Windows 7 Dual Boot

[Sybex]

Is it possible to dual boot Windows 7 with Windows XP?
The reason being, when the full version of Windows 7 64bit got released I decided to install it on a brand new PC as per my signature but now I have found a couple of pieces of software that are just not compatible including some games which I still like. I have tried to run the software in Windows XP compatible mode without any luck.
I do know the general rule is that you can dual boot but you install the oldest OS first, I don’t really want to install my Windows 7 as I have it set up the way I like which took ages with all its up dates and other bits of software.

[system7]

Just fit the two hard drives. At boot press F8, and most bioses then offer a boot menu. :smart:

[snakedoc]

If you have a second drive in BIOS you may be able to specify which drive it will boot from. Set the blank drive as the boot disk and install XP to it. You will then be able to Dual boot, via BIOS. You could even use Boot Manager Pro afterwards to setup a dual boot screen to save going into BIOS.

[Sybex]

Thanks guys, these answers have given me something to think about, ouch my head, LOL

[DTX]

I'm using a 64 bit Windows 7 and a Windows XP dual boot setup, for the same reason as you actually.

I had Windows 7 installed first, and then installed XP onto a seperate partition. I then used EasyBCD to modify the bootloader so you got the choice between 7 and XP at startup.

Tutorial: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/8057-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-xp.html
(see method two)

[Sybex]

I'm using a 64 bit Windows 7 and a Windows XP dual boot setup, for the same reason as you actually.

I had Windows 7 installed first, and then installed XP onto a seperate partition. I then used EasyBCD to modify the bootloader so you got the choice between 7 and XP at startup.

Tutorial: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/8057-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-xp.html
(see method two)

Thanx for your help, I shall be looking that up later

[snakedoc]

I'm using a 64 bit Windows 7 and a Windows XP dual boot setup, for the same reason as you actually.

I had Windows 7 installed first, and then installed XP onto a seperate partition. I then used EasyBCD to modify the bootloader so you got the choice between 7 and XP at startup.

Tutorial: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/8057-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-xp.html
(see method two)

That is what Boot Manager Pro does, like I already posted.

[Null-Entity]

Should be more than do-able as I dual boot XP and XP,(one for gaming one for other). I installed on two seperate drives and wrote my own boot INI line to give a boot option with timer upon powering the machine.

http://vlaurie.com/computers2/Articles/bootini.htm

[dave8691]

The above will work fine with XP and earlier operating systems, but boot.ini has been replaced by bootmgr in Windows Vista and Windows 7. Bootmgr maintains a boot file called BCD (Boot Configuration Data) in a folder named Boot on the hard drive volume that the operating system boots from. This cannot be edited using a simple text editor. Instead the command line editor bcdedit.exe must be used, or a simpler to use program like EasyBCD (http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/OS-Enhancements/EasyBCD.shtml)

If Windows XP has been loaded first, then there is no need to use an editor, as Windows 7 loaded on to a separate partition or separate hard drive will automatically create a dual boot menu.

[paule]

I'm using PLoP bootmanager which makes no changes to the boot records when run from CD at startup.
See http://forum.novatech.co.uk/showthread.php?t=16064
Works a treat.

[mattk]

meh! ........

[dave8691]

Thanks for the feedback on PLOP boot manager paule.

I must admit that whilst researching XP/7 dual boot I looked at the relative merits of a number of options including your suggestion and those of Steve and Snakedoc amongst others to see which best suited my needs.

As I have some expensive audio and video editing programs that will not run in Windows 7 (also Vista) in any mode, I decided that I would be needing XP for some time yet or else face a large upgrading bill.

My current set up has 3 partitions C,D,E, with XP, 7 and a large common partition where work and documents can be stored from both operating systems. I also have access to all partitions on both operating systems to make the most of my storage.

I guess we have to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of each method.

[paule]

meh! ........

????????


Thanks for the feedback on PLOP boot manager paule.

I must admit that whilst researching XP/7 dual boot I looked at the relative merits of a number of options including your suggestion and those of Steve and Snakedoc amongst others to see which best suited my needs.

As I have some expensive audio and video editing programs that will not run in Windows 7 (also Vista) in any mode, I decided that I would be needing XP for some time yet or else face a large upgrading bill.

My current set up has 3 partitions C,D,E, with XP, 7 and a large common partition where work and documents can be stored from both operating systems. I also have access to all partitions on both operating systems to make the most of my storage.

I guess we have to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of each method.

