Windows XP/Vista Upgrade Dual-Boot

  • Thread starter Thread starter Robert Morley
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Robert Morley

I apologize, I'm sure this has been asked a million times before, but I'm
finding so much contradictory and/or outdated information that I honestly
don't know what's possible at this point. I'm sure someone out there
probably has a form-reply to this at this point! ;) I blame Microsoft
entirely for not making things like this at all clear (or at least not easy
to find)!

Anyway, I've got Windows XP Pro (SP2) and want to purchase and install
Windows Home Premium in a dual-boot configuration *without* wiping out the
XP install.

1) Can I do this with an Upgrade copy of Vista, or do I need to buy a Full
version?
2) What, if anything, do I need to do to ensure that XP isn't overwritten?


Thanks,
Rob
 
Robert Morley said:
I apologize, I'm sure this has been asked a million times before, but I'm
finding so much contradictory and/or outdated information that I honestly
don't know what's possible at this point. I'm sure someone out there
probably has a form-reply to this at this point! ;) I blame Microsoft
entirely for not making things like this at all clear (or at least not easy
to find)!

Anyway, I've got Windows XP Pro (SP2) and want to purchase and install
Windows Home Premium in a dual-boot configuration *without* wiping out the
XP install.

1) Can I do this with an Upgrade copy of Vista, or do I need to buy a Full
version?
2) What, if anything, do I need to do to ensure that XP isn't overwritten?
Click to expand...

You need a full version, install it at another partition behind
XP.
 
Thanks, Jawade. That was my general impression but I wanted to make sure
that was correct before shelling out for a Full version.


Rob
 
dzomlija said:
No. You'll need to purchase a full version.
Click to expand...

Thanks, that agrees with what Jawade said, so I think I'll go ahead an
purchase the full version then.
A free, unused, partition on your hard disk of at least 60 - 80 GB.
Although a physically separate hard disk is a safer alternative.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, my case is a little cramped for yet another hard disk, so I
think I'll settle for partitioning one of the existing drives. I don't
expect to use Vista much at this point anyway...from what I've seen, I don't
expect to like it much, but being "the friend that everyone goes to for
help", I figure I should really get to know my way around it. It'll also
eventually make its way into the office, I suspect, so I'll need to know the
quirks and so forth (like how to have my auto-update program actually write
to Program Files, which I gather is a bit more difficult now).

Thanks for the information/confirmation!


Rob
 
Robert Morley said:
Thanks, that agrees with what Jawade said, so I think I'll go ahead an
purchase the full version then.


Unfortunately, my case is a little cramped for yet another hard disk, so I
think I'll settle for partitioning one of the existing drives. I don't
expect to use Vista much at this point anyway...from what I've seen, I don't
expect to like it much, but being "the friend that everyone goes to for
help", I figure I should really get to know my way around it. It'll also
eventually make its way into the office, I suspect, so I'll need to know the
quirks and so forth (like how to have my auto-update program actually write
to Program Files, which I gather is a bit more difficult now).

Thanks for the information/confirmation!
Click to expand...

Just wondering if you will be able to do this without having to buy a new
version of XP. I thought the upgrade disables your XP key.

this is how I duel boot.

I move the dive I wanted Vista on to my SATA #1 port and installed Vista
then I swapped that to a different SATA connector and hook the drive I wanted
XP on to the number 1 port and installed XP. After that I simple use my MB
boot options to pick the drive I want to from and leave the drive I want to
boot from most often as the default boot drive in the BIOS.

Of course I had the full version of Vista but as I understand it you can do
an install without upgrading even from an upgrade version and you may have to
do it that way but of course it is against the license .
 
Yeah, that's why I went ahead and bought the full version, as the others had
mentioned.


Rob
 
Robert Morley said:
I apologize, I'm sure this has been asked a million times before, but I'm
finding so much contradictory and/or outdated information that I honestly
don't know what's possible at this point. I'm sure someone out there
probably has a form-reply to this at this point! ;) I blame Microsoft
entirely for not making things like this at all clear (or at least not easy
to find)!

Anyway, I've got Windows XP Pro (SP2) and want to purchase and install
Windows Home Premium in a dual-boot configuration *without* wiping out the
XP install.

1) Can I do this with an Upgrade copy of Vista, or do I need to buy a
Full version?
2) What, if anything, do I need to do to ensure that XP isn't
overwritten?


Thanks,
Rob
Click to expand...


My question to you is: what are the specs of your hardware? Regardless of
the questions you put forth, you should have a system capable of running
Vista. And that's not a system with 512MB RAM. Period. Otherwise you'll be
spending a lot of time twiddling your thumbs and cussin' Vista.

As to question #1... uh... upgrade? Does not that single word indicate the
usage? One doesn't upgrade from bare metal to something else. One must have
something from which to upgrade.

#2: make a disk image of your XP box before you begin. Then, if you mess up
big time, although that is hard to do, you have something to which to
revert.

Lang
 
Robert said:
I apologize, I'm sure this has been asked a million times before, but
I'm finding so much contradictory and/or outdated information that I
honestly don't know what's possible at this point. I'm sure someone out
there probably has a form-reply to this at this point! ;) I blame
Microsoft entirely for not making things like this at all clear (or at
least not easy to find)!

Anyway, I've got Windows XP Pro (SP2) and want to purchase and install
Windows Home Premium in a dual-boot configuration *without* wiping out
the XP install.

1) Can I do this with an Upgrade copy of Vista, or do I need to buy a
Full version?
Click to expand...


Full version. Can't imagine why you'd even have to ask.

2) What, if anything, do I need to do to ensure that XP isn't overwritten?
Click to expand...

Pay attention when installing Vista.


--

Bruce Chambers

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killed a great many philosophers.
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