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Thread: Creating a vista - xp dual boot

  1. #1
    Senior Member kasavien's Avatar
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    Creating a vista - xp dual boot

    Hi all

    I've been thinking recently about trying vista out, and i was wondering what would be involved in creating a dual boot machine. I want to keep Windows XP installed on my current hard drive and i was going to buy a second hard drive to install Vista.

    I can get Vista business through the MSDNAA, is there anything major that i will be missing out on with this version as opposed to having home premium or even ultimate? I'll only be using it for uni work (coding, word processing etc) and gaming. If it has any bearing on things my system spec is to the left.

    Thanks

    Andy

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    As far as I can see all you miss in business compared to the premium/ultimate editions is the media centre and dvd movie maker software, which from what you've said you'll be doing shouldn't be a problem. It shouldn't be any more trouble in creating a dual boot than just booting from the dvd and installing into a new partition/drive, windows will create the bootloader, but I'm sure someone can correct me if I'm wrong!

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    780 nanometres redlight's Avatar
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    I put Vista on a separate drive and it did all by itself. First time I booted it asked if I wanted to boot up Vista or earlier version of Windows(XP on the other drive).

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    not posting kempez's Avatar
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    Well you could use a partition utility to make a partition on your current drive.

    What I did was start by installing XP and creating 3 partitions:

    1 for XP ~30gb
    1 for Vista ~30gb
    1 storage (the rest)

    Then I installed XP, then Vista

    When you boot Vista gives you a boot manager before it loads asking if you want to boot Vista or an older OS (XP). Leave it alone and Vista boots, switch it for XP
    Check my project <<| Black3D |>>
    Quote Originally Posted by hexah
    Games are developed by teams of talented people and sometimes electronic arts

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    Senior Member kasavien's Avatar
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    awesome, thanks for the info and help. I'm always a bit paranoid messing with hardware since it's always gone wrong in the past for me, but it sounds like a fairly simple process so i'll give it a go when i get some spare time and money.

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    ive got my Vista business instaled on a small 40gb sata seperate from the my other OS's, when you install it just ask's where you want it installled and thats it..... just gives you a new boot menu.

    but if you install XP after it on a seperate drive (like i did) you'll find out that you wont be able to access Vista anymore without a quick goggle for the dos command to reinstate the boot manager again over boot loader

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    Senior Member kasavien's Avatar
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    Cool, well i'll be leaving windows xp installed as is since it's set up how i like it and there was a bit of fiddling to get it that way. One other question am i correct in assuming that if i installed vista on one drive it would be able to see the files on the other and xp would be able to see the files on the vista hard drive?

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    not posting kempez's Avatar
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    It did when I had RC2 + XP installed. Still waiting on my Retail Ultimate to come through tho
    Check my project <<| Black3D |>>
    Quote Originally Posted by hexah
    Games are developed by teams of talented people and sometimes electronic arts

  9. #9
    780 nanometres redlight's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kasavien View Post
    One other question am i correct in assuming that if i installed vista on one drive it would be able to see the files on the other and xp would be able to see the files on the vista hard drive?
    Yes you can transfer back and forward. If you are like me I downloaded everything I needed(drivers,patches antivirus etc.) for Vista with XP into one folder then set up Vista and copied the folder across to install them all. Saves going on the nasty net with a new build until you are sure all the security is in place and working properly.
    Last edited by redlight; 04-02-2007 at 07:06 PM. Reason: add

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    not posting kempez's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by redlight View Post
    Yes you can transfer back and forward. If you are like me I downloaded everything I needed(drivers,patches antivirus etc.) for Vista with XP into one folder then set up Vista and copied the folder across to install them all. Saves going on the nasty net with a new build until you are sure all the security is in place and working properly.
    That's what I did...and I have a folder for everything there ready as I re-install all the time anyway
    Check my project <<| Black3D |>>
    Quote Originally Posted by hexah
    Games are developed by teams of talented people and sometimes electronic arts

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    word of warning, just dont install XP after Vista, Vista uses a new boot config database which can read entries on the old method and integrate exisitng XP installs into its database, however if u install XP after Vista, XP destrys the database by writing its own method in the drive header

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    Senior Member charleski's Avatar
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    If you need to install XP after Vista you can re-install the Vista boot loader fairly easily. I'd recommend VistaBootPro, which is free and also allows you to manage the Vista boot configuration.

  13. #13
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    • d3fiant's system
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    Quote Originally Posted by charleski View Post
    If you need to install XP after Vista you can re-install the Vista boot loader fairly easily. I'd recommend VistaBootPro, which is free and also allows you to manage the Vista boot configuration.
    nice find fella, will take a look

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