Dual-boot XP 32 bit / Vista 64 bit

[PARUK]

I've got a longstanding XP install (32-bit) that I don't want to lose, and I'd like to install Vista 64 as a dual boot. Now I know there's no problem dual-booting with Vista 32 bit, in fact I've done it with several other PCs and its always gone without a hitch.

BUT... I've seen some posts warning that the XP 32 / Vista 64 mix can have big problems, e.g. either XP starts refusing to boot properly, often with SATA driver errors, or Vista plays up instead.

Has anybody tried this combination recently (with the proper RTM Vista)? Is it OK, or are there gotchas I should know about?

 

[Combat squirrel]

Mine works fine, I have installed them to 2 separate physical drives though, a much better idea imo

 

[Dutch Guy]

If you have a retail full version of Vista X64 it doesn't matter what version of XP you have as it will be on a separate partition

I got a lot of BSOD's installing Vista X86 Dual booting but that was because Vista would not recognise my Nvidia SATA RAID setup.

If you really want to be safe, make a backup on a DVD (or several) of your current XP install with a program like Acronis True Image so that if it goes **** up you can restore your XP install.

 

[PARUK]

Thanks folks, I think I might give it a go then.

I've got two 80gb drives, XP is on the first and it's staying that way, the other drive has been partitioned up so I've got a suitable space ready and waiting. Hopefully things will go smoothly as I'm not using RAID...

 

[jaric]

Got XP, Vista x64 & Ubuntu triple booting fine. Not using RAID & no problems with any.

 

[Colbaker]

Had XP Media Center Edition installed originally and installed Vista Premium 64bit onto another drive, It had the dual boot screen but when i tried to boot into the windows media center edition it just restarted, I now have both installed next to eachother with no problems, I think it was to do with XP MCE installed in a RAID 0 on the Nvidia Raid though.