Can Dual Boot be setup with two Win XP's?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Will Denny
  • Start date Start date
W

Will Denny

Hi

If you have separate PKs for each of the XP versions, then yes, you can dual
boot with both.
 
Hi,

It is very much possible to dual boot with two Windows XP setups. You can get more information about
multi-booting here:

Multibooting with Windows XP: Introduction
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/multiboot.mspx

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Hi,

There shouldnt be a problem as log as they are on two different
paritions.You can use the NTFS file system for both installations ,no need to
have one FAt32 and the other NTFS.

Regards
ADEO
 
Will said:
Hi

If you have separate PKs for each of the XP versions, then yes, you
can dual boot with both.
Click to expand...

LOL! What BS! You CAN dual boot with the same PK. I know, I've done
it.

--
Peace!
Kurt
Self-anointed Moderator
microscum.pubic.windowsexp.gonorrhea
http://microscum.com/mscommunity
"Trustworthy Computing" is only another example of an Oxymoron!
"Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei"
 
In Win XP's Help, MS states that Win XP supports dual boot with all
other Windows, DOS and Linux but XP. I want to know if it means that it
is technically impossible to set up dual boot with two XP's in two
partitions or if it means that we can use only one copy of XP because
of the COA issue.
In my case, I bought one XP of English version and another XP which is
Japanese version, each carries, naturally, respective COA. In this case,
I don't foresee problems as long as the boot.ini file in the primary XP
is correctly edited. Am I missing important information? But I am still
concerned about file systems. If I install both version of XP with NTFS,
will there be incorrigible problems? Do I need to assign NTFS to one and
FAT32 to the other? If so to which one (Partition 1 or 2) NTFS should be
applied?
 
kurttrail said:
LOL! What BS! You CAN dual boot with the same PK. I know, I've done it.
Click to expand...

You do a lot of illegal things Kurt. That's not something to be proud of!!
 
Thanks for prompt response. The Microsoft's article about Multibooting
with Win XP, however and I already stated, does not refer to the pairing
of two XP's and accordingly I still do not have information about the
feasibility of XP-XP dual boot as well as required file systems if it is
possible.

Here is what I have understood so far:
In a dual boot computer, it will start by going to the primary (active)
partition as it normally does in a single boot computer and then read
boot.ini file in the primary active partition. This file in the dual
boot computer contains information of both OS's if written according to
correct formula. Then it will offer choice menu for a desired OS.

What I do not know and want to know is whether the Win XP's design will
rejects or ignores when it sees in the boot.ini file the presence of
same XP installed in another partition, and/or whether the primary XP
rejects or ignores when it sees the usage of the same file system such
as NTFS in the other XP.

If anyone has sure kno0wledge about these aspects of dual booting,
please let me know.
(Who needs the same XP in two separate partitions? In my case, one is
English and the other Japanese (8 byte-system).
 
Will said:
You do a lot of illegal things Kurt. That's not something to be
proud of!!
Click to expand...

LOL! Prove I do anything illegal, Will! But you can't, and you know
what that makes you? A bullsh*t artist.

--
Peace!
Kurt
Self-anointed Moderator
microscum.pubic.windowsexp.gonorrhea
http://microscum.com/mscommunity
"Trustworthy Computing" is only another example of an Oxymoron!
"Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei"
 
kurttrail said:
LOL! Prove I do anything illegal, Will! But you can't, and you know what
that makes you? A bullsh*t artist.
Click to expand...

Behave yourself Kurt - you never know what may happen!!
 
J Tsuzuki said:
Thanks for prompt response. The Microsoft's article about Multibooting
with Win XP, however and I already stated, does not refer to the pairing
of two XP's and accordingly I still do not have information about the
feasibility of XP-XP dual boot as well as required file systems if it is
possible.

Here is what I have understood so far:
In a dual boot computer, it will start by going to the primary (active)
partition as it normally does in a single boot computer and then read
boot.ini file in the primary active partition. This file in the dual boot
computer contains information of both OS's if written according to correct
formula. Then it will offer choice menu for a desired OS.

What I do not know and want to know is whether the Win XP's design will
rejects or ignores when it sees in the boot.ini file the presence of same
XP installed in another partition, and/or whether the primary XP rejects
or ignores when it sees the usage of the same file system such as NTFS in
the other XP.

If anyone has sure kno0wledge about these aspects of dual booting, please
let me know.
(Who needs the same XP in two separate partitions? In my case, one is
English and the other Japanese (8 byte-system).
Click to expand...

I understood where you were going until the "rejects or ignores" part...what
rejects or ignores what?

