Have new MB,CPU,PSU,DDR3, WIN 7, ready 2 install but keep XP as well?

Trapper · 04 Dec 2011

OHPS. Got the wrong forum, can you transfer to the installation and set up forum please?

HI.

I have purchased new:
WIN 7 Pro Full Retail edition
Asus P8P67 PRO (REV 3.1) MB
Intel i5-2500K 3.3 Ghz CPU
Corsair 8GB DDR3 Memory
Corsair CMPSU 800W PSU
Arctic cooling freezer 13
+ ancillary bits and bobs.

The above to replace my aging A8N-SLI system running XP SP3.

I have two Hard Drives:
Hard Drive 1 500gb partitioned with XP on partition 1 and data on partition 2.
Hard Drive 2 300gb I have also partitioned as partition 1 WIN 7 OS, partition 2 WIN 7 DATA, partition 3 General Data (Part used), and partition 4 as a Backup partition (Part used).

WIN 7 OS and WIN 7 DATA empty!

When I replace the hardware components I still wish to keep XP running until I am happy with the WIN 7 installation
I would like to install WIN 7 on the WIN 7 OS partition (Bit obvious that!) but leave XP on its partition.

I think I will have to reinstall XP and all other programs or is this not the case, as on some posts I have read that sometimes the OS will function after a new MB install?

Is it practical to install one OS on each HD or best to install on one HD with two partitions, say XP on partition 1 and WIN 7 on partition 2?

I have read the excellent articles on dual booting but would like to clarify the above questions.

Regards

Trapper

Cubicsilver · 05 Dec 2011

This could work. Your old motherboard is using the nvidia ata drivers in ide mode (most likely) and if you were to attempt to boot your xp install as is, windows would crash with a stop error. If you wanted to keep the same xp install, the easiest thing to try would be enabling msahci and pciide before you swap the hardware over.

Open regedit and navigate to these keys

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci\Start
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Pciide\Start

Set the start values to 0

Check in your bios on your new motherboard to see what mode your sata drives are running in. AHCI or IDE (Ideally you would be running AHCI)
Try booting your xp drive with AHCI. If all goes well then it will sort itself out and install all the correct drivers for the new setup. If not switch your drives from AHCI to IDE in the bios and try again. Then all you have to do is reactivate.

Next set your 300gb drive as the boot drive in your bios and install windows 7 on it. During the install it should detect the other windows drive and add it to the boot menu. If not it's easy to add afterwards with "EasyBCD".

Trapper · 06 Dec 2011

Thank you for your helpful reply, I have printed this out and will add to my file of upgrade information!

Not sure what 'msahci' and 'pciide' are but will look them up.

Will changing to 0 have any effect if done prior to swapping MB, or should I do this at the last shutdown before the actual swap?

theog · 06 Dec 2011

With your nice new build, IMO, I personally would take a look at XP mode.
Windows XP Mode - Install and Setup

Trapper · 06 Dec 2011

Hi Theog.

I have printed off the tutorial suggested, all the hardware goodies arrived today, still sealed at the moment but am getting nearer.

I purchased Windows 7 Professional as it states that you can:

'Run many Windows XP productivity applications in Windows XP Mode'.

I would have thought that this implies it is included in/with the installation options and once installed would allow me to open older programs within the Win 7 environment, I also toyed with the idea of forgetting my XP installation and running all on, or from, the new Win 7 partition. Is this not the case? Do I really need to download the 'Win XP Mode' as on the tutorial as well?

I was intending to install Win 7 64bit.

Corazon · 06 Dec 2011

Yes, XP mode is a download from Microsoft, but it's completely free (including the XP OS itself).

Once Windows is installed, just get XP mode here: Windows Virtual PC: Home Page

gregrocker · 06 Dec 2011

If you want to start your XP HD on new hardware, it likely will require an XP Repair Install.

Then unplug XP drive to install Win7 on its separate HD.

If you cannot resolve running XP in AHCI mode, then you'll likely have to install Win7 in IDE mode but can change it later to AHCI when XP departs. Change IDE to AHCI in BIOS - Much better performance - Windows 7 Forums
Enable AHCI in Windows XP After Installation - Bootbeta

When you plug back in XP HD after WIn7 install, boot it using Asus F8 one-time BIOS Boot Menu key to choose it to boot instead of WIN7, which will boot on its own.