Dual-boot Win XP + Win 7, picking the right partition

Hello,
I used "Partition Wizard" to create a third partition "F" by splitting D; so now I have C: (primary), D: (logical drive) and F: (logical drive).

My plan is to install Windows7 on F: and keep WindowsXp on C: to be able to dual-boot.

Do I need to convert F: from logical drive to primary partition (ending with 2 primary + 1 logical) before installing Win7 on it? There's an option to simply convert to "primary" in the partition wizard program.

Also, I read about a possible conflict between IDE and AHCI modes when dual-booting. Care to explain what to look for?

Please help me to avoid mistakes. :)

PS. I'd rather avoid messing with C: if possible as it's the smallest and fullest partition and also the place where Windows XP is installed.

Can you post a screen shot of Disk management?

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Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image

Normally Win7 when installed second to XP will establish a Dual Boot placing its boot files on the XP partition, so it can be installed to a Logical partition.

But one should always boot the installer so you'll have access to the Drive Options pictured in Steps 7/8 of Clean Install Windows 7 and can delete the intended Win7 partition to create it again letting the installer decide how to format it.

If Win7 boots with no Dual Boot menu then simply install EasyBCD (click Download - no Name or Email required) to Win7 to add XP to a Dual Boot menu.

Best to let us see Disk Mgmt first.

Thank you very much for the response.

I attached the screenshot.

I wonder if it will let me select F: (i.e. if it will be offered in the "Where do you want to install Windows" screen).

It should allow you to install to F but again I would use the booted Win7 installer's Drive Options to delete F to create and format a New partition there because the XP partition table is slightly different.

Let us know how this goes.

Thanks. So I should click drive options, click on F: and then or delete?

Maybe for the first time I won't complicate and simply try to install it on F: as it is? If it fails I can simply delete Win 7 and try again without compromising my current Windows XP system, yes?

Also, what about AHCI and IDE? I have a HDD and I believe it's IDE with Windows XP.
Don't know if it will affect performance for gaming if Windows 7 64 bit is also IDE?

PS. Do I need to format F: before doing this? I've never installed anything on it. It's empty.

Yes, click on F to highlight it, Delete the F partition, create it New again and Format it using the Win7 installer Drive Options. Make sure the highlighted space never changes from that third partition space.

This is the window during Clean Install Windows 7 where you'll do this:



Click on the Drive Options to use them:



Stay away from the other partitions and you'll be fine.

Don't change the SATA controller setting from what it is or XP won't start.

So I do all these 3 actions within this installation menu, in this order: delete, new, format?
When I delete F and press "new" after that it will make a new F? And then when I format it, I click next?

Also, could it cause problems if I simply install it on F: straight away?

Sorry for asking about details, but I've never done it so I don't want to accidentally format and delete something I shouldn't..

You should always have your data backed up at all times since the hard drive could die at any time, and especially during an install or repair.

If you want you can try using the same F partition you made for the install, but I would at least Format it with Win7 formatting first.

To do this you would click on F to highlight it, select Drive Options to choose Format, then click Next. Make sure only F remains highlighted during each of these steps.

Hello, thank you for the help. I installed win 7. I have not yet entered win xp (but it shows in the boot options as previous version of windows) because I'm installing drivers on win 7.

One more quick question. :)

I installed those Intel drivers for the motherboard (on a dvd) and the only thing that failed to installed is "Intel graphics media accelerator"? Do I need that at all since I have a 560 GTX Nvidia GPU? Or should I go to Intel's page and try to install something similar?
Don't know what to install, there are 41 drivers available for Win 7 64bit:
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Sea...80&ProdId=3280