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

 

[Kin]

Is the XP disk dirty or scratched? Give it a good cleaning.

Try another XP SP3 installer for your licensed version.

See if any other bootable CD will boot correctly.

Try writing XP ISO to flash stick using Win2Flash - USB video

Hey Greg,

Thanks for the response & sorry for my late reply.

I've confirmed that the CD I'm using is working fine by trying it on another PC running XP and the blue XP setup screen comes up fine. Like I said previously, Windows 7 is somehow bypassing the XP setup because it sees itself as a newer O/S. Since this is already a 108-page thread am I the only person facing this problem?

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[gregrocker]

If you're booting the CD correctly then WIn7 has no bearing on it whatsoever. It boots before Win7 even comes into the picture. How to Boot your Computer from a Bootable CD or DVD

 

[coelcion13]

Great Guide

Thanks for the guide, the dual boot is succesful but I noticed some of my drivers are missing, Is there a way that I could export my windows 7 drivers to xp? I also noticed that new xp can't install my windows 7 drivers.

 

[Brink]

Hello Coelcion, and welcome to Seven Forums.

You're welcome, and thank you.

Sorry, but Windows 7 drivers will not work in XP. You'll need to download separate XP drivers instead for the missing ones. You can usually get them from the device/computer manufacturer's support/download website.

 

[D3V0N]

I had both my windows 7 and Windows XP installed and running on seperate harddrives. then i used easyBCD and that works great. i would definitely recommend it for dualboot setups

 

[RayGee]

Hi,

I am trying to install Xp after Windows 7, I have created the new partition per above and all looks the same as the picture however when starting the XP Install process it does not give this partition as an option only the main partition (i.e Win7 OS) shows up. Any ideas, thanks.

 

[Brink]

Hello RayGee, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Could you go ahead and post a screenshot of your Disk Management window showing all of your HDD's layout to see if it may reveal what may be wrong?

 

[RayGee]

Screen Shot of Disk Management

Hi, Screen shot attached as requested, thank you.

 

[Brink]

RayGee,

You might see if deleting the E partition until it's unallocated space, then recreating a new partition with the unallocated space again may help if it was just some odd quirk.

 

[jwitkowski]

Hi guys,

Needed the tutorial because my harddrive is failing, so I installed 7 on my new drive. I'm now booting Windows 7 on the new drive, but if I detach the old drive I get the boot missing error. I think it has something to do with the old drive still being the system as seen here in DISKPART. Thoughts?

E is the new drive boot partition, volume 2 is the old (and inaccessible from this boot) drive, and E is the new drive's main partition. Notice the boot partition is labeled boot but the old drive is labeled system.

 

[gregrocker]

Always unplug all other HD's when installing a new OS, even for Dual Boot. Otherwise the installer will only update the boot files on the old OS to create a Dual Boot.

Please post back a screenshot of you maximized Disk Mgmt drive map and listings showing all columns. Use the Snipping Tool in Start Menu, attach to Reply using paper clip in Reply box. Tell us what's on each partition, which you wish to keep. We will give you the steps to move the boot files onto the new OS.

 

[jwitkowski]

I guess this was a special case. I used the first harddrive to install windows on the second using diskpart because I didn't feel like using a USB/DVD. Didn't realize the trouble it would cause. I don't want anything on the old drive besides the boot files.

Ignore Disk 2 F:/G: I just plugged this in to get some files off of it and confuse you.
Disk 0 is the only drive I want permanently E: and the boot C: and Disk 1 is the one with the boot files.

Thanks!

 

[gregrocker]

C is booting off of the System Active partition on Disk1, and is also way small for an OS partition. I would shrink E and resize C to the left using Partition Wizard boot CD: Partition Wizard Move/Resize Partition Video Help.

Better yet I would resize it all the way to the left by deleting E to take advantage of faster read/writes on the lower addresses (left side) of the HD. PW will allow you to resize all the way to the left and then adjust the right border to where you want to place the new data partition.

To transfer the System boot files to C so that it boots itself and also writes the System Recovery Options
to F8 Advanced Boot Option, unplug Disk1 and Disk3, boot into BIOS setup to set Disk0 first HD to boot, then boot the Win7 installer or System Repair Disk to run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times
until Win7 starts on its own and C holds System flag.

You can then plug back in Disk 1, move it's data off to wipe with Diskpart Clean Command so it cannot interfere. Then plug back in Disk3 and mark F Inactive: Partition - Mark as Inactive - Windows 7 Forums

 

[jwitkowski]

I can't boot the installer without Disk 1 because that's where the installer is. I used this tutorial to install windows HD to HD since I don't have a DVD drive or USB. It looks like I'm going to have to acquire one or the other in order to make my new boot drive the active system. Appreciate your help!

 

[gregrocker]

You should have a bootable installer for rescue repair purposes anyway.

It will not replace System Recovery Options on the F8 Advanced Boot Options menu but you can install EasyBCD to move the System boot files: Bootmgr - Move to C:\ with EasyBCD - Windows 7 Forums

EasyBCD (free Download at bottom of page - no name or email required)

However without the F8 Repair options you'll especially need the bootable install media or Repair CD.

Flash sticks are $5 with free shipping on buy.com.

 

[nashra555]

No boot options

Hi,

I am new to here and I have a problem. please help me.

I bought a new Desktop PC (i-3, with 500GB HD) with Win 7 Ultimate X86 installed in it. The HD partitions I could see from Win 7 are: C with 97 GB (win 7), D (DVD drive), E with 97 GB, F with 146 GB, and G with 117 GB.

Then I installed XP (32 bit) but XP shows the partition like this; C with 100 MB !, D with 146 GB, E with 117 GB, F with 97 GB (Win 7), G with 97 GB (Win XP) and H for DVD.

XP shows one partition of 100 MB more !.

After installing XP, I didn't get boot options so, I again reninstalled XP on same partition. This time I got boot option but win 7 doesn't load.

Then I repaired Win 7 with its DVD. Now Win 7 is Working well but no boot option available. I run EasyBCD from win 7 to fix this problem but it doesn't work.

I added a new entry as win XP OS in the list with EasyBCD as you explained. Then I opened "Advanced System Options - Start up and recovery-Setting". Fine, it is there my XP listed and allowed time 30 seconds but when I restart the system it doesn't ask option for operating system. I noticed that after re-starting the system, there is no Win XP in the OS listing under Advanced System Options - Start up and recovery-Setting".

So, help me to get boot option as well as Win XP in my PC.

Thanks,
Rahman

 

[gregrocker]

Install XP to its partition so that it boots and runs correctly.

Then repair Win7 by marking it's 100mb System Reserved partition Active to run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times.

Now install EasyBCD to Win7 to add XP on the Add OS Entry tab, accept offered boot files, let it autocomplete, reboot to OS menu.

 

[primevyl]

Is there a version of windows 7 that is easier/better to add as dual boot to XP?

 

[Brink]

Hello Primevyl, and welcome to Seven Forums.

It's the same procedure no matter what version or edition of Windows 7 you use.

 

[primevyl]

Thanks Brink!