MRG
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- Mar 24, 2007
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Greetings all,
A friend asked me if it was possible to have his PC Dual Boot both WinXP and Woindows Vista. He wanted to keep a stable version of WinXP on for everyday usage, but also Windows Vista so that he could fiddle with it and teach himself how to use it. I told him it was indeed possible & explained how to do it. Then my brother in law gets this months issue of PC Gamer and what did it have between it's covers? Why nothing less than setting up your PC to Dual Boot. It covers the steps you need to take to have your PC Dual Boot WinXP and Vista. Yes, yes, i'm sure most of you techies here have already done this, so like with most of my posts, this info is not for you.
Dual Boot WinXP & Vista
Step-By-Step - (Keep current installation of WinXP)
http://apcmag.com/5023/dual_booting_xp_with_vista
Step-By-Step - (Clean install of WinXP & Vista.)
1)Boot your PC from your WinXP Installation CD. To find out how to bood from the CD, refer to your PC's motherboard manual. You'll need to set the boot option to boot from whicher drive the CD is in. This is done in the Bios on startup.
2)Follow the onscreen prompts and select the hard drive you wish to partition for WinXP and WinVista & Press "C" to continue. Depending on the level of Tech know-how, you can at this time also delete the partition(s) which will delete your current version of Windows. I advise doing this if you want to install a new copy of WinXP & WinVista.
3)Select a size for the WinXP partition. Depending on the size of your HDD, I would advise that each partition be approx 1/2 of the total HDD size available. Unless you plan to only use the Vista partition as a means of self-training, you might want to then make the partition a ratio of 70/30. The larger size going to the OS that you plan to use on a regular basis. Regardless the use, I advise each partition have a minimum of 20GB. Keep in mind that 1,000MB = 1GB.
4)Select the partition you want WinXP to be installed on & press enter. The next screen that comes up will ask you to pick the file system format. Select "NTFS" & the "Quick Format" option if you wish to skip the drive check. The "Drive Check" version take much longer, but it does a full HDD scan. Allow the partition to format. This may or may not take alot of time. All depends on the hardware in your PC, namely your HDD speed. A 10k Raptor drive will install WinXP SP2 in under 8 mins.
5)After formatting is finished, and after a few prompts as WinXP installs, you'll end up at your desktop. You can at this time choose to fully update your PC's drivers and continue on your merry way, or you can skip that step for later and proceed with installing WinVista.
6)To install WinVista, insert the WinVista DVD into your DVD drive. After a few seconds, autorun should run and the WinVista install screen should appear. Choose the "Install Now" option & choose the "Custom" option so that you can do a clean & new installation of WinVista.
7)A screen will appear asking you where you want WinVista to be installed. On the screen you will see the partitions that you created earlier. You'll be able to easily tell which partition has WinXP already installed on it. Simply choose the "Empty" partition and continue. If you have a RAID, you'll want to click on the "Load Driver" option to setup your RAID.
8)WinVista will then walk you through the install process. Depending on the speed of your PC's hardware, this should take anywhere from 10 to 30+ minutes.
9)After WinVista fully installs & your PC reboots, you'll be able to customize WinVista any way you like. Now feel free to update drivers & install software as needed.
10)The next time your PC loads up, you'll be greeted to the Dual Boot screen. You will have 30 seconds at this time to choose which version of Windows you want to load. Either WinXP, which is listed as "Earlier Versions Of Windows" or "Microsoft Windows Vista." Do nothing and after the 30 seconds runs out, the version that is highlighted will be the version that boots.
Disclaimer:
The above steps are a basic guideline Visually copied from this months issue of PC Gamer, with a few embellishments on my part. To read the full article, get this months edition of PC Gamer & read it for yourself.
I hoope this helps.
Enjoy!
-MRG
A friend asked me if it was possible to have his PC Dual Boot both WinXP and Woindows Vista. He wanted to keep a stable version of WinXP on for everyday usage, but also Windows Vista so that he could fiddle with it and teach himself how to use it. I told him it was indeed possible & explained how to do it. Then my brother in law gets this months issue of PC Gamer and what did it have between it's covers? Why nothing less than setting up your PC to Dual Boot. It covers the steps you need to take to have your PC Dual Boot WinXP and Vista. Yes, yes, i'm sure most of you techies here have already done this, so like with most of my posts, this info is not for you.
Dual Boot WinXP & Vista
Step-By-Step - (Keep current installation of WinXP)
http://apcmag.com/5023/dual_booting_xp_with_vista
Step-By-Step - (Clean install of WinXP & Vista.)
1)Boot your PC from your WinXP Installation CD. To find out how to bood from the CD, refer to your PC's motherboard manual. You'll need to set the boot option to boot from whicher drive the CD is in. This is done in the Bios on startup.
2)Follow the onscreen prompts and select the hard drive you wish to partition for WinXP and WinVista & Press "C" to continue. Depending on the level of Tech know-how, you can at this time also delete the partition(s) which will delete your current version of Windows. I advise doing this if you want to install a new copy of WinXP & WinVista.
3)Select a size for the WinXP partition. Depending on the size of your HDD, I would advise that each partition be approx 1/2 of the total HDD size available. Unless you plan to only use the Vista partition as a means of self-training, you might want to then make the partition a ratio of 70/30. The larger size going to the OS that you plan to use on a regular basis. Regardless the use, I advise each partition have a minimum of 20GB. Keep in mind that 1,000MB = 1GB.
4)Select the partition you want WinXP to be installed on & press enter. The next screen that comes up will ask you to pick the file system format. Select "NTFS" & the "Quick Format" option if you wish to skip the drive check. The "Drive Check" version take much longer, but it does a full HDD scan. Allow the partition to format. This may or may not take alot of time. All depends on the hardware in your PC, namely your HDD speed. A 10k Raptor drive will install WinXP SP2 in under 8 mins.
5)After formatting is finished, and after a few prompts as WinXP installs, you'll end up at your desktop. You can at this time choose to fully update your PC's drivers and continue on your merry way, or you can skip that step for later and proceed with installing WinVista.
6)To install WinVista, insert the WinVista DVD into your DVD drive. After a few seconds, autorun should run and the WinVista install screen should appear. Choose the "Install Now" option & choose the "Custom" option so that you can do a clean & new installation of WinVista.
7)A screen will appear asking you where you want WinVista to be installed. On the screen you will see the partitions that you created earlier. You'll be able to easily tell which partition has WinXP already installed on it. Simply choose the "Empty" partition and continue. If you have a RAID, you'll want to click on the "Load Driver" option to setup your RAID.
8)WinVista will then walk you through the install process. Depending on the speed of your PC's hardware, this should take anywhere from 10 to 30+ minutes.
9)After WinVista fully installs & your PC reboots, you'll be able to customize WinVista any way you like. Now feel free to update drivers & install software as needed.
10)The next time your PC loads up, you'll be greeted to the Dual Boot screen. You will have 30 seconds at this time to choose which version of Windows you want to load. Either WinXP, which is listed as "Earlier Versions Of Windows" or "Microsoft Windows Vista." Do nothing and after the 30 seconds runs out, the version that is highlighted will be the version that boots.
Disclaimer:
The above steps are a basic guideline Visually copied from this months issue of PC Gamer, with a few embellishments on my part. To read the full article, get this months edition of PC Gamer & read it for yourself.
I hoope this helps.
Enjoy!
-MRG
