Dual-booting

  • Thread starter Thread starter Thor
  • Start date Start date
T

Thor

For me, BitLocker isn't a convenient way to dual boot between XP and Vista
(I don't have a TPM and don't want to use the USB option).

Are there free boot manager programs that will work? TIA
 
Purchase and install a second hard drive and install Windows Vista on it exclusively.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

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| For me, BitLocker isn't a convenient way to dual boot between XP and Vista
| (I don't have a TPM and don't want to use the USB option).
|
| Are there free boot manager programs that will work? TIA
 
I don't have any sort of problem with the volsnap.sys issue on my
dual hard drive configuration. Windows XP is installed on a
separate EIDE hard drive and Vista on a SATA hard drive. All
I have to do is open the BIOS and make a quick change to the
PATA/SATA startup preference. That way, Windows XP and Windows Vista
are 100% independent of each others boot loader.
 
Strange...I have XP on a 'separate EIDE hard drive and Vista on a SATA hard
drive'. I can also configure the BIOS to boot to either...but that doesn't
stop them from seeing each other, without a boot manager that hides Vista
when booting to XP. No need to hide XP from Vista.

John
 
Thor said:
For me, BitLocker isn't a convenient way to dual boot between XP and Vista
(I don't have a TPM and don't want to use the USB option).

Are there free boot manager programs that will work? TIA
Click to expand...

If you want to use BitLocker just to protect your restore points-
you can turn-off the boot up authentication.

Go into BitLocker's settings, select turn-off BitLocker. You will
be given two choices, "turn off" BitLocker or "decrypt". Select "turn off".
This way, your Vista volume stays encrypted and protected, but you don't
have to worry about TPM or a USB drive for the key. Turn off only turns
off the boot authentication or the need for the long password.
Vista stays encrypted and protected from XP's tomfoolery.

-Michael
 
Thanks for that Michael. I don't know if that little tid bit had been up
here before. i haven't played with Bit Locker and that makes it easier.

CH
 
You're welcome, Chad. I have posted that before, several times.

I think some folks feel intimated/confused about BitLocker and
are scared of using it. I haven't experienced any issues with
BitLocker, and once you turn off the authentication at boot up,
you forget that your Vista volume is even encrypted.

The beauty of it- your shadow copies, restore points, previous file versions
stay protected, and Vista can still access XP's volume just fine.


-Michael
 
Yes, you are very experienced and can do that yourself but it is not good
general advice, IMHO. As a general solution I prefer the advice that dual
booting XP and Vista may lead to the loss of the means to recover valuable
data in the event of the need to do so.
 
Colin,
Is it only the System Restore capability that is affected? If I were to dual
boot (separate hard drives), back up each drive regularly, wouldn't I be OK?
TIA
BChat



Yes, you are very experienced and can do that yourself but it is not good
general advice, IMHO. As a general solution I prefer the advice that dual
booting XP and Vista may lead to the loss of the means to recover valuable
data in the event of the need to do so.
 
Michael:
I agree with you fully about BitLocker working in a multi-boot
scenario. I haven't turned off BitLocker, I just leave the USB key plugged
in without problems. There is one problem with BitLocker, it's only
available with Enterprise and Ultimate. Since this group deals with all
versions of Vista that means that there has to be two recommendations for
multi-booting. Use BitLocker if available or use a third party boot-manager.
Have a great day.
 
Yes, you are correct. I do think it is a shame Microsoft did not
at least include BitLocker in the Business version, too.

Take care,

Michael
 
System Restore is only one of the victims. It affects all VSS related files
such as backups, CompletePC Backup images, shadow copies, etc. Google
"Volume Shadowcopy Service" to get an idea of just how extensive this is.

Backups are called "a good thing."
 
Michael, that is an interesting solution.
However, it assumes that the Vista drive is already encrypted, correct?
I cannot find a way to encrypt the drive without using a TPM or USB drive.
 
Thank You
backups are VERY good things


System Restore is only one of the victims. It affects all VSS related files
such as backups, CompletePC Backup images, shadow copies, etc. Google
"Volume Shadowcopy Service" to get an idea of just how extensive this is.

Backups are called "a good thing."
 
Okay, I may forget the exact procedure when setting up
BitLocker. But, there is a point where BitLocker ask to
test your setup (TPM or USB stick), I believe you can actually
skip that and continue on with encryption. And, just in case-
there is an option to generate a very long PIN/password, save it
write it down and print it out.

Did you enable BitLocker to be used without TPM,
by the way?

run>gpedit.msc>Computer Configuration>Administrative Templates>
Windows Components>BitLocker Drive Encryption,
Control Panel Setup: Enable advanced startup options

Set that to Enabled.

Go back to Control Panel, BitLocker options.
You will now have the choice to use BitLocker
without TPM. And just use a USB stick with the
key stored on it.

During the activation of BitLocker, it will, IIRC,
want to reboot to test your USB stick. I'm pretty
sure that can be skipped.

After the encryption, go back to BitLocker's settings
and "turn off" Bitlocker but do not chose the "Decrypt"
option.

-Michael
 
Thanks to veryone for their help.
A special thanks to Michael!
Your advice to skip the system check worked like a charm.

XP does "see" the Vista drive, but it sees it as an unformatted drive.
 
I'm glad I could help.

Take care,

Michael

Thor said:
Thanks to veryone for their help.
A special thanks to Michael!
Your advice to skip the system check worked like a charm.

XP does "see" the Vista drive, but it sees it as an unformatted drive.
Click to expand...
 
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