Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP

How to Setup a Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP​

   Information

This will show you how to install Windows 7 and XP to dual boot with when you already have either Windows 7 or XP installed first.

   Note

With a dual boot installaton, you will have two operating systems (OS) installed. When you start the computer, you will have the choice to choose which OS you would like to start up to. This method is the easiest way of doing a dual boot with these two operating systems.

   Tip

When dual booting with another OS (ex: Vista or XP), you may not always have that OS partition show up in Computer with a driver letter in Windows 7. If this happens, then you will just need to add a drive letter to the OS (ex: Vista or XP) partition in Windows 7 Disk Management for it to show up in Computer with a driver letter.

   Warning

To stop XP from deleting your Windows 7 System Restore Points everytime XP is started, then see System Restore Points - Stop XP Dual Boot Delete to hide Windows 7 from XP.

Windows 7 Minimum Hardware Requirements


NOTE: For more information on this, see: Windows 7 system requirements

• 1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor
• 1 GB RAM for 32-bit Windows 7 OR 2 GB RAM for 64-bit Windows 7
• 16 GB available disk space 32-bit Windows 7 OR 20 GB for 64-bit Windows 7
• Support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128 MB memory (in order to enable Aero theme)
• DVD-R/W Drive
• Internet or phone access to activate Windows 7.

Windows XP Minimum Hardware Requirements

NOTE: For more information on this, see: System requirements for Windows XP operating systems

• PC with 300 megahertz (MHz) or higher processor clock speed recommended; 233-MHz minimum required;* Intel Pentium/Celeron family, AMD K6/Athlon/Duron family, or compatible processor recommended
• 128 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher recommended (64 MB minimum supported; may limit performance and some features)
• 1.5 gigabyte (GB) of available hard disk space.*
• Super VGA (800 × 600) or higher resolution video adapter and monitor
• CD-ROM or DVD drive
• Keyboard and Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

EXAMPLE: Windows Boot Manager
NOTE: This is the boot screen where you select what operating system that you would like to start. By default, you have 30 seconds to choose another operating system before the default operating system will start automatically.

OPTION ONE

When XP is Installed First

NOTE: If you have a RAID setup, you will need to have the Windows 7 RAID drivers on a USB flash drive available to select and load while installing Windows 7.
1. Do step 2 or 3 below for where you wanted to install Windows 7 at.

2. To Create a New Partition from the XP Hard Disk Drive
A) With your Windows 7 installation disc boot into the Command Prompt from the System Recovery Options screen.
NOTE: Make sure that the CD/DVD drive is selected first in the boot order in the BIOS.

B) In the command prompt, select and shrink the XP volume by how many MB (1024 MB = 1 GB) you want to have for this Windows 7 partition. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: You would do steps 2 to 9 in METHOD TWO at that link. Windows 7 will need a minimum of 16 GB (16384 MB).

C) Click on the X at the top right corner to close the command prompt. (See screenshot above)

D) Click on the X at the top right corner to close System Recovery Options. (See screenshot below)

E) Go to step 4.
3. To Use a Separate Hard Disk Drive than the XP Drive
A) Boot from your Windows 7 installation disc.
NOTE: Make sure that the CD/DVD drive is selected first in the boot order in the BIOS.
4. Click on the Install now button. (See screenshot below)

5. When you get to this point, select the partition (step 2) or hard drive to install Windows 7 on. (See screenshot below)

6. Finish installing Windows 7.
NOTE: You would start at step 9 in that link to finish installing Windows 7.

7. When finished, restart the computer to have the option to boot from XP (Earlier Verision of Windows) or Windows 7. (See screenshot below)

   Note

If you are only booting into Windows 7 and do not have XP listed in the Windows Boot Manager, then you can install only EasyBCD (step 8 Option Two below) to add XP (or Windows 7) while started in Windows 7 the same way to the boot list.

