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

 

[vivekvr]

i have a problem

i am using windows 7 since three months ago, however my wireless device does not support windows seven and the manufratructres don't care about upgrading it's drivers so i needed either vista or xp to run the device. i decided to duel boot win 7 with xp for i might need to sometimes use that device. i checked on the web for various methods nd i installed XP on a seperate new drive.
after the installation was complete i restarted the system and i had two option to boot with the same name. how ever i choosed frist one and xp booted.
i installed basic drivers and softwares and everything was fine and i was redy to boot to win 7
but wen in the next re start i choosed second option it says some files missing so can't boot.
then i inserted win 7 dvd and re paired it
now when i start my system i won't get any option for booting xp or win 7 but i directly boot into win 7.
Please help me how can i get that option to choose boot between xp and win 7.
thank you.

 

[SIW2]

Hi vivekr,

Install EasyBCD 2.0 Beta on 7.

Click Add/Remove entries - select Windows 2K/NT/XP/2K3 in the drop down ( drive letter is auto determined).

Click Add entry - let Easy autoconfigure.

 

[Grez]

Hello, new member here...apologies if anything here is a repeat...

So, I was attempting to set up the dual win7/xp environment using method 2. I got Win7 installed without issue, did a shrink on the volume, leaving me about 50Gb or so for XP, then began follwing steps per the tutorial to install XP.

Here's where things go sideways: Step 6 says "finish the XP install." The problem here is that in order for my XP install to finish, it has to reboot the machine. The machine reboots, but of course now there's no way for it to boot into XP after the restart! On top of that, once I successfully installed XP and it went to reboot, I now get a "disk read error occurred" on that drive.

The drive is still totally functional, as I was able to boot from the XP disc again and re-run the installation after reformatting the second partition that I'd set up for XP. But again, I run into the same problem. Since I can't get back into XP, I can't follow the remaining steps to set up the dual boot. And, of course, now I can't seem to boot into Win7 anymore, either.

FWIW, this is being installed on a brand new Samsung SSD (256Gb). Any chance that's affecting anything? I can't think of how that would make a difference, but I suppose it could.

One thing I'm considering now is to just make the SSD my Win7 disc, and use a second 1Tb HDD that was going to be for pure storage as the bootable XP device. That way, I know that once I install XP, I can get back to it by changing the drive priority in BIOS so that I can finish the steps for doing the dual boot.

Any advice on how to solve the first part of this or opinions on my potential "plan B" are appreciated. Thanks!

 

[redmel59]

Absolutely brilliant guide, worked first time with no hitches at all.
Many many thanks.....

edit...meant to say, i had installed win7 first on 5 laptops so was really worried about the process...didn't need to be ... TOP MAN ;0)

 

[Grez]

Well, the drama continues. I gave up on completing the procedure on a partitioned drive, and decided to just install XP on the 2nd drive intended for storage, a 1TB WD Black drive. XP installs without any error, but upon reboot, the drive causes the machine to continuously reboot. I tried the XP recovery console, did a fixmbr and fixboot...and now, instead of resetting, I just get the infamous "disk read error press ctrl alt del to reboot" message.

BTW...board is a new one (so no ancient BIOS)...Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P. There was one newer BIOS revision (nothing major in it), so I went ahead and flashed the BIOS as well. No change. What's interesting is that I get the same disk read error on the SSD after doing the XP install as well...weird, since it shouldn't have touched it. But, if I use the OS repair from the Win7 install disk on the SSD, all is well with the world again and it boots right up.

Any further ideas? (Or even any initial ones, since I haven't gotten any love here yet ;-P )? Thanks...

 

[SIW2]

Do you have a 100mb system partition on the 7 drive?

Try giving it a letter before you attempt the XP install on the other HD.

Alternatively - make sure the 1TB drive is first in bios HD boot order before installing XP . If that goes well, then put the SSD first in HD order, and add XP to the 7 boot menu.

 

[Grez]

Ok, so significant progress has been made:

My boot issues with the 1Tb HDD came down to what I believe is my new fancy-schmancy mobo's inability to boot to a single partition that large. I made a 50Gb partition on the drive, installed XP, put it first in the boot order and POOF! It fired right up, alongside an interesting mixture of celebrating and swearing.

I then partitioned the rest of the drive as a storage area that can be used by both OSs.

I cleaned up my Win7 install on the SSD, and now I can boot into either OS by switching the drive order in BIOS.

However, I'd like to do real dual boot via the bootloader, and I'm running into a problem there.

For description, I have the SSD as the boot device in BIOS currently. In my Win7 config, I have the SSD as C, and then the WinXP system partition on the 1Tb HDD as D. The storage partition on that drive is defined as H for clarity.

Now, I've installed EasyBCD in Win7. I've added a second entry for WinXP. However, it does not let me choose another drive in the drop-down box when I add this entry. It forces it to be C. I could change it in the Change Settings dialog, though. I tried setting it to D (and checked that this took effect by looking at the BCDedit info at the command prompt), but when I select WinXP as my OS at boot, I get an error that a file is missing from the system folder (I assume this just happens to be the first file it's looking for after selection). I changed the setting back to C for giggles, and it gives me the same result. What am I missing? It's obviously something small and stupid, but it's 1:30 in the morning, and for the life of me, I'm becoming tired and oblivious.

