Dual boot same Partition

  • Thread starter Thread starter yahooshua
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yahooshua

I have Windows 2000 installed. I want to install Windows XP on the same
partition so that the 2 operating systems can share much of the same
files. Examples: 'My documents' 'desktop' settings (pretty much
documents and setting. Possibly even Programs (probably not) and user
rights and protections.

Reason: for fun. and sometimes I like XP sometimes I like 2000. at
least for now. And there different people who use this machine.
 
I have Windows 2000 installed. I want to install Windows XP on the same
partition so that the 2 operating systems can share much of the same
files. Examples: 'My documents' 'desktop' settings (pretty much
documents and setting. Possibly even Programs (probably not) and user
rights and protections.

Reason: for fun. and sometimes I like XP sometimes I like 2000. at
least for now. And there different people who use this machine.
Click to expand...

And what exactly is your question?

Regardless of the actual question: Installing two Windows OSs
on the same partition is a bad idea.
 
No, not a good idea. You won't be able to share settings across operating
systems. One would not be aware of the other's existence other than the
corruption and duplications.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

|I have Windows 2000 installed. I want to install Windows XP on the same
| partition so that the 2 operating systems can share much of the same
| files. Examples: 'My documents' 'desktop' settings (pretty much
| documents and setting. Possibly even Programs (probably not) and user
| rights and protections.
|
| Reason: for fun. and sometimes I like XP sometimes I like 2000. at
| least for now. And there different people who use this machine.
|
 
Dave is absolutely right.

May I suggest something like this, which is what I did?

1. Create a new partition for Win XP. Call it e.g. WINXP. (D:)
2. Create a new partition for your documents. Call it e.g. MYDOCS. (E:) Move
all your documents to it.

Right click on the My Documents folder on your desktop and choose
Properties. Set the new location of My Documents to, in this case,
E:. When it asks to move all your documents to the new
location, you can say yes, or you can copy them yourself later.

3. Rename your original partition e.g. WIN2000. (C:)

You now have three partitions: WIN2000, MYDOCS, and WINXP.

4. Install WinXP to the new WinXP partition. Do this carefully, using a
reference book if possible. (E.g. My Win2000 book [Special Edition Using
Windows 2000 Professional] tells me in detail how to add Win2K to Win9x.)

This way everything has its own logical disk drive. And both OS's can share
documents. Since you are using two NT OS's, all three partitions can use the
NTFS file format if you wish. Myself, I use FAT32 for everything, so Linux
and Windows ME and Win2000 can all happily coexist.

If you can use Partition Magic, it is by far the easiest way to set up the
partitions. If not, I suppose it's good old (yuk!) FDISK. But I don't know
how to do that with FDISK.
 
but I have seen in other posts of yours (Pegasus) that you have done
something like this. Also using XOSL. The computer I want to do this to
I don't really care about. Its just basically used for checking email.
I have done the "multi-partition" with win 2000 XP 98 and and Linux.
All great experiences. But now I want to learn about just using 1
partition for 2 operating systems; namely 2000 and XP. They seem to go
together well.
 
but I have seen in other posts of yours (Pegasus) that you have done
something like this. Also using XOSL. The computer I want to do this to
I don't really care about. Its just basically used for checking email.
I have done the "multi-partition" with win 2000 XP 98 and and Linux.
All great experiences. But now I want to learn about just using 1
partition for 2 operating systems; namely 2000 and XP. They seem to go
together well.
Click to expand...

You probably remember someone else's post. I never
suggested to anyone to install two OSs in the same
partition. If you think I did then please quote chapter
and verse so that I can tell you what I really meant.
 
I will look it up later but you said something to the effect that it
not impossible but it is dangerous it is not a question of IFyour
computer will crash but when.

I just want to try it out. Are you telling me it is impossible?
 
I will look it up later but you said something to the effect that it
not impossible but it is dangerous it is not a question of IFyour
computer will crash but when.

I just want to try it out. Are you telling me it is impossible?
Click to expand...

No, it is not impossible. I have done it several times. However,
if are inexperienced in off-line registry editing and/or if you do
not have a networked Win2000/XP PC then you might not
be able to repair a non-booting installation. I've seen a few of
those too.
 
What do I need to do to successfully install Win XP so that XP and 2000
can run side by side on a single partition?
 
Single partition and dual-boot is never a good idea when it comes to
running operating systems.
 
What do I need to do to successfully install Win XP so that XP and 2000
can run side by side on a single partition?
Click to expand...

Let's reword your question: "What do I need to do to if
I wish to install Win XP so that XP and 2000 can run
side by side on a single partition even though everybody
tells me it's a bad idea?"

And the answer: Just install WinXP in a folder other
than c:\WinNT and put up with the consequences.
 
You've been told not to do what you want to do yet you persist in
attempting to prove something to who knows who. There is no "registry
editing and all of that stuff" to do on dual boot setups, you just have
to do it the right way! You fail to understand the most basic
information with regards to multi boot systems. This is typically what
you will read from Microsoft on the subject:

Precautions

Before creating a multiple-boot configuration with Windows XP and
another operating system, review the following precautions:

• Before attempting to create a multiple-boot system, be sure to back up
your current system and all data files.

• Each operating system must be installed on a separate volume.
Microsoft does not support installing multiple operating systems on the
same volume.

• If you have only one volume on your computer, you have to reformat and
repartition your hard disk to contain multiple volumes before you begin
creating a multiple-boot configuration, unless you are simply installing
another copy of Windows XP...


And this is the Microsoft definition of a Boot Partition, read it carefully:

Boot Partition

The boot partition contains the Windows operating system and its support
files. The boot partition can be, but does not have to be, the same as
the system partition. There will be one, and only one, system partition,
but there will be one boot partition for each operating system in a
multi-boot system.

Do you understand what is says there, especially the last sentence?

John
 
Let me ask a different question here.

Without getting into whether or not trying to load Windows 2000 and Windows
XP into the same partition is a good idea or not, and further stipulating
that I don't intend to try it, if someone did do it:

Would each operating system have it's own separate registry, or would they
both be trying to write into the same registry?

Todd
 
Ok you don't think I have read all of that? Do you think I know nothing
about computers? Yes, thank you for you advise. Yes, it is a bad idea
if you have data on a computer that you don't want to lose. But I don't
care about this computer and I just want to learn. So if you don't have
any help info, why post?

***ATTENTION***
I UNDERSTAND THAT USEING A SINGLE PARTITION IS A BAD IDEA.
I want to do this for educational purposes. And all of you who are
saying it is a bad idea. Do you know from experience or from ignorance
aka hearsay.
 
Ok you don't think I have read all of that? Do you think I know nothing
about computers? Yes, thank you for you advise. Yes, it is a bad idea
if you have data on a computer that you don't want to lose. But I don't
care about this computer and I just want to learn. So if you don't have
any help info, why post?

***ATTENTION***
I UNDERSTAND THAT USEING A SINGLE PARTITION IS A BAD IDEA.
I want to do this for educational purposes. And all of you who are
saying it is a bad idea. Do you know from experience or from ignorance
aka hearsay.
Click to expand...

I know it from practical experience. Massive problems with
Outlook Express. However, your basic idea is good: Don't take
everything for granted, try it for yourself, then report the results
here. We're waiting.
 
Does XP and 2000 write to the registry in a similar fashion or are they
completely different?
 
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