Keeping the CD in my optical drive is not a problem as I've got 2 DVD roms and it's only temporary 'till I get rid of XP. Having said that I might be installing Linux as well:D. But as you said - go with what works for you.

[Mike]

Dual booting is pretty easy:

Boot from your Windows XP CD.
Create a partition using the 'C' option in the partition menu
Make the partition the size that the windows xp drive is going to be.
Highlight the newly created partition and press ENTER to install windows XP
When finished, remove the XP CD
Insert the Windows 7 DVD
Ignoring any messages that pop up, shutdown and restart the PC
Boot from the Windows 7 DVD (ie. don't let it boot into Windows XP)
When it asks where you want to install windows point it at the remaining unpartitioned space
Proceed to install Windows 7.
Windows 7 will realise Windows XP is already on the system and will put a boot menu in so you can select either version of windows on boot.

An example:
Say you had a 500GB, use the 'C' option when install Windows XP to create a partition of 200GB. Highlight the newly created 200GB and tell it to install windows there.

[mattk]

mike you misread the question like i did, so i retracted my POST.

he didnt want to have to reinstall win 7

[system7]

My preference is still to connect a single drive when installing an OS to it. The first drive is still the default boot, and you can boot a second through the bios menu, which is F11 on my current G41 board. It's really not hard to unplug a SATA connection. ;)

All this boot manager stuff gets terribly complicated when you disconnect old drives and use partitions, as I found when using Linux. Because my two drives are both 160GB, I have to be terribly careful where I install stuff to avoid wiping data. :D

[Mike]

mike you misread the question like i did, so i retracted my POST.

he didnt want to have to reinstall win 7
Well, more like I fast read it and made an erroneous assumption :p

However...

Trying to get a pre-exsting installation of 7 working with a new installation of XP is messy. Mainly this is because XP will over-write the WIndows 7 bootloader. So you then have to re-insert the Windows 7 boot loader and hope that it will pick up both the windows 7 and windows xp installations. If it doesn't and leaves one or more out then you have to edit the bootloader with BCDEDIT and know what you're doing.

Over-all I' say it's probably better to do as others have said and install XP to a seperate hard drive (remembering to disconnect all other drives first - including the windows 7 one) and then reconnect the drives and use the BIOS boot drive selector menu (if your BIOS has one) to select the boot drive. Typically the menu is accessed either using ESC or F12 at boot time but it can vary.

Otherwise it's backup your data and install as I said in my previous post.

Mike

[Papillion]

seperate HDD recommeded MIke? is that the salesman in you suggesting this?!! you don't need a new hard drive just install on a new partition and use something like EASY BCD to sort out. I managed to install tri-boot fine with no problems on one HDD.

[{SAS}TB]

If you have a "spare" partition fine, arsing on withan existing one is a tad more of a PITA

I currently have W7 64Pro on one drive and 3 other OSs on a partitioned drive (XP, Vista and another 7) :P

[copter]

Hi,

If you want flexibility I can highly recommend using the grub boot loader and take the problem away from windows.

You can also use it to hide Windows 7 from XP and vise-versa. That way you can install in any order.

Also if you setup grub first then dump the first sector (mbr) of the drive out to a usb stick you can then write it back after windows has installed.

It's also good to back this up anyway as you can easily restore the mbr if anything goes wrong.

Regards

Copter

[mrgoose]

+1 for Grub. Gives you the flexibility to install other OS's as well if you wish...


About:-
http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/
Tutorial:-
http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/how-to-dual-boot-windows-7/ (http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/how-to-dual-boot-windows-7/)

Alternatively, if all you want to do is run some legacy apps then you could try VirtualBox? VirtualBox runs on Windows, Linux, Macintosh and OpenSolaris hosts and allows you to run a large number of guest operating systems (http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Guest_OSes) including Windows (98, Me, NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista, Windows 7), DOS/Windows 3.x, GNU/Linux (2.4 and 2.6), Solaris, OpenSolaris and OpenBSD - all without a reboot!

Screengrab of several versions of Windows running simultaneously on one of my GNU/Linux boxes (click image to enlarge):-

http://www.garfnet.org.uk/coppermine/albums/archive/project/screengrab/normal_20090115-win7-all-vms.png (http://www.garfnet.org.uk/coppermine/albums/archive/project/screengrab/20090115-win7-all-vms.png)


FWIW, This is how I tested Windows 7 Beta from within Kubuntu Linux:-
http://www.garfnet.org.uk/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=143&Itemid=324 (http://www.garfnet.org.uk/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=143&Itemid=324)
Free download:-
http://www.virtualbox.org

HTH. G.