Dual XP installations on same disk -activation?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chuk
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Chuk

If I install XP pro on 2 partitions of the same hard disk will
activation work happily for both partitions?

I'm assuming because the hardware is identical, that it should all
work fine.

The idea is to have one set up for trialling software and the other as
the "production" OS.
 
Chuk <> wrote:

|>If I install XP pro on 2 partitions of the same hard disk will
|>activation work happily for both partitions?
|>
|>I'm assuming because the hardware is identical, that it should all
|>work fine.
|>
|>The idea is to have one set up for trialling software and the other as
|>the "production" OS.

XP will read the other OS's registry - maybe it's now looking for more
than a bad shutdown.

I dual boot but don't update, so have no experience of WGA
 
If I install XP pro on 2 partitions of the same hard disk will
activation work happily for both partitions?

I'm assuming because the hardware is identical, that it should all
work fine.

The idea is to have one set up for trialling software and the other as
the "production" OS.
Click to expand...

Why don't you do it the other way round: Install one OS,
activate it, then clone it onto another partition? If you use
a proper boot manager (e.g. XOSL, which is free) then
you can run both OSs off their own drive C: and you get
full separation between then. This is highly desirable when
trialling software because there is no risk of contamination.
 
Why don't you do it the other way round: Install one OS,
activate it, then clone it onto another partition? If you use
a proper boot manager (e.g. XOSL, which is free) then
you can run both OSs off their own drive C: and you get
full separation between then. This is highly desirable when
trialling software because there is no risk of contamination.
Click to expand...

I'm not quite sure how this is different to what I propose.

If I install on one partition, then do a new install on the 2nd
partition, there should still be full separation - shouldn't there?

And the 2nd install should create a new boot.ini allowing me to choose
which install I want to load on bootup.

Agreed the first will be on Drive C and the second on (say) drive D,
but is that really significant?

Apart from that, am I right in thinking that there should be no
problems with activation and subsequent updates to both of the
installations using WGA?
 
See below.

I'm not quite sure how this is different to what I propose.

If I install on one partition, then do a new install on the 2nd
partition, there should still be full separation - shouldn't there?
Click to expand...

No, there is not full separation, because each OS has
full access to the other partition. If your test software
runs amok then it could easily damage your production
OS.
And the 2nd install should create a new boot.ini allowing me to choose
which install I want to load on bootup.
Yes.

Agreed the first will be on Drive C and the second on (say) drive D,
but is that really significant?
Click to expand...

I have dealt with a great many posts from people who
needed to remove drive C: at a later stage and found
that they could not, because it would have changed the
drive letter for the OS installed on drive D:.
Apart from that, am I right in thinking that there should be no
problems with activation and subsequent updates to both of the
installations using WGA?
Click to expand...

Don't know - I have never tried it. All I know that it works
well with an activated installation that is then cloned.
 
Pegasus - inadvertantly deleted your last post from my newsreader, but
read the contents via Google groups. My attempt to reply that way
seemed to stuff up.

Accept your points. Thanks.

Would still like to know the situation re activation of 2 seperate
installs on the same disk - anyone?
 
Pegasus \(MVP\) said:
See below.
Click to expand...
Don't know - I have never tried it. All I know that it works
well with an activated installation that is then cloned.
Click to expand...

Yes one installation in each partition will activate and work just
as well as XP usually works.

You want to set the system up for dual boot. You just want to make
sure when you install any software that you check and specify the
appropriate drive, since some will default to one of your partitions
and not bother mentioning this during install.

I have my test machine set up exactly this way, because I have to
use two different pieces of software, from a pair of companies
furiously busy urinating on each other, requiring the opposite setup
of each other, different Java, incompatible different drivers, etc,
etc, etc. So I just reboot the machine to switch from one to the
other. It has been an acceptable compromise for years.
 
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