Dual Boot Vista/XP

  • Thread starter Thread starter Flack
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Flack

I have installed Vista on a new SATA hard drive. I retained my XP setup on
the original hare drvie which I disconnected when I installed Vista.

Bottom line I have a installation of XP on one drive and an installation of
Visa on another.

I have realized that I still need XP for some things.

What's the best way to set up a dual boot so I don't have to keep swapping
drives. I'd like to keep the both OS intact rather than reinstalling. Is
there a way to do this?

Flack
 
Get VistaBootPRO 3.3 on the Internet. It is free.
Then from within the utility, launch a Diagnostic.
Then choose to use the XP drive it detected.
Keep Vista as the default drive.

It works sometimes, sometimes not.

When you reboot you will be given the choice of
systems.



"Flack" <[email protected]> a écrit dans le message de I have installed Vista on a new SATA hard drive. I retained my XP setup on
the original hare drvie which I disconnected when I installed Vista.

Bottom line I have a installation of XP on one drive and an installation of
Visa on another.

I have realized that I still need XP for some things.

What's the best way to set up a dual boot so I don't have to keep swapping
drives. I'd like to keep the both OS intact rather than reinstalling. Is
there a way to do this?

Flack
 
Hi, Flack.

The "golden rule" of dual-booting is to install the newest OS last. That
is, with WinXP already installed, add the second physical drive, then insert
the Vista DVD and run Setup.exe from inside WinXP, letting it either create
a new partition for itself or use one that you've already created with
WinXP's Disk Management. Setup will automatically create the dual-boot menu
in the process of installing Vista. Since it's too late for you to do that,
you'll need to either install Vista again from scratch, or use its Repair
function in Setup.exe. Or, use a third-party product, like EasyBCD.

From where you are now, your easiest course would be to physically install
both drives, with the Vista drive as the boot device. Then boot into Vista
and run EasyBCD from Neosmart Technologies. Have a look at this page:
http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Windows+XP

Then go here to download the latest version:
http://neosmart.net/software.php

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail beta in Vista Ultimate x64)
 
If I set the BIOS to boot from the XP drive and do a "repair installation"
of Vista from the DVD (within XP), this will set up the Vista dual boot
menu?
 
Flack said:
If I set the BIOS to boot from the XP drive and do a "repair installation"
of Vista from the DVD (within XP), this will set up the Vista dual boot
menu?
Click to expand...

I can't say if that would work or not, but it sounds more complicated
than necessary.

The way *I* would do it is to install VistaBootPro on your Vista disk,
as suggested by a previous poster, and use it to 'install the Vista boot
loader' with the 'all disks' option selected. That will do the same
thing as booting your Vista install DVD and using the option to repair
your boot files. I think VistaBootPro just makes the process easier to
understand.
 
See if your BIOS allows you to push an F? when booting to give you a boot
option screen.With both drives connected you can then pick which drive to
boot from.
I personally would rather use this method or even enter the BIOS each time I
boot to pick the boot drive than have Vista change the MBR on the XP boot
drive to display the dual boot option.I have heard some horror stories once
the person decides he no longer wants to dual boot.
but its your decision
peter
 
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