Windows 7: Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP

hi 220 volt im wondering if you had to check the 'mark partition as active' from the drop down menu of your newly created partition box before installing xp , im scared to check it cause of the message i get that says "your computer may stop working". i think im having the same problem as frank mango, xp won't install same bsod message warning me of computer damage,
Thanks to anyone for advice and great help

thousand thanx, it worked like a cham

You don't have to mark partition as active. I didn't. It gave me same warning message so I backed out. I would check your install CD. Maybe borrow friends or get another copy of XP just to test.

I can't get to step 4 Method 2. I get a screen that says I have no connected hard drives. I went into BIOS and changed hard drive from DOS to Other but got the same error message. I have an original XP disk. Any ideas?

Hello Halobiont, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Could you tell us more about your system specs, and post a screenshot of Disk Management showing your drive layout? This may help to understand what may be causing the issue.

hi everybody.im freshner here.i have this problem that is there any way to change the order of os's,imean in windows boot manager, automatically winxp will be selected.

Hi rt,

The easiest way is type msconfig in start search box.

Click it when it pops up. Click the Boot Tab.

Click on the o/s you want for Default - to highlight it.

Click Set as Default. Apply. Ok

Exit without retart.

Default Operating System - Change Default Boot OS

Next time you start up - that will be the new default.

Thanks buddy. is there any importance to have NTFS partitions for having 7 and xp together?

great tut. i used this and a few others to dual boot and i have no issues.

a question though, i'm dual booting xp pro x86 and win 7 x64, my mobo has 2 drivers for x64 but wouldn't installing those create issues for my xp x86?

Having used method one of your excellent tutorial to create a new partition in which I have successfully installed (he says hopefully!) Windows 7, I would now like to deal with the partition containing the original XP installation. Because I would like to retain a second partition in which to keep documents, can I simply format the XP partition to get rid of everything in it or would that create problems. Please forgive what is probably a very basic question but, although I've used computers for many years (too many maybe!), this is the first time I've dealt with partitions.