also it is safest to remove all USB devices and all system
level software such as A/VS., Firewalls and backups . Make sure not to
activate Vista as part of the install if you are going to copy it to another
drive. Otherwise you probably will have to go thru the telephone activation
process when it sees it on another drive and will also think the number is
in use twice. Everything I have seen indicates Vista boot records will
overwrite lilo. Also after you copy over the drive you will have to update
the boot files to point to the new drive, or change the new drive to your
'system' drive.

 

[Guest]

ok. if i install from within xp, I select clean install and to g drive? then
when it boots i'll have choice o what to run (xp from the c< vista from the
g)? pc only boots cd so i have ti insta;; from within xp.

 

[John Barnes]

You will have Vista to boot to. XP will be rolled up on the C drive into a
file called .old

 

[Guest]

and then ther's a way to pull those .old files intp vista?

 

[John Barnes]

Yes. I personally would have a backup of anything you want in Vista as
there are many cases where the update fails and can't roll itself back, or
back properly.

 

[Jawade]

The drive letters are what shows up in XP (My Computer). I would be using
Vista 32 bit Basic Upgrade. Linux and XP are on the C drive now. all drives
are formatted.

Linux on your C:-drive????

 

[Guest]

yes linux and xp are on c. new formatted drive (empty) is G

 

[Jawade]

yes linux and xp are on c. new formatted drive (empty) is G

Never heard about that, Linux and Windows together at one partition.
Maybe it's a bad idea.

 

[Guest]

Never heard of it? That's the most common method of dual booting. Linux can
handle it easily.