making dual bootable laptop

rossyl · 5 Nov 2006 at 19:24

hi,

i want my mum's work laptop to be dual bootbale so she has two completewly separate PC's effectively.

Her work has their own heavily edited version of windows. Which constantly annoys her.

So I'm thinking i will need to

create a partiton and load a new version of windows, office, etc on that. Correct?

Thing is its only got a DVd drive. no floppy. So how can i get a bootable CD with the correct partiton software.

Also when making partiton it is important NO DATA IS LOST! Else the world will end! Haha.

Cheers

A[L]C · 5 Nov 2006 at 19:42

or install a virtual pc?

Freakish_05 · 6 Nov 2006 at 07:20

Use a Linux Live CD?

I think Ubuntu/Kubuntu etc have partition managers on them

Failing that you could always try using the XP Disk Management tool in MMC to 'shrink' the size of the current partition thus making space available for a new install.

HTH

rossyl · 6 Nov 2006 at 10:33

i think simplicity is key. I don't want linux, what is virtual PC?, and i don't want to touch the current intsall or shrink it.

Can you not just advise me to do what I intend?

1. Create partition, do not lose any data
2. install windows xp on partiton.
3. have dual boot option on startup.
4. have ability to completely remove the partition i have created.

thanks

A[L]C · 6 Nov 2006 at 11:11

you'll need something like partition magic to re-do the partitions. Cant guarantee it wont mess up the data tho (it shouldnt but bugs do happen)

Captain Fizz · 6 Nov 2006 at 11:20

rossyl said:
1. Create partition, do not lose any data
2. install windows xp on partiton.
3. have dual boot option on startup.
4. have ability to completely remove the partition i have created.

1 - Need Partition Magic or similar to shrink the current OS partition.
(How can you make a partition if there is no free space with which to do so?)
Then create new one from the XP CD.
2 - When installing XP, choose the new partition.
3 - Done automatically by the XP setup.
4 - When in the work OS, go to Comp Management -> Disk Management and delete the partition.
Use partition magic to increase partition to original size.
Edit your boot.ini to remove the entry for the 2nd OS.

Point 1 is the tricky part.
99/100 Partition magic does not loose any data...
But it might.

I would recommend using a decent defragging software first and foremost before starting with Partition Magic.
You can get floppy disk bootable defraggers if you are uncomfortable installing 3rd party software on the work build.

rossyl · 6 Nov 2006 at 18:10

thanks thats great.