Doing a dual boot in Vista
How do you do it?
Friday, January 25, 2008 by Uvah | Discussion: Windows Vista
Recently I asked this question in another thread but got no answer. Probablt should have done this to begin with.
I need help creating a dual boot on my HP. It has Vista Home Premium with AMD 5200 dual-core processor. What I want to do is install a second hardrive (has XP on it)and run both OS's. I can istall it no problem, it's just finding out how to get it to dual boot, that is, ask me which OS I want to use. sign me frustrated lol
I need help creating a dual boot on my HP. It has Vista Home Premium with AMD 5200 dual-core processor. What I want to do is install a second hardrive (has XP on it)and run both OS's. I can istall it no problem, it's just finding out how to get it to dual boot, that is, ask me which OS I want to use. sign me frustrated lol
Uvah
Reply #2 Friday, January 25, 2008 5:45 PM
Reply #2 Friday, January 25, 2008 5:45 PM
I tried to google it and all they came up with is how to do it on the same partition as Vista. Somebody out there should know something...I hope. Help...
MadDeez
Reply #3 Friday, January 25, 2008 5:53 PM
Reply #3 Friday, January 25, 2008 5:53 PM
i just go into the boot menu and choose which hdd to boot to. it may take a few seconds longer but it works and no extra apps are needed
lee3908870
Reply #4 Friday, January 25, 2008 6:14 PM
Reply #4 Friday, January 25, 2008 6:14 PM
To do a dual boot using Vista and XP you will need to start clean on both HDDs. Then install XP first then Vista. Vista will see XP and allow you to choose to setup a dual boot.
I did this a year ago on my iBuilt, and it has both running without any problems.
Lee
I did this a year ago on my iBuilt, and it has both running without any problems.
Lee
kona0197
Reply #5 Saturday, January 26, 2008 6:53 PM
Reply #5 Saturday, January 26, 2008 6:53 PM
Can you have Vista and XP on the same drive on different partitions? If so do I need a boot manager?
mrtee
Reply #6 Saturday, January 26, 2008 7:41 PM
Reply #6 Saturday, January 26, 2008 7:41 PM
Yes kona XP and Vista can be on the same drive, each needs its own partition. Vista will install a manager or you can use something like this http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/diskdirector/multibooting.html or http://www.vistabootpro.org/ if you use the dual boot capability built into Vista, XP MUST be installed first and system restore in Vista is not available ie it gets turned off during install and can not be turned on.
Jeff
Jeff
Uvah
Reply #7 Monday, January 28, 2008 2:22 PM
Reply #7 Monday, January 28, 2008 2:22 PM
To reply #4 - Why clean on both when the OS's are already on both drives. It's only a matter of installing the additional drive and changing the boot menu. For that I thank Snidely Whiplash. You rock dude 
Keymac
Reply #8 Wednesday, January 30, 2008 3:32 AM
There are at least two solid dual boot apps... VistaBootPro and EasyBCD. I have used both and had no problem using them..I had 3 OS's on tap..Vista 32, Vista 64 and XP Media Center. I was able to pick and choose at will. They both have utilities to rectify any problems with boots... hope this helps.
Reply #8 Wednesday, January 30, 2008 3:32 AM
There are at least two solid dual boot apps... VistaBootPro and EasyBCD. I have used both and had no problem using them..I had 3 OS's on tap..Vista 32, Vista 64 and XP Media Center. I was able to pick and choose at will. They both have utilities to rectify any problems with boots... hope this helps.
NightTrainthedark
Reply #9 Wednesday, January 30, 2008 5:22 AM
Reply #9 Wednesday, January 30, 2008 5:22 AM
Xp and Vista do not work properly in a dual boot situation on the same partition and MS has no intention of fixing the problem. It is ok for testing but don't plan on a smooth ride for very long. 
Uvah
Reply #10 Wednesday, January 30, 2008 12:44 PM
Reply #10 Wednesday, January 30, 2008 12:44 PM
Fortunately they'll be on separate hard drives, not on the same partition. To clarify...Vista is on a 400 gig (sata) and XP is on a 200 gig (IDE), the mobo can handle both. Best of both worlds...kinda...sorta... 
piratehiker
Reply #11 Sunday, February 3, 2008 12:56 PM
Reply #11 Sunday, February 3, 2008 12:56 PM
Dude, don't bother, if you want XP then get XP. Vista is going to go through it's pains. All of the hardcore XP users probably hated it when it came out. I myself looked into the Dual-Boot and decided it was a waste of time. If you go for it, have fun getting drivers. Good luck to you if you do it (Dual-Boot).