OPTION TWO

When Windows 7 is Installed First

   Warning

• If you have a RAID setup, you will need to have the XP RAID drivers for your specific motherboard on a Floppy disc available to select and load at the F6 prompt while installing XP.
• If you have a SATA drive, then you will need to do either one of these options to load the SATA drivers for XP for your specific motherboard.
  • How to Slipstream SATA drivers into Windows XP setup CD with Dual Boot of Windows 7 or Vista
  • How to Load SATA Drivers in Windows XP Setup on your Dual Boot PC with Vista or Windows 7 for how to load your SATA drivers from a Floppy disc at the F6 prompt while installing XP.

1. To Create a New Partition from the Windows 7 Hard Disk Drive
NOTE: If you want to install XP on a separate internal hard drive instead, then skip this step and go to step 2.
A) In Windows 7, select and shrink the Windows 7 volume in Disk Management by how many MB (1024 MB = 1 GB) you want to have for this XP partition. (See screenshots below)
NOTE: You would do all of Method One at that link.





2. Insert your XP installation disc, then restart the computer and press any key to boot from it when prompted. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: Make sure that the CD/DVD drive is selected first in the boot order in the BIOS.

3. From XP Setup, Press Enter. (See screenshot below)

   Warning

• If you have a RAID setup, you will need to have the XP RAID drivers for your specific motherboard on a Floppy disc available to select and load at the F6 prompt while installing XP.
• If you have a SATA drive, then you will need to do either one of these options to load the SATA drivers for XP for your specific motherboard.
  • How to Slipstream SATA drivers into Windows XP setup CD with Dual Boot of Windows 7 or Vista
  • How to Load SATA Drivers in Windows XP Setup on your Dual Boot PC with Vista or Windows 7 for how to load your SATA drivers from a Floppy disc at the F6 prompt while installing XP.

4. Press F8. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: On some multimedia keyboards, you may need to press the F-Lock or Function key before pressing F8.

5. Select the partition (step 1) or hard drive that you want to install XP on using the arrow keys and press Enter.

6. Finish installing XP.

   Tip

If you get Error loading Operating System after XP restarts:

• Using your Windows 7 installation disc, boot to the command prompt at startup.
• Type in these comands below, and press enter after each one.
  • bootrec /FixMbr
  • bootrec /FixBoot
  • bootrec /RebuildBcd
• Exit the command prompt and restart the computer.
• At this point, Windows 7 should boot up the same way before trying to install XP.
• Continue to step 8 below and run EasyBCD from Windows 7 instead.

7. In XP, download and install .Net Framework 2.0 (32-bit) version or .Net Framework 2.0 (64-bit) version first, and EasyBCD (free version) for your 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x86) XP.
NOTE: In XP, Net Framework is required to be installed to run EasyBCD. After you click on Register (at bottom of link) for the free EasyBCD, registration is not required to download it.

8. Run EasyBCD (free version).
NOTE: This is required to repair the Windows 7 boot file and add XP to the Windows Boot Manager list.

9. On the left side of EasyBCD, click on the Add New Entry button. (See screenshot below)
A) In the top section under Operating Systems, click on the Windows tab. (See screenshot below)
B) To the right of Type, select Windows NT/2k/XP/2k3 from the drop down menu. (See screenshot below)
:warn:WARNING: Be sure to leave the Automatically detect correct drive box checked.

C) To the right of Name, you can leave the default Microsoft Windows XP as the name to be displayed in the Windows Boot Manager, or you can type whatever name you would like to have instead. (See screenshot below)
D) Click on the Add Entry button. (See screenshot below)

10. On the left side of EasyBCD, click on the BCD Deployment button, select (dot) the Install the Windows Vista/7 bootloader to the MBR option, and click on the Write MBR button. (See screenshot below)

11. Close EasyBCD.

12. Restart the computer to have the option to boot from Microsoft Windows XP or Windows 7. (See screenshot below)

   Tip

If Windows 7 will not start up when selected, then use your Windows 7 installation DVD to do a Startup Repair.

