Dual Boot Installation Questions

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jason Saffer
  • Start date Start date
J

Jason Saffer

Hi all,

I am currently downloading Vista and plan to burn it onto a CD and then,
hopefully, install it onto a separate partition. Some questions:

1. When I boot the computer from the CD, will Vista automatically give me
the option to set up a dual boot, if I am leaving XP on the C drive?

2. What new files are installed onto the C drive when I set up a dual boot
system?

3. If I later want to remove Vista from the separate partition, how do I do
that? Just format that separate partition? And, what files should I remove
from the C drive so that my computer no longer thinks it is a dual boot
setup?

Any other suggestions regarding what I'm trying to do would be certainly
appreciated!

....Jason
 
Jason Saffer said:
Hi all,

I am currently downloading Vista and plan to burn it onto a CD and then,
hopefully, install it onto a separate partition. Some questions:

1. When I boot the computer from the CD, will Vista automatically give me
the option to set up a dual boot, if I am leaving XP on the C drive?

2. What new files are installed onto the C drive when I set up a dual boot
system?

3. If I later want to remove Vista from the separate partition, how do I do
that? Just format that separate partition? And, what files should I remove
from the C drive so that my computer no longer thinks it is a dual boot
setup?

Any other suggestions regarding what I'm trying to do would be certainly
appreciated!

....Jason
Click to expand...

Hello

Let me see if I can answer these for you.

1. No, Vista wont give you the option to dual boot. You will need to setup
the extra primary partition in advance that you plan on putting Vista on so
that when you load setup it sees 2 drives, the one your XP is on and the
empty one you setup for Vista which needs to be a minimum of 20 GB.

2. It will put boot files in so that it can dual boot, nothing that will
harm your XP install.

3. Correct just format that extra partition.
 
What you are trying to do is simple enough. make sure you have a seperate
partition in which to install vista.

I should point out, however, that this is Beta software and things can and
do go wrong, so it is better to use on a test machine rather than a
production machine. failing that another option is a virtual machine using
VMWare Server or similar software.

During the install you will be asked where you want to place vista ( a list
of your partitions will appear) make sure you select the partition you
recently created for vista 'not' your XP partition.

Once installed and you reboot you will have a menu with two options

1/ Windows Vista
2/ Earlier versions of Windows

Unfortunately, this is how the boot menu works at the moment. Hopefully
thing will change as we reach manufacturing stage. Click Windows Vista for
Vista and Windows Legacy (which will bring up another menu - a bit of a
pain) for Windows XP

All of the bootloader files for Vista will be stored on your C: drive (i.e.
windows XP) It is difficult to say what other files are stored on the C:
drive but i believe there are a few.

You probaly would do better if you could image the windows xp drive so that,
when you want to remove Vista, you can simply reformat the whole drive and
image back your copy of XP. This is the scenario that i use. At least there
are no vista files lurking on the xp partition then.

Another option i have used is to download a copy of Vistaboot pro. This
helps edit the Vista boot menu and can only be used in Vista. Launch
vistaboot pro and then click the 'bootloader' button. Int he bootloader
window click your mouse in the radio button next to the 'uninstall the vista
bootloader (use to restore xp) option. This will restore your setting so
when you boot up again you boot driectly into windows xp. All you need do
then is either reformat the vista partition or delete the vista partition.


--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org

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