2 disks 2 operating systems

funguST

funguST

funguST

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18 Sep 2008
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Hi i have a solid state (c300) with windows 7 and a sata 160 disk with xp on. My question is how do i set this up to ask which os to boot into? the solid state is the priority disk, i know i can just go into bios and change the boot order or unplug the other os disk but this really needs to be fool proof for other family members to switch between operating systems aswell.

My mainboard is asus p5q-e

Any ideas?
 
I got this to work once in vista/xp and it went well and was simple, but not manged to on win 7. so i would also like to know thanks
 
i believe the key is to install xp first. That way, when you come to install 7, it wipes over the xp boot files, but still recognises it upon startup. This is how i do it, and i get greeted with a 30sec timeout screen asking me whether i like to boot with "Microsoft Windows 7", or "other version of windows" or something to that description (you can change these names with the right knowhow).

The only downside to this is that both drives need to be present to boot. Remove one drive, and for some reason you wont get past the bios (i guess w7 installs boot info on both disks)
 
Another (easier) way to do is is the Install Both OSes independent of each other i.e. Install win7 on one drive, remove it, then install xp on the other drive then plug them both in. Then set the boot priority to which ever one you use most often. And if you want to use the other one, press F8 when you turn on your PC and select the drive from the boot menu
 
Temi_D said:
Another (easier) way to do is is the Install Both OSes independent of each other i.e. Install win7 on one drive, remove it, then install xp on the other drive then plug them both in. Then set the boot priority to which ever one you use most often. And if you want to use the other one, press F8 when you turn on your PC and select the drive from the boot menu
Click to expand...

This is what i have been doing. Also if u use the win 7 startup repair thing it will delete any xp boot files.
 
Temi_D said:
Another (easier) way to do is is the Install Both OSes independent of each other i.e. Install win7 on one drive, remove it, then install xp on the other drive then plug them both in. Then set the boot priority to which ever one you use most often. And if you want to use the other one, press F8 when you turn on your PC and select the drive from the boot menu
Click to expand...

This +1

Currently having Win7 64bit in Sammy F3 1GB and Ubuntu and Win7 in Hitachi 250GB
In some boards you can chose which device to boot from with out getting in to bios(by pressing F12)
 
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