Installation of Windows XP2 on a Windows Vista system

[Guest]

I got my new computer with Windows Vista already installed. My old computer
with Windows XP2 crashed. Many of my sotware programs, especially games, will
not work on Windows Vista, so I thought I could install Windows XP2 as a
co-existing operating system without messing up the installed program Windows
Vista. Is this possible? If so, what is the safest way to do this? I have
anextra hard drive installed How do I place XP2 into the second hard drive?

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I got my new computer with Windows Vista already installed. My old computer
with Windows XP2 crashed. Many of my sotware programs, especially games, will
not work on Windows Vista, so I thought I could install Windows XP2 as a
co-existing operating system without messing up the installed program Windows
Vista. Is this possible? If so, what is the safest way to do this? I have
anextra hard drive installed How do I place XP2 into the second hard drive?

Since the older OS should be installed first, you'll have trouble
creating a dual-boot scenario without using 3rd-party products.

However, dual-booting is no longer necessary in such situations.

Why not download a Virtual Machine application, such as Microsoft's
VirtualPC 2007 (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.asp?) or
Innotek's VirtualBox (http://www.virtualbox.org/) and run WinXP and your
legacy applications within a virtual computer. Both are free and work
with Vista. (Microsoft does not support the use of VirtualPC 2007 on
Vista Home editions, but several people have reported that it works just
fine.)


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

 

[John Barnes]

Do you have a retail version of XP? If not the OEM version can't be
installed. Bruce's suggestion would be best, but if it doesn't work for you,
make sure you set the new drive as first in boot priority, install XP, then
reset the Vista drive back as first in boot priority, boot into Vista,
download and install EasyBCD or VistaBootPro and set up a legacy os entry
for your XP system. Remember, if you don't use a third party boot manager
to hide your Vista partition, when you boot into XP you will loose your
Vista Restore Points and Shadow copies.

 

[Guest]

Since the older OS should be installed first, you'll have trouble
creating a dual-boot scenario without using 3rd-party products.

However, dual-booting is no longer necessary in such situations.

Why not download a Virtual Machine application, such as Microsoft's
VirtualPC 2007 (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.asp?) or
Innotek's VirtualBox (http://www.virtualbox.org/) and run WinXP and your
legacy applications within a virtual computer. Both are free and work
with Vista. (Microsoft does not support the use of VirtualPC 2007 on
Vista Home editions, but several people have reported that it works just
fine.)


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

 

[Timothy Daniels]

I got my new computer with Windows Vista already installed.
My old computer with Windows XP2 crashed. Many of my
sotware programs, especially games, will not work on
Windows Vista, so I thought I could install Windows XP2 as
a co-existing operating system without messing up the installed
program Windows Vista. Is this possible? If so, what is the
safest way to do this? I have anextra hard drive installed
How do I place XP2 into the second hard drive?

Since you have 2 hard drives, just disconnect the Vista HD
and install XP on the 2nd HD. Then, with both HDs connected,
choose one or the other via the Hard Drive Boot Order in
the BIOS when you start up (NOT the Device Boot Order).
The HD Boot Order setting, which selects which HD's MBR
will get control at startup, will persist through subsequent startups
until you change it. Each OS, since it will have been installed in
isolation, will call its own partition "C:" when it is running, and it
will refer to other partitions by names that it selects. But if each
OS does not have shortcuts which refer to other partitions, that
won't be a problem, and files may be drag-n-dropped between
all partitions regardless of hard drive.

If you want a software (as opposed to firmware) solution, you
will have to use a 3rd-party utility to enable dual-booting because
the later OS (i.e. Vista) has been installed before the earlier OS
(i.e. XP) will be installed. Free utilities that will enable the dual-
boot scenario are:
EasyBCD ( http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1 ) and
VistaBoot Pro ( http://www.vistabootpro.org/ ).
One or both of them *might* require a separate partition in which
to run.

*TimDaniels*