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Setup a Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and Vista
• How to Setup a Dual Boot Installation with Windows Vista and XP
• How to Do a Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Dual Boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu
• How to Correctly Setup a Dual Boot with Windows 7 and LinuxMint13
• How to Change Time to Display Operating Systems at Boot in Windows 7
• How to Change the Listed OS Arrangement Order in Windows Boot Manager Screen
• How to Change the Default Operating System to Start in Windows 7
• How to Delete an Operating System Listed in Windows Boot Manager
• How to Change the OS Name in Windows Boot Manager
• How to Do a Clean Installation with Windows 7
• How to Install Windows 7 FAST without a DVD or USB Device
• Install Windows 7 Without Using Any External Device
• How to Setup Windows 7 to Boot from a VHD (Virtual Hard Disk)
• How to Create a Windows 7 VHD at Boot to Start with from Boot
• How to Do a Custom Installation of Windows 7
• How to Load SATA Drivers in Windows XP Setup on your Dual Boot PC with Vista or Windows 7
• How to Slipstream SATA drivers into Windows XP setup CD with Dual Boot of Windows 7 or Vista
• How to Load SATA Driver Using Shift+F10 to Open Command Prompt
• How to Recover a Partition Used by an Older OS in a Dual Boot
• How to Properly Delete a OS in a Dual Boot
• How to Stop System Restore Points from being Deleted in Vista and Windows 7 when Dual Booting with XP

 

[Brink]

Brink

My first attemt at this.
I found a different web page to start the process.
I didn't know this was even here.
Everything was fine until I reached your Method 2- Step 7.
The other site forgot to include this so Easy BCD won't open.
After a few choice words and the mandatory Google search I thankfully found your article.
Read it from end to end found the errors of my way Method2- Step 7 and it WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!

We now have dual bootage.
Thanks a million
Mike

You're most welcome Mike, and welcome to Seven Forums.

 

[RazorWire81]

Boot loader not working properly

Hey all.

I used this guide to create a dual boot system on a clients laptop. I have Windows 7 Professional and Windows XP Professional. I repartitioned the drive in windows 7 and installed Windows XP on the second partition (drive D: ) from a bootable cd. I then used the Windows 7 boot cd to repair the windows 7 master boot record as shown in the guide. My boot.ini menu was messed up (showing 2 windows 7 boot options and a windows xp option) so I edited the boot.ini on the C: drive (windows 7 partition) to read as follows:
[boot loader]
timeout=60
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows 7" /fastdetect

I used BCD (the gui program) and made sure that the windows 7 entry was the only entry shown in BCD. I then rebooted my computer. I saw the windows 7 entry, on the boot menu and booted to it. I then ran bcd again and followed your steps to add the windows xp parition to the boot configuration. I believe this is erroneous because in bcd 1.7.2 you are only allowed to point to the C: drive for the Windows XP install. My windows xp files are installed on the D: drive. Also there is a new version of BCD out, 2.0.2. Anyway, my question is when I attempt to boot to my windows xp partition in the boot menu, i get an error message saying thus: "Windows Could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem. Could not read from the selected boot disk. check boot path and disk hardware. Please check the windows documentation about hardware disk configuration and your hardware reference manuals for additional information."
Do I need to add a second line to the boot.ini file? How do I fix this problem?

 

[Hopalong X]

RazorWire81

I used the BCD 1.7.2 from the XP OS not the Win7.
I used the Method 2 of Brinks step-by-step. Just make sure you do step 7 with the .net to open the BCD file.

I set up the partions per Brinks Method 2 then installed the XP on E on my drive. Downloaded all the service packs. You especially need SP1.
Downloaded the BCD on XP and it didn't work. Then I found M-2 Step 7. My bad.
Did step 7. BCD opened and followed the directions.
Rebooted and it went to XP with no BCD window the first time.

Rebooted a second time and the BCD screen appeared.