But never mind. You can install XP to different partitions, and it will
multiboot. I have done it. With NTFS. It is possible. It works. It isn't
difficult. You just be careful to install to the correct location, and the
boot.ini will list the different installations. In my case, I went into the
boot.ini afterwards to change the names listed on the menu so that I know
which is which, in case I forget or someone else decided to reboot the
computer.

I believe (but I may be wrong) that the last OS installed will become the
default that the system boots to. You can change this in the boot.ini if
that's not your intention.
 
Will said:
Behave yourself Kurt - you never know what may happen!!
Click to expand...

I know you cannot back up your false accusation that I "do a lot of
illegal things."

What does the Ten Commandments call making false accusations against
another person?

--
Peace!
Kurt
Self-anointed Moderator
microscum.pubic.windowsexp.gonorrhea
http://microscum.com/mscommunity
"Trustworthy Computing" is only another example of an Oxymoron!
"Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei"
 
The way to set up a dual boot is to install one version of XP on One
partition and make sure it works.
Then from within that version of XP do a new install of XP onto another
partition.XP will create the necesary boot.ini file as well as rewrite the
MBR on the original partition.The key word here is NEW installation,you tell
it where to install to.
The computer will boot off the 1st partition and give you a choice of which
XP to start with...so be sure to know which is which...name the installation
directories differently.This also means that if you were to format that 1st
partition you would not be able to boot without doing a "repair"
installation.
Good luck
peterk
 
J said:
In Win XP's Help, MS states that Win XP supports dual boot with all
other Windows, DOS and Linux but XP. I want to know if it means that it
is technically impossible to set up dual boot with two XP's in two
partitions or if it means that we can use only one copy of XP because
of the COA issue.
In my case, I bought one XP of English version and another XP which is
Japanese version, each carries, naturally, respective COA. In this case,
I don't foresee problems as long as the boot.ini file in the primary XP
is correctly edited. Am I missing important information? But I am still
concerned about file systems. If I install both version of XP with NTFS,
will there be incorrigible problems? Do I need to assign NTFS to one and
FAT32 to the other? If so to which one (Partition 1 or 2) NTFS should be
applied?
Click to expand...


Yes, you can easily create a dual-boot scenario, if you like.

For conflicting language versions of operating systems, and the
hiding of one's partition from another, I've found System Commander
from V-Communications very useful, in the past.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH
 
You don't install from the first XP.
Install using the second XP CD. Just make sure that the first install is
recognized and the second XP installs to another partition.
 
Thank you very much for providing information on this subject.

With your helpful information what I did is as follows:
1) I loaded Win XP Home supplied by Toshiba in the form of "Recovery
Disk". This CD gives no choice but to install the OS using the entire HD
(one partition.) It also offered no choice in file system but NTFS.
2) I resized the installed partition to about half of the HD capacity
using a partition manager (In my case 7Tools Partition Manager). This
step was based upon previous contribution of Ron Martell to help Terry's
posting to this NG on December 15, 2004.
This change resulted in a few error messages at reboot, but, at the
fourth reboot, dust settled and the Win XP Home worked apparently
normally using the reduced HD space.
3) Then I inserted the Win XP Pro (Japanese version) and proceded for
installation. It recognized the previously installed XP Home and asked
where to be installed and with which file system. I naturally selected
the remaining unpartitioned space and, whith some hesitancy, I chose
NTFS. Then a new partition was created using the remaining space,
formated and installation continued. The intermediate reboot already
showed recognition of the other XP.
4) When finished, I got the dual boot system which is same as dual boot
with different versions of Windows.
5) I now know there is no restriction for dual boot in terms of version
of Windows and type of file systems.

My experience should be helpful to people who desire to set up
dual/multi boot without wiping out an already installed OS, that is, by
resizing the used HD space. This is in contrast to the "official way" by
MS which requires prepartitioning. This should be especially helpful if
one happens to own Toshiba Satellite.

Thank you very very much to all responding to my question with helpful
information.
J Tsuzuki
 
I would like to add one piece of information to your test that worked.
You "MUST" install the English OS first before the Japanese version. If you
install the Japanese version of XP into the computer and then try to install
English it will screw up the Japanese OS already installed, thus the method
you used of installing the English first and then the Japanese worked.

I have ran into that problem around 10 times and finally figured it out,
English first then another language.

Glad you were able to get it working though.

Jon
 
Should we expect the same results by using two separate hard drives instead
of just separate partitions?
Thanks,
Bill Kellum
 
Hi,

It should be the same regardless of whether you use two partitions on the
same drive or two different physical drives. Keep in mind that no matter
where you install Windows, the system files (those that boot the
installation, ntldr, ntdetect.com, boot.ini) will be placed on the root of
the active drive.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
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