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

 

[theog]

Try with only 3 partition.


Screenshot here greg
http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/84633-cant-install-xp-after-7-a.html#post1767199

 

[gregrocker]

Saw that. The XP installer should create Primary NTFS and mark Active but I suppose you could make sure by using free Partition Wizard bootable CD to be sure you get the optimal partitioning for install.

Note if install fails again you'll have to move Active flag back to 100mb System Reserved partition to boot 7.

 

[dean42mvg]

I suppose you could make sure by using free Partition Wizard bootable CD to be sure you get the optimal partitioning for install.

got it. any special settings whe i partition ?

i'll just have partitions then

 

[gregrocker]

PW will see to it you can have your maximum four Primary partitions which Disk Mgmt will not do - it will offer Logical Extended for the fourth.

So I'd try creating the fourth XP install partition as Primary NTFS then Modify>Set to Active using PW boot CD so you can set it back if it doesn't work after trying install.

This works sometimes for Win7 installation failures.

 

[dean42mvg]

must i have 4 partitions ? i was just gonna pare down to 3

System
Windows 7
Windows XP

 

[gregrocker]

That's fine.

 

[Jerry11]

I followed the guide for partitioning and created a new space of 50gb. When i check properties it only shows 99.9mb? Before I found this out I tried to load Windows XP home Ed. and instead of asking where to install it just started the install after which it instructed me to shut down the computer to avoid damage to the system. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong ? I'm not very comuter savy. any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[theog]

I followed the guide for partitioning and created a new space of 50gb. When i check properties it only shows 99.9mb? Before I found this out I tried to load Windows XP home Ed. and instead of asking where to install it just started the install after which it instructed me to shut down the computer to avoid damage to the system. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong ? I'm not very comuter savy. any help would be greatly appreciated

1) First check for all the Win XP drivers for your hardware on the manufacturer's web site.
2) Can you post a screen shot of Disk management?
3) For better help with problems, Can you post your specs.

 

[dean42mvg]

So I'd try creating the XP install partition as Primary NTFS then Modify>Set to Active using PW boot CD so you can set it back if it doesn't work after trying install.

ok, i'm ready to create my XP partition [which will be partition #3]

should i create the partition from within Windows 7, or us PW boot CD ?

thx again

 

[gregrocker]

First try booting the XP CD to see if you can create a partition there and full Format NTFS. Report back exactly what happens including verbatim error messages.

 

[dean42mvg]

will do now, thx

the XP installation from the XP disc went 100% normally [i've installed XP many times before]

partitioned the unallocated space that you saw above
full NTFS format via XP disc
it automatically loaded the install files
restarted by itself, and stays stuck here [same as before]

 

[gregrocker]

As suggested earlier try setting HD first device to boot in BIOS setup, then use one-time BIOS Boot Menu key to trigger CD drive to start install.

This will eliminate the prompt shown above it is hanging upon.

 

[fsrica]

What is the 1gb Removable Device J? If it's not bootable I would remove the Active flag so it cannot interfere, and mark XP partition Active as it should already be, make sure Win7 partition remains marked Active.
Partition - Mark as Active
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/197157-partition-mark-inactive.html

Just to confirm that this seems to be the cause of my issue, I reinstalled and formatted partition which held XP and installed XP again, without connecting any of external storage devices (HDD or USB stick) and then installed W7 clean and it works. It seems that my USB stick with an microSD card (partition J was plugged in the first time I installed W7 and I believe it is the cause of 0xc000009 error...

Cheers!

 

[gregrocker]

Glad it's fine now. Another example of the importance of unplugging all other drives during install.

 

[fsrica]

arghhhh! Now I have a new problem, after one day of normal work, windows 7 stoped booting, again, but this time after choosing Windows 7 from the "boot manager", I see W7 loading bar and then after a sec, I get "Windows is loading files" in the bottom of the screen and get to the Startup repair, after Startup repair does its part, I get "Click finish to solve..." and after restarting the process repeats it self on and on and on...

I get

Root cause found:
------------------------------
Registry is corrupt:
Repair action: Registry roll back
Result: Completed successfully. Error code =0x0
Time taken =1103 ms

I have to do an Image restore but that also restores my XP partition which is a pain in the...

Another question: is it possible to hide the XP partition form W7 just how it's possible do so vice versa (as shown here: System Restore Points - Stop XP Dual Boot Delete - Vista Forums)

Cheers!

 

[Admiral Merlot]

0x00000078 when try to boot into XP

Hello. This is my first time here. I have a new computer running Win 7 Pro 64 bit and followed your tutorial to dual boot into XP 32 bit. I used the slipstream technique to put the SATA drivers on my disk and loaded XP. Midway through it wanted to reboot. Had to manueally recover using the Win 7 disk and the 3 bootrec fix. All okay so far. Was even able to see Win XP files in the new partition so was fairly confident that the SATA drivers worked.

Used EasyBCD to get the dual boot choice at startup. When I choose XP it goes through the splash screen and then gives me the BSOD and the 0x00000078 error. If I choose Win 7 it boots up fine into Win 7.

I would think that I made a mistake in the drivers that I slipstreamed onto the Win XP disk but since it wrote quite a few files correctly I'm doubting that's the problem. I got the SATA driver files directly from ASUS. Read something about possibly having to fiddle with the BIOS but don't remember exactly where. Also was not sure of the level of expertise involved in those offerings. So, can any of you help me please? Thanks.

 

[gregrocker]

Why did you recover to Win7 after XP install routinely rebooted during install? This is not explained.

 

[boscru]

Question on Dual Boot. i followed the tutorial and everything works fine. But I do have questions. I originally had only XP on one drive and a second I used for backing up files. I copied all the programs I had on the second drive and installed 7 on it. I then used 7 to shrink the drive and created a second partition on it. I made it the "F" drive so my optical drive would be "E" on both XP & 7 and put my files that were on my spare drive on it. I understand that the C & D drive change depending on which OS I boot to. The XP drive is labeled XP, the W7 partition is labeled W7 and the F partition is labeled Spare. When I boot to 7 I can see the XP and spare. I can access all folders and files on those drives. When I boot to XP I can access the Spare including the files and folders but the 7 drive shows as Local Disk and shows as empty. Is there any way I can fix this so I have access to it from XP?

 

[gregrocker]

Does Win7 partition have a letter in XP Disk Mgmt? If not, give it one so you can see it's files. Drive Letter - Add, Change, or Remove in Windows 7 - Windows 7 Forums

 

[boscru]

When in XP in Windows Explorer it shows as Local Disk (D) in Disk Mgmt it shows as "D".