I have Vista Utimate and want to install XP on another drive (stupid xp only games0 and dual boot. None of the pages I google seem to explain this process in enough detail so I don’t fuck up my Vista install. How should I best attack this?
I’d like to know this too, as I was told several times that you could not dual boot XP and Vist.
I’ve got a dual boot Vista/XP setup on my laptop (on the same drive even), but I installed XP first, then Vista.
Is there something you need to know besides what the most cursory Google search for dual boot xp vista reveals?
The first 3 or so pages of results of the google search “xp vista installed first dual boot” were are just spam pages created to get hits with no real info.
How about this: http://apcmag.com/the_definitive_dualbooting_guide_linux_vista_and_xp_stepbystep.htm
I didn’t have to go the Vista then XP route, but I did do the XP->Vista dual-boot.
Hmm. There might be some cause for you to worry. Using your search criteria, the first hits answered the question. If your Google search results do not match mine, you might have some spyware affecting your browser results.
Lunch of Kong. I’ve had Vista since Christmas and still haven’t installed it. Are there any boot sector reasons why I shouldn’t go ahead and do it? I’m always afraid when I go to do an XP update or VIsta update later on they’ll get confused mark up the wrong partition. It’d be nice to slowly migrate over and see how things like MS Flight Sim look. But then again I might just get super frustated at the lower frame rates in everything?
Sorry, I think I keep asking the same thing in every Vista thread? But it seems like too many frustrated gamers out there who are on Vista wishing they’d done different. Plus, after seeing this video horror from MS on Vista - I feel… yecchhhh.
I haven’t booted into Vista in a few months and I quad-boot.
Does your PC have separate SATA2 drives? If so, you can do what I did last year and it won’t matter what order you install each OS.
This arrangement is still working just peachy (and I can switch between OS’s during boot-up with the F8 key as well as the BIOS switch).
BTW, when I installed XP on the second drive I unplugged the first (Vista) drive so the new install was completely at arm’s length. Once the XP installation was up and running, I plugged the first drive back in and could then happily switch back and forth between them.
I did an XP/Vista dual boot a couple of months ago. The recommended route is to install Vista to a system disk that already contains a working copy of XP. It will detect this and install the boot menu that allows you to select between the two.
You CAN install Vista first and XP second, but the XP install overwrites Vista’s boot loader, and you will need to repair and tweak this afterwards, or Vista will not boot.
FWIW, I followed the instructions in the APCmag links in the post above, and they were fine. After testing that XP still worked, I’ve had such a positive experience with Vista that I haven’t loaded XP since then.
Thats a neat idea. I might try it.
Yeah, that’s a pretty simple and novel solution to the dual-boot issue. A little more work than a properly working boot loader, but if you’re not switching frequently, it wouldn’t get too annoying.
Man, I wish I had room (and my system could take the heat) for another hard drive. But… if you work in this configuration don’t you need to have TWO copies of Win XP because of Microsoft’s stupid upgrade policy (I have the Vista Upgrade disk)?
Not sure. I had a standalone version of each OS so the issue never came up. Some of the brighter tech minds on this board might have better insight.