Windows 7: Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP

Thanks for that. I felt uncomfortable with explorer showing the win 7 drive. Tried to avoid opening it by mistake. Now I know it can delete my restore points I will blind xp to 7 using the registry. Following the tutorial on this.

You're most welcome.

HAH! As explained? I mention I am going to slip my XP with SP3 just for kicks (since my laptop is a 5 year-OLD compaq I didn't think this was the cause), THEN you mention I should do just that, after I posted about it!

Had you "mentioned" this as a possible cause to my issues from the beginning, you might have saved me 4 days of hair pulling! Ah well, at least its fixed now, what a grind it was though.

I am not even convinced that is what is "fixed" it, rather than installing on the C partition as I did both at the same time.

Greg did post that in reply to your first post here linked below.

Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP



...and repeated it here:

Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP

Hey I'm trying to install XP on my Toshiba Satellite P850 12X (short model no. PSPKBE) but I can't find the correct driver for my HD. The HD is a Toshiba MQ01ABD100. I've looked on the Toshiba website here :

Laptop Driver Downloads:

...but can't find the right one. Can anyone please help me?

Thanks.

The SATA controller driver is an element of the chipset provided here: Driver Details - Toshiba

You'll have to run the .exe to extract the drivers noting the location, then browse into there with Nlite to try to pick up the SATA controller driver. Theog is an expert on doing this.

Have you tried virtualizing XP in Windows 7 using Virtual Player, VIrtual Box or VMWare first?

Virtual Box sounds good. The reason I need XP is cos I use alot of audio applications which don't run at all or won't run properly in Windows 7. If I'm using alot of RAM & CPU-heavy programs would Virtual Box be the best option or would that just be extra drainage on the laptop? It does sound like a much better option than the dual boot, to be honest.

What programs are so old they won't run in any Compatibility Mode?

It's kinda complex but : Guitar Rig 3 won't work & importing presets from GR3 into 4 doesn't work properly. Fruity Loops 6 doesn't work properly but Fruity Loops 10 does but a bunch of softsynths won't work in 10 so I have to use FL6 (I've tried 7,8 & 9 aswell). I'm doing an album which I started in FL6 so it's easier I guess to finish it off using Virtual Box & then upgrade my software. Thanks for your help.

I was installing XP on a new Dell Latitude 6530 laptop and no matter what I did it wouldn't install. I would get a BSOD on install every time. I thought initially it might have been a driver issue, but then realized that I had somehow blanked one important detail: The SATA controller was set to AHCI in the BIOS and that is why XP wasn't able to install.

If you're trying to install XP on newer equipment, please be advised that there is a setting in the BIOS for the SATA controller that can prevent you from installing. If the SATA controller is set to AHCI it won't work. If it's set to ATA it will.

BIOS > SATA > change "AHCI" to "ATA"

I hope this helps some folks.