I guess it decided once to install a second to show.

Any way BCD 1.7.2 worked from the XP OS using Method 2 once I found step 7.

Hope that helps. All I know on the subject.

It worked for me and it is still working.
Mike

 

[antares]

Brink, I thoroughly read your tutorial and find it very useful, I'm tempted to try it on my system. But before doing so I have two concerns:
1) Is this process risk free? I mean, can I mess up my original XP installation and not be able to recover it later?
2) If everything goes OK, how can I revert back to the original state, i.e., single XP partition?
Thanks.
Finally, what is the main purpose of having a dual boot system? Testing the new OS? Have the choice of driver compatibility?

 

[Brink]

Hello Antares,

Q1) Well, nothing is risk free. A mistake can be made, or some unknown issue may affect the outcome. To be safe, it's always recommended to backup anything that you do not want to lose.

Q2) If XP was installed first, then you could just delete the Windows 7 installation and remove the Windows 7 entry in the EasyBCD "Add/Remove Entries" section.

Q3) The main purpose is to be able to use either installed OS when you like from the same computer for whatever reason that fits your needs.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Vratar]

Finally, what is the main purpose of having a dual boot system? Testing the new OS? Have the choice of driver compatibility?

If I may expand on Brink's answer to your last question... Probably the biggest reason to have access to two totally different OSes, like Windows and Linux. There are things you can do with Linux you can't do with Windows, and vice-versa.

A close second would be to try something new. A lot of people like to dual-boot when a beta of a new OS comes out so they can test it without screwing their working system.

Maybe the third most common is when you upgrade to a new OS, then realize that a program you use all the time isn't compatible. For me, when I went to Win7, I found out that an older game that I was playing on XP didn't work very well. I wanted to keep Win7, so I came here to find out how to dual boot so I could finish it up on XP.

In my opinion, if you don't have some sort of pressing need to have multiple OSes AND if you aren't really comfortable messing with your system, I would leave it as-is. As Brink said, this kind of thing is NOT risk-free, and it can sometimes be a total pain in the rear to get it working right.

 

[Hopalong X]

Finally, what is the main purpose of having a dual boot system? Testing the new OS? Have the choice of driver compatibility?

....Maybe the third most common is when you upgrade to a new OS, then realize that a program you use all the time isn't compatible. For me, when I went to Win7, I found out that an older game that I was playing on XP didn't work very well. I wanted to keep Win7, so I came here to find out how to dual boot so I could finish it up on XP.....

Ditto on the older games.
Virtual XP on the Win7 doesn't have enough resolution and only 24 color option.

I just installed the Win7 on a new system twelve days ago so doing the dual boot option now made sense.
The worst that could happen was a Win7 reinstall and the ASUS drivers and utilities.
I hadn't transfered all my personal stuff yet.

I figured now or never.

Down the road I might not have tried it but would have possibly installed a seperate HD for the XP.

This saved the cost of a seperate HD just for the XP and it was a great learning experience and I found this web site which I have resolved three more issuses from the forum info since Tuesday and it is only Thursday.

Mike

 

[Scipion]

Dual boot again

To morrow should be the great day.

I'll try to install win7 ultimate on a second HHD.
My config is as follows:
HDD1: partitions C,D,E,F. WinXP on C
HDD2: partitions:G,H,I. G being a primary partition. All volumes in this disk are empty.

I have a question: Where do I install EasyBCD, if necessairy: WinXP or Win7?

 

[Brink]

Hello Scipion, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Since you have XP installed first and would be using METHOD ONE, you would not need to use EasyBCD in Windows 7 to fix XP unless the NOTE under step 6 applies to you.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Tom Woodford]

Blue Screen

Using Method Two all was well till the XP CD tried to load Windows and then I got a blue screen of death, I do have a SATA drive but never got to the part about "Slipstream SATA drivers into windows". Any ideas, this is new laptop that I need to run a couple of programs that Windows seven won't let me run. Hoping to get XP on here so I can run those two older programs.

