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

 

[hux]

Would it be better if I just install Windows XP using VMware player and use it with Ubuntu which is already installed? This is much faster and I have had good experience with using VMWare player so far.

It depends what you want to do with that XP installation. If you want to browse the web, work with text documents, and generally do fairly low power stuff then it'll work fine running in a VM. 3D games? Not so much.

 

[theog]

Hi - short-time reader, first-time poster. I ran into a problem during method 2 of this great guide that I was able to fix, but it isn't mentioned in the guide so I thought I'd post it here and then hopefully someone can add it.

The problem relates to the, "Error loading operating system", message that may appear after the first restart during the XP installation. I followed the advice in the guide to fix this but nothing worked. Eventually I figured it out myself: my motherboard (Gigabyte EP45-UD3P) has the following BIOS setting:

- SATA RAID/AHCI Mode

I had this set to "AHCI". After changing it to "IDE", XP was able to install just fine. After that, I was able to fix the Win7 bootloader per the advice in the guide and all was well.

However, changing this setting in this way means that you obviously lose the benefits of AHCI in Win7 (including TRIM support if you have an SSD, for example). Also, if later on you change this setting back to "AHCI", your XP installation will fail to boot, so be aware of that. If, however, you don't have an SSD and don't really care about AHCI then this fix will work fine for you.

Gomer: It looks like Dell doesn't provide a WinXP SATA driver for that particular computer. Typically, this means you're simply out of luck and you won't be able to install XP. However, it might be possible to find another driver that will work. I'm not sure how you'd go about finding one though.

My HD is listed as ATA, not SATA

Just FYI, your drive (Samsung HD103SJ) is a SATA drive. Listing it as "ATA" is somewhat confusing but not wrong - all SATA drives are ATA drives. "SATA" means "Serial ATA".

Did you not read the Warning in Methed two before Step one.

 

[Dominic Warden]

Hi everyone

I hope someone can help. Ive got Windows 7 on my C Drive and want to install XP on my formatted S drive. I have a copy of Windows XP, however when i try to install XP the S drive is not shown on the list. Also do i need SATA drivers installed on this HDD to be able to run XP?

I'm only 13 and im only just beginning to learn about computers so im sorry if these are dumb questions!

 

[Brink]

Hello Dominic, and welcome to Seven Forums.

What type of HDD is your S: drive, and how do you have it formatted?

If it's external and not connected via eSATA, then you will not be able to install to it.


The SATA drivers will have to be slipstreamed with the XP installation disc to be able to install XP on a SATA HDD. The links in the red warning box under METHOD TWO in the tutorial can help show you more details on how to do this.

Hope this helps for now,
Shawn

 

[Dominic Warden]

thanks for the reply

My S: drive is an internal drive and is formatted to NTFS (Default).
where would i find the SATA drivers? i have looked on the Packard Bell website but no drivers. could you send me the link please.

thanks

 

[gregrocker]

They are a component of the chipset, so load the chipset in to see if it separates out SATA to choose from, or just load or slipstream the entire chipset.

 

[Dominic Warden]

Hi

I cant find any chipset drivers, do you know where to get them?

thanks

 

[Brink]

thanks for the reply

My S: drive is an internal drive and is formatted to NTFS (Default).
where would i find the SATA drivers? i have looked on the Packard Bell website but no drivers. could you send me the link please.

thanks

Dominic,

I do not see a XP SATA driver available for your computer model either. If this is the right model at Packarb Bell below, your model shows as not supporting XP or Vista drivers.

http://www.packardbell.co.uk/pb/en/GB/content/download




Depending on what you need to use XP for, you could create a virtual machine of XP using something like the free Windows Virtual PC instead.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/8254-windows-virtual-pc-create-virtual-machine.html

 

[Dominic Warden]

oh, that is the model i have, so is there any other way of dual booting with XP?

thanks

 

[Brink]

Would the virtual machine option posted above work as an alternative?

 

[Dominic Warden]

yes it would. so if i cant dual boot with XP how about Vista?

thanks

 

[Brink]

Dominic,

Sure, you would be able to easily dual boot with Vista instead since you do not need load SATA drivers during installation. The tutorial below will help show you how to.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/5166-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-vista.html

 

[Dominic Warden]

thanks for the tutorial but my S: drive is still not showing when it says 'where do you want to install windows?'
what could i do now?

thanks

 

[Brink]

Dominic,

Could you post a screenshot of Disk Management (diskmgmt) showing all of your HDD's layout to see what may be wrong?

 

[Gomer]

Are you asking me Theog

Did you not read the Warning in Methed two before Step one.

I did read the warning and that's where the confusion started for me.
I was able to go to this website


I downloaded at your link thank you <<http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?ProductID=816&DwnldID=20019&lang=eng&iid=dc_rss>> and have put it in a CD

Again, in nLite, I have Service Pack 2 on a separate disk from WinXP. Would it be better to go to MS and put SP3 on with it or is SP2 good enough for now until it is installed?

Sorry this is taking so long, but life is interposing itself lately. Thanks again for your help.

Gregrocker:
Will try out this method first and if it doesn't work will try to install the 2nd HD Thanks for your input.

And Hux, thanks for yours as well. I think that the Intel site has the files unless I'm mistaken, and perhaps that is where Dominic should go as well. Of course he needs to know what brand of chipset he has.

 

[theog]

Hi Gomer
Win XP SP2 is good enough for now until it is installed.
You can download Intel drivers from here:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProductID=2991&DwnldID=17883&strOSs=44&OSFullName=Windows%20XP%20Professional*&lang=eng

 

[Dominic Warden]

Here is a screenshot of disk management

 

[z3r010]

Dominic, please see the following thread on how to attach a screen shot - http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-screenshots-files-upload-post-seven-forums.html

 

[Brink]

Dominic,

Since you have converted the partitions on that disk to dynamic, that is why the S: drive is not seen as an available option to install Windows to. They need to be a basic disk instead.

To fix this, you will most likely need to backup anything that you do not want to lose, and do a factory restore to reinstall Windows 7 since this is your system disk.


Restart the computer.

Keep tapping "F11" as the computer is loading.

Highlight "Recover PC" and press "Enter."

Press "Y" to confirm the restoration, at which time your computer will be automatically restored.

 

[Dominic Warden]

is that the only way? because i really dont want to factory reset my computer