Dual Booting Vista and XP (With Vista installed first)

DJMK4 · 24 Nov 2008 at 10:23

Due to a piece of software I need to run (which doesnt run on Vista) I need to look into dual booting.

I currently have Vista Home Premium (x64) installed, I need to put XP pro on the same PC by dual booting.

I currently have the following disk set-up:

DISK0 (Partition 1: 50GB) (Partition 2: 30GB)
DISK1 (Partition 1: 200GB) (Partition 2: 60GB)

Would it be possible to leave the vista install on DISK0 Partition1 and have the XP install on DISK0 Partition2? or is it not wise to have the two operating systems on the same disk?

Is it a fairly risk free process doing this? or is it possible that things could go horribly wrong?

Ascendancy · 24 Nov 2008 at 10:49

http://apcmag.com/how_to_dual_boot_vista_and_xp_with_vista_installed_first__the_stepbystep_guide.htm

Senture · 24 Nov 2008 at 10:53

Quite easy to do actually. Pop the XP disc in at system power on then when it says "Press any key to boot from CD", continue and put XP on the second partition. After instalation is complete you will only be able to boot from XP, but this is fixed very easily. Pop the Vista install disc in and reboot the machine again. Once you get to "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD" during system start up, set it loading up the vista install. On one of the early screens (might even be the first screen), there will be a repair option. The Vista install should detect the problem and re-write the boot sequence to dual boot between Vista and XP (earlier version of windows). If not, one of the options is labled "Fix boot", this is the one you need.

If you're worried about buggering up your system at all, you can always try this method in a virtual environment. I did this with Ububtu to make sure it wouldn't bugger up my Windows installs.

DJMK4 · 24 Nov 2008 at 11:10

Thanks, will give this ago

AWPC · 24 Nov 2008 at 11:43

DJMK4 said:
Thanks, will give this ago

One thing to bear in mind is that a Vista system restore will not work properly after as it gets confused by XP & Vista together and cannot find the Vista system restore point if you have to do a repair at any time from the DVD you will find it easier to just reinstall Vista. Found out the hard way couple of times earlier this year...... MS even have a technet article on it but offer no workaround!!

DJMK4 · 24 Nov 2008 at 12:27

AWPC said:
One thing to bear in mind is that a Vista system restore will not work properly after as it gets confused by XP & Vista together and cannot find the Vista system restore point if you have to do a repair at any time from the DVD you will find it easier to just reinstall Vista. Found out the hard way couple of times earlier this year...... MS even have a technet article on it but offer no workaround!!

Ahh that's ok then, you had me worried there, I dont use system restore as I use acronis true image to create an image of the OS install