Victek
Reply #12 Monday, February 4, 2008 12:00 PM
Fortunately they'll be on separate hard drives, not on the same partition. To clarify...Vista is on a 400 gig (sata) and XP is on a 200 gig (IDE), the mobo can handle both. Best of both worlds...kinda...sorta...
The specific issue with using XP and Vista together has to do with Vista's System Restore and Shadow Copy feature. It is not compatible with XP's implementation of System Restore. This results in all of Vista's restore points and shadow copies being deleted every time you boot into XP. Turning off System Restore in XP doesn't help. I don't believe it matters whether XP is installed on a separate physical disk or a separate partition on the same disk with Vista. The only way to prevent Vista's System Restore points, etc. from being deleted is to hide the XP partition from Vista. This can be done with a third party boot manager such as System Commander, but not with the dual booting feature provided by Microsoft.
Regarding dual booting, when XP is installed first and Vista second the dual boot option is created (I believe in the master boot record). Since you already have both Vista and XP installed and are simply putting the hard drive with XP into the computer you don't have to opportunity to create the dual boot option. However, going into your CMOS and changing the boot drive is a simple workaround.
Regarding Night Train's comment about XP and Vista not getting along in a dual boot environment I must respectfully disagree. I've been dual booting the two for a year and apart from the System Restore issue the arrangement is stable and problem free.
Reply #12 Monday, February 4, 2008 12:00 PM
Fortunately they'll be on separate hard drives, not on the same partition. To clarify...Vista is on a 400 gig (sata) and XP is on a 200 gig (IDE), the mobo can handle both. Best of both worlds...kinda...sorta...
The specific issue with using XP and Vista together has to do with Vista's System Restore and Shadow Copy feature. It is not compatible with XP's implementation of System Restore. This results in all of Vista's restore points and shadow copies being deleted every time you boot into XP. Turning off System Restore in XP doesn't help. I don't believe it matters whether XP is installed on a separate physical disk or a separate partition on the same disk with Vista. The only way to prevent Vista's System Restore points, etc. from being deleted is to hide the XP partition from Vista. This can be done with a third party boot manager such as System Commander, but not with the dual booting feature provided by Microsoft.
Regarding dual booting, when XP is installed first and Vista second the dual boot option is created (I believe in the master boot record). Since you already have both Vista and XP installed and are simply putting the hard drive with XP into the computer you don't have to opportunity to create the dual boot option. However, going into your CMOS and changing the boot drive is a simple workaround.
Regarding Night Train's comment about XP and Vista not getting along in a dual boot environment I must respectfully disagree. I've been dual booting the two for a year and apart from the System Restore issue the arrangement is stable and problem free.
Uvah
Reply #13 Monday, February 4, 2008 12:57 PM
Reply #13 Monday, February 4, 2008 12:57 PM
Interesting. Then each time I wish to boot into one OS or the other I have to change which drive to boot from in the cmos? Isn't there an option where it'll allow the changing of the boot order. Usually, I know it can be done in XP, you can change whether or not you boot from C or another drive, for example, drive D or cd drive or dvd drive or the 'archaic' floppy drive. I'm beginning to wonder which one is the better deal. The two separate drives or creating a partition on the larger one. Only problem being that Vista is on the larger drive. I can't uninstall as there is no disc that came with the computer. I'd have to create the partition on the 200 gig drive that has XP, migrate Vista onto that drive, good luck there, then copy that whole mess onto the 400 gig drive. Doesn't sound too promising that. Opinions?
Keymac
Reply #14 Monday, February 18, 2008 4:13 AM
Reply #14 Monday, February 18, 2008 4:13 AM
Refer to my earlier post...EasyBCD and VistaBootPro allow you to set the boot drive from an easy menu system and they both WORK! I used both over a long period of early Vista Beta testing while running 3 OS's on 4 drives... now that I am using Ultimate 64 full time I don;t need to bother, but as I say, they both work well... good luck!
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Reply #1 Friday, January 25, 2008 1:46 PM
Wish I could help more but I don't dual boot, but I try to read every post in the forums. Keeps me from falling asleep.