Thanks
Tom

 

[antares]

Hi, I have some questions, I will be using method 1 as I have Windows XP installed already. I will be using Acronis Disk Director (a partition manager) to create the new partition where 7 will be installed, in the same disk where XP is already installed, so I will skip steps 1 A through E and use Acronis instead..is this ok? If so, it should be an unallocated partition? Or a primary, active....what type?
After installing 7 (Steps 3 though 5), and if I want to revert back to a single partition with XP (delete 7), how should I delete 7? By going to XP, running Disk Manager and deleting the 7 partition?
Finally, installing EasyBCD in Win7 makes things more user friendly? I mean, deleting 7, etc.
Thanks.

 

[Brink]

Hello Antares,

Answers inline.

I will be using Acronis Disk Director (a partition manager) to create the new partition where 7 will be installed, in the same disk where XP is already installed, so I will skip steps 1 A through E and use Acronis instead..is this ok? If so, it should be an unallocated partition? Or a primary, active....what type?

Yes, that would be fine to do. You can leave the partition as unallocated or primary. It doesn't matter since Windows 7 will recognize and format it during installation anyway.

After installing 7 (Steps 3 though 5), and if I want to revert back to a single partition with XP (delete 7), how should I delete 7? By going to XP, running Disk Manager and deleting the 7 partition?

Finally, installing EasyBCD in Win7 makes things more user friendly? I mean, deleting 7, etc.

Yes, from within XP, you could just delete the Windows 7 partition, then install EasyBCD in XP to remove the Windows 7 boot entry.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[antares]

Thanks Shawn. If after installing 7 using Method 1 as mentioned before I want to keep 7 and delete XP instead, then:
- I delete the XP partition within 7
- Install EasyBCD in 7 to remove the Windows XP boot entry
Is this ok?
What if in any of the cases (keeping XP/deleting 7 or keeping 7/deleting XP) the other OS partition is not visible within the OS one wants to keep? Is it a possibility? If so, how to workaround this? Thanks.

 

[Brink]

Antares,

This would be a more detailed issue and would be better in it's own thread if you should decide to do this, but here is the real basics on how.

Since you had XP installed first, the boot partition will be the XP partition. If you delete it from within Windows 7, then you will also need to do a startup repair (possibly up to 3 times) to repair and make Windows 7 the boot partition so Windows 7 will be able to boot.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/104341-bootmgr-missing-fix.html

 

[Hopalong X]

Brink

I used your Dual boot Method 2. One question.

The XP OS is on the E partition. Should it be "Active"?
Didn't see this mentioned anywhere. Might have missed it.
As you can see I made the C- Win7 active but unsure if they are supposed to be active.

Thanks
Mike

 

[Brink]

Hello Mike,

Since Windows 7 was installed first, you would want to leave it's partition as active and not XP. Making the XP partition active in this case can make your system unbootable since the Windows 7 partition is your boot partition.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Hopalong X]

That is it.

Thanks Shawn

Mike

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Mike.

 

[antares]

Thanks Shawn. If I install OS1 and then install OS2 for dual boot, will OS1 perform better since it will be physically allocated to the beginning of the drive? If so, and since I will be using Windows 7 most of the time, only using XP when I have to use hardware/software not compatible with 7, I'd want to start installing Windows 7 in an empty hard disk and then use Method 2 to install XP. Now, since I have XP already in use with many programs installed and configured, can I somehow clone my current XP installation to the partition created with Win7 and have a dual boot system? If so, I would save a lot of time in not having to reinstall XP+Programs+Drivers+custom configurations. Thanks.

 

[Brink]

Antares,

It's not going to make any noticeable difference in performance on which OS is installed at the beginning of the drive.

To make it easier, you could just install Windows 7 on a 2nd hard drive to dual boot with your existing XP installation. This way all you would have to worry about is installing Windows 7 and all of the drivers and programs for it.