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

 

[gregrocker]

Does the drive not show up in drive selection window when you boot XP installer? Or are you getting that far?

If the correct drivers for your SATA controller and bit-rate are loading but malfunctioning, then try slipstreaming into the XP installer: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/72185-sata-drivers-slipstream-into-windows-xp-cd.html?ltr=S

I would also remove the XP partition to let the installer create it as there is a slightly different partition table.

 

[olel]

Hey, I'm having an issue that I can't seem to find on the internet. Been struggling with this one for hours, and EasyBCD doesn't fix it. It's the boot manager, it doesn't show up when I start my machine. I installed Windows 7 first, then installed XP. It all went fine, when the XP installation finished, I installed the drivers needed etc. But now I have no idea how to make my boot display the boot manager!

First of all, when I started EasyBCD for the first time, I got an error saying it couldn't find a specific file, and it asked me to continue or not, and I just continued. I figgured that it was because my XP installation had no BCD config file, and therefore I just made EasyBCD make one, does this affect my dual booting in any way? Anyways, after that I proceeded to add the New Entry via EasyBCD, and after that I to the Bootloader Setup and added Windows 7 to the MBR and rebooted, just like it said in the instructions. When my machine is booting, it chooses XP automatically every time, and I can't choose Windows 7 either.

Do you know what's wrong here? I'd really appreciate some help here, it's really beeing frustrating me today.

 

[Brink]

Hello Olel, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Boot from your retail Windows 7 installation DVD, and see if doing a Startup Repair may be able to help with this.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[olel]

Thanks alot for the quick reply! I'll do that right away and I'll let you know if that works

Cheers.

 

[Brink]

You're welcome. Sometimes it may take up to 3 times for it to work though.

 

[olel]

3 times, like booting and telling it to fix it 3 times? I just tried now and I started the 'repair your computer' thing, and it scanned for a minute then told me that there was an issue with my startup. I just told it to fix it and reboot, but nothing happened. Should I try again?

Also, here's my boot.ini file if that helps:


; This boot.ini was automatically generated by NeoSmart Technologies' BootGrabber.exe
; Use EasyBCD from Download EasyBCD 2.0.2 - NeoSmart Technologies to manage your bootloader

[boot loader]
timeout=15
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP on D:\" /fastdetect

No matter what I do in EasyBCD boot.ini's content won't change

 

[Brink]

Correct, sometimes it may take running a startup repair a few (3) times before it fully fixes the startup issue.

 

[olel]

Alright, I'll give it last shot before it's nap time. Really want to get this nightmare over with, lol. Black Ops is going to be in my mail tomorrow, and Windows XP works a lot better on gaming (for me). Thanks so much for helping man, appreciate it!

Btw, did you have a look at my boot.ini file? Cause I could have sworn there's supposed to be listed another line under [operating systems].

 

[vnikosv]

If nothing works just use this

Boot from your retail Windows 7 installation DVD , run command prompt and type these commands

• bootrec /FixMbr
• bootrec /FixBoot
• bootrec /RebuildBcd

I thinks it will fix your problem .

 

[olel]

Thanks vnikosv, I was about to do that but Brink solved this for me I just ran the Startup Repair function twice and it worked. I'm so happy right now, thank you very much!

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Olel. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted.

A startup repair may also run the commands that Vnikosv posted above as well if it think it's needed.

 

[Smoke]

Just got done doing this setup, works great.

 

[pungvit]

Error on EasyBCD

I've done step by step as what is in METHOD TWO,
but i have problem in step 10, like this my problem.

 

[gregrocker]

You may need to start Win7 to add XP as EasyBCD works better. To start Win7 you need to mark its partition active and then run Startup Repair from the DVD up to 3 separate times:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/71432-partition-mark-active.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105541-startup-repair-run-3-separate-times.html

 

[hedgehoghappy]

Hi Happy here,

I am wondering if it is possible to do this on an inspiron 15 laptop?
i try but everything i do the pc stops me as
'there is a problem and to save windows form damage risk we need to shut you down'
or something...

if anyone can show how that would also be grand ^_^

 

[gregrocker]

Hi Happy -

Are you trying to install Win7 or XP?

Have you shrunk the existing OS partition to make space for a dual boot install?

Are you booting the new OS installer to try install?

 

[hedgehoghappy]

Im trying to install xp, i have shrunk the partition and im not entirley sure what you mean by the last part, but i think i know why it hasn't been working,
I have a SATA and didnt do the thing for it...

 

[Brink]

Hello Happy, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Yep, you will need to do the thing to load the SATA drivers before XP will be able to be installed.

If you have a SATA drive, then you will need to do either one of these options to load the SATA drivers for XP.

• 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.

 

[hedgehoghappy]

I got to the bit where you copy the drivers, two things,

where do i find the driver i need, and do i keep the xp disk in when i burn?

 

[Brink]

Hello Hedgehoghappy, and welcome to Seven Forums.

You should be able to get the SATA drivers for XP at the Dell driver download link below. You will just need to select your computer's type and model there.

Dell - Drivers and Downloads

Hope this helps,
Shawn