Installing Windows XP to Same Partition as Windows XP

[Will]

Is there any reason why Windows XP cannot be installed to the same boot
partition as either Windows 2000 or Windows XP? I have a Windows 2000 box
I use at home that I want to start to migrate to Windows 2003 and Windows
XP. I don't want to upgrade in place because the Windows 2000 box has a
registry that is severely corrupted and I doubt it would make the trip to
the new OS intact. My preference would be to install both Windows XP and
Windows 2003 in parallel to Windows 2000, selecting the OS at startup via
the boot.ini entry. Will this work?

Does Windows XP require that the boot device be a "Basic" disk when it
installs, or will it see a "Dynamic" drive as well?

 

[D.Currie]

Is there any reason why Windows XP cannot be installed to the same boot
partition as either Windows 2000 or Windows XP? I have a Windows 2000
box
I use at home that I want to start to migrate to Windows 2003 and Windows
XP. I don't want to upgrade in place because the Windows 2000 box has a
registry that is severely corrupted and I doubt it would make the trip to
the new OS intact. My preference would be to install both Windows XP and
Windows 2003 in parallel to Windows 2000, selecting the OS at startup via
the boot.ini entry. Will this work?

Does Windows XP require that the boot device be a "Basic" disk when it
installs, or will it see a "Dynamic" drive as well?

It would work, but not very well. Problem is that they use some of the
same-named folders outside of the Windows directory. I've done parallel
installs as a troubleshooting/repair method, but long term, it's just going
to get messy and unstable.

Hard drives are pretty cheap. You're really better off getting another drive
and/or partitioning the one you've already got.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Is there any reason why Windows XP cannot be installed to the same boot
partition as either Windows 2000 or Windows XP? I have a Windows 2000 box
I use at home that I want to start to migrate to Windows 2003 and Windows
XP. I don't want to upgrade in place because the Windows 2000 box has a
registry that is severely corrupted and I doubt it would make the trip to
the new OS intact. My preference would be to install both Windows XP and
Windows 2003 in parallel to Windows 2000, selecting the OS at startup via
the boot.ini entry. Will this work?

Does Windows XP require that the boot device be a "Basic" disk when it
installs, or will it see a "Dynamic" drive as well?

There's no technical issue that stops one from installing two
Microsoft operating systems onto the same partition, but there should
be. Under normal circumstances, placing two operating systems in the
same partition is a recipe for disaster. A careful, knowledgeable
specialist can do this safely for a short period of time, but the
ordinary PC user had better be backing up his data hourly, as a
catastrophic failure is a matter of "when," rather than "if."


--

Bruce Chambers

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both at once. - RAH

 

[Rock]

Is there any reason why Windows XP cannot be installed to the same boot
partition as either Windows 2000 or Windows XP? I have a Windows 2000 box
I use at home that I want to start to migrate to Windows 2003 and Windows
XP. I don't want to upgrade in place because the Windows 2000 box has a
registry that is severely corrupted and I doubt it would make the trip to
the new OS intact. My preference would be to install both Windows XP and
Windows 2003 in parallel to Windows 2000, selecting the OS at startup via
the boot.ini entry. Will this work?

Does Windows XP require that the boot device be a "Basic" disk when it
installs, or will it see a "Dynamic" drive as well?

Install each to it's own partition. Don't know about the dynamic disk
issue, sorry.