is there a way to add an older Windows OS boot to Vista?

[cherold]

When I "upgraded" to Windows Vista, I think I had the option to create
a dual-boot with XP, but to save disk space I didn't choose that. Big
mistake. There are certain games, particularly low budget games, that
won't run at all on Windows Vista. I'm wondering if there is any way
at this point to create some dual-boot option with XP or ME? The
compatibility function doesn't help at all.

 

[steve sonsino]

You can but usually its best to install the newer version of windows
first...

you now have 2 options:
1) in case you have 2 disks.. disconnect the vista one,
and install xp on the second one.. then go to step 3 below
2) you have one disk. You must have a second partition.
Back up all your data and and use a partition program like acronis disk
manager to create a partition, then
install XP on the second partition. This will overright the vista boot
manager and you will seem to have only XP..
then go to step 3 below:

3) install the vista boot manager with this tool by installing it on XP
(free) http://www.vistabootpro.org/

from that program you will see that you can install the vista boot manager
again and you will be able to add and remove other operating systems like
the XP one from the list.


Again I must warn you that you must back up everything because all this is
tricky and you may run into problems if you have never done it before.

 

[Rick Rogers]

An additional option would be to install Virtual PC under Vista, and then a
guest OS into that so that the older software can be run under the older OS
without having to reboot.

Virtual PC (says it requires Business or Ultimate, but has been shown to run
in Home Premium as well):
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/virtualpc/default.mspx

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Malke]

An additional option would be to install Virtual PC under Vista, and
then a guest OS into that so that the older software can be run under
the older OS without having to reboot.

Virtual PC (says it requires Business or Ultimate, but has been shown to
run in Home Premium as well):
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/virtualpc/default.mspx

Just to add to Rick's good advice, VMWare works very well in Vista and
doesn't have the Business/Ultimate limitation. However, it is not free.
I like it better than VPC.


Malke

 

[steve sonsino]

he wants games guys... he cant have direcx acceleration yet in any virtual
machine since they are still working on that

so games suck in a virtual machine..

do you guys actually think I would not mention it if it was a good solution?

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi Steve,

I'm not thinking that need DX acceleration as he described them as "low
budget games". A virtual machine is good solution for them, especially the
old 16-bit ones.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[cherold]

Ah, but I'm not talking about *old* games, just relatively low budget
ones like Undercover:Operation Wintersun and Vigil: Blood Bitterness
(the problem, oddly enough, is not with gameplay but with cut scenes;
for some reason Vista kills cut scenes in a lot of games). Anyway,
I'm going to try Virtual PC and see what happens. Think I'll have do
delete a bunch of crap from my hard drive just to squeeze XP back
on!) Wish me luck.

Hi Steve,

I'm not thinking that need DX acceleration as he described them as "low
budget games". A virtual machine is good solution for them, especially the
old 16-bit ones.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVPhttp://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help -www.rickrogers.org
My thoughtshttp://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

he wants games guys... he cant have direcx acceleration yet in any virtual
machine since they are still working on that

so games suck in a virtual machine..

do you guys actually think I would not mention it if it was a good
solution?