More dual boot questions

[Vic Baron]

OK - new system is up and running. I have a system drive with three
partitions. First partition (Primary active) I installed XP. Second
partition ( Primary) I will install Vista Home Premium, third partition (
extended logical drive ) will have programs, etc.

Right now, w/o having Vista installed yet, when I boot to XP, it 'sees' the
Vista drive.

Will this be true after I install Vista?

My concern is that after installing both OS and boot to one - when I try to
install programs they will *see* the other OS and possible install to the
wrong drive.

Don't know if I explained that clearly but basically, when I'm in Vista I
want XP to be hidden and vice versa.

I'm just setting this up so if I have to repartition and reinstall, no big
deal.

Thanx,

Vic

 

[Paul Randall]

Yes, with this kind of a setup, both OSs will see and have access to the
other OS's partition. WXP will delete Vista's restore points, because Vista
saves them in a non-standard format and WXP gets rid of non-standard stuff.
With care, you should be able to install most programs on both systems, but
some will step on the other OS's install of that program.

If you use a third party partition manager, it may be able to hide the
partition of the OS that you are not booting to. This can save you some
headaches but takes a little more time to boot up.

There will be a learning curve and you may have to start over a number of
times with fresh installs. I would recommend not activating until you are
pretty sure it is your final install. Or, you could activate once and
create an image; on reinstalls, you just restore the partition from its
image. That can often be done in just 10 minutes or so - it is much faster
than a normal install and requires no user input.

-Paul Randall

 

[Vic Baron]

Good point about the image - hadn't thought of that.

I thought of hiding the partition but wouldn't that mean that I'd manually
have to unhide it before a dual boot?

Years ago I had swappable HD's with different OS's. I guess I could go in
that direction *IF* it becomes a hassle.

All I really want to do is get used to Vista without jumping in with both
feet. I have 3 systems setup and running now, don't want to have another
just to get used to Vista.

I guess I'm just going to have to be very careful when I install any
programs.

Thanx,

Vic

Yes, with this kind of a setup, both OSs will see and have access to the
other OS's partition. WXP will delete Vista's restore points, because
Vista saves them in a non-standard format and WXP gets rid of non-standard
stuff. With care, you should be able to install most programs on both
systems, but some will step on the other OS's install of that program.

If you use a third party partition manager, it may be able to hide the
partition of the OS that you are not booting to. This can save you some
headaches but takes a little more time to boot up.

There will be a learning curve and you may have to start over a number of
times with fresh installs. I would recommend not activating until you are
pretty sure it is your final install. Or, you could activate once and
create an image; on reinstalls, you just restore the partition from its
image. That can often be done in just 10 minutes or so - it is much
faster than a normal install and requires no user input.

-Paul Randall

 

[Paul Randall]

Responses inline

Good point about the image - hadn't thought of that.

I thought of hiding the partition but wouldn't that mean that I'd manually
have to unhide it before a dual boot?

Yes, hiding the partition is a good way. Here is a method I once used for
dual booting OSs that were WXP and earlier:
1) Used Norton Ghost's GDisk to partition, formatting each partition FAT32.
2) Used W98SE boot floppy/cd to sys each partition while the others were
hidden.
3) Added GDisk to each partition and batch files I could run to make a
particular partition boot up. Gdisk did the actual hiding/unhiding and
making a particular partition active, which doesn't take effect until next
boot. I guess this info is only read into the OS on bootup.
4) For each of the partitions I wanted to boot from, I ran the appropriate
batch file, rebooted (into the correct partition), and installed the OS.
This would typically create a boot.ini file that could select the Windows OS
or DOS. I also modified the Boot.ini file so that it was obvious which
selection would boot to DOS and it tells which Windows version this
partition holds.

Net result:
1) On power up, the most recently booted partition is active. Boot.ini
gives me a choice of booting to the Windows OS or to DOS. If I want a
different OS, I choose DOS and run the appropriate batch file for the OS I
want, and reboot, which gets me there.

2) To switch OSs without powering off, I can just run the approprate batch
file from windows and do a shutdown-restart.

Years ago I had swappable HD's with different OS's. I guess I could go in
that direction *IF* it becomes a hassle.

I use removable trays. Two removable trays and two DVDs fit nicely in a
full size case.
Easy to lock a tray in a safe or store at a friends house for
security/backup.

All I really want to do is get used to Vista without jumping in with both
feet. I have 3 systems setup and running now, don't want to have another
just to get used to Vista.

I bought a cheapo Compaq for that, so I don't have to jump through the
driver hoops. I'm not happy with Vista Basic's feature list, but I'm
working on ways to try out Ultimate. I want to try Vista on this old
machine too.

-Paul Randall

I guess I'm just going to have to be very careful when I install any
programs.

Thanx,

Vic

 

[John Barnes]

I bought a cheapo Compaq for that, so I don't have to jump through the
driver hoops. I'm not happy with Vista Basic's feature list, but I'm
working on ways to try out Ultimate. I want to try Vista on this old
machine too.

Install without the product key and you can install and use, for 30 days any
version you want.