Soooo, if anyone can help me overcome this final obstacle, I'll be cooking with gas.
__________

Edit: Ok, I now realize that I never should've changed the drive setting for XP in EasyBCD to D now...it has to be "C" since that is where ntldr resides. So my brain fixed that little fact for me this morning after some sleep. However, the same problem still exists.

Now, when ntldr brings up the boot options (for just a second), it is listing three XP installs (I think because there are three drives...yes, there is a third hard drive in there, which is just a leftover storage drive from a previous build with no OS on it). I think that the one that it's defaulting to is incorrect -- at least I'd like to make changes to find out. Problem is that Win7 won't let me change the boot.ini file...oh, I've changed the settings from read only to being writable, and checked the security settings so that the administrators group (which my id is certainly in) has full control over the file. However, when I go to make a change, I still get the infamous access is denied error. MSConfig in Win7 doesn't edit this file, and doing msconfig in XP is going to look at the boot.ini stuff on the second drive, which is not the one I want to edit. And, since EasyBCD created this file with a timeout setting of 1, I don't have time enough to hit a button and select another profile for XP to even see if making the change would work. Aaarrgh! Any ideas?

 

[dosucol]

Hi,

Glad you got it working.

It's all good gear like !

And it looks like i'll be removing XP pro,as all i've used since my last post is windows 7.Gave it a few tweaks here (UAC being the first port of call)and there, pressing ctrl-shift-esc instead of the old ctrl-alt-delete is now second nature.All in all, the improvements over XP really show!

There is one more thing i'll add ,about my motherboard and it's sata connectors.

It is a biostar a740g m2+,and it just doesn't like sata devices connected to the sata connectors in any random order,this was the reason why i used to every so often get a white screen and a completely frozen computer when i only used XP pro,this fault was narrowed down when i had to use Bartpe to repartition my disks for the windows XP and 7 duall boot because of the boot errors ,removing around the hard disks gave me the same frozen screen and lock ups.

So i just found which sata ports the motherboard was strangely "happy" with.So it seems, that other motherboards also have this "akward" nature.

 

[Bert Coules]

Hi. I've read this thread with great interest as I'm about to try this, so thanks very much for the detailed and beautifully clear instructions. I'm going to be installing XP Pro onto a second hard drive in a new HP desktop PC which came preloaded with Windows 7.

My question is about drivers. The HP PC is brand new: can I assume that the XP installation will recognise the various components with no problems?

The DVD drive is described as a LightScribe DVD +/- R/RW. Belarc reports it as GH40L ATA.

The existing HDD is a Western Digital Caviar SATA partitioned as C: (284GB) and D: ("Factory image" 13.5GB). It would be handy if the XP installation recognised the other disk in order to copy data files across

Are there any other aspects of the PC which XP Pro might have difficulties with? The motherboard is a "Pegatron Corporation Evans 1.02" (curious name!) and the BIOS AMI 5.02.

The new PC also has a 15-in-1 card reader and a "Bay mini Pocket Media Drive": I don't anticipate ever needing to use either of them, but is their presence likely to cause any problems in XP Pro?

And one final query: this business of the XP install deleting Windows 7's restore points when it boots up: does that apply only if both systems are on the same HDD, or is it still the case if they're on separate disks?

Sorry about all the questions, but I've not done this before and it is just a little daunting to be fiddling around with a brand new machine, so I'll be grateful for any help and suggestions. Many thanks in advance.

Bert

 

[user62756]

Thanks for a very comprehensive guide.
I do have a problem / question.
I have 2 disk a SATA where I have my win XP (that's my boot drive) and a PATA
split into 3 partitions, one of which I used for backup (a copy of the docs in the winxp drive) which is FAT32. This drive / partition is known to WinXP as S:

I started clean - i.e. shrunk (Using GPARTED) the WinXP partition to free up enough to install WIn7. I left the remaining space as unallocated space.

Put the WIN7 in the DVD drive and proceed to install it

1. Click "Install Now"
2. Click "Unallocated space on Disk 1 (SATA)
3. Click "Custom" (new install)

Go through the process normally, when it finish installing, and it reboots, I am not offered a boot menu as you described in your guide, but boots directly into win7.
Puzzled by that I looked in "My Computer" in win7 and see that

a) My SHARED drive (no longer shows)
b) My WinXP shows as D:
c) My Win7 is C:

It looks to me that win7 is assuming that the SHARED (first drive) is where my other "earlier version of windows is supposed to be".

Follow some articles I try to "edit" the BCD and add the WinXP using the D: letter.
Result even more puzzling:

a) With the Win7 NOT in the DVD drive - computer boots into Win XP
b) With Win7 IN the DVD drive - menu choice is offered, but the WinXP entry does not work.
c) No matter what I do, if I want to boot into win7, I NEED TO HAVE the Win 7 dvd in the drive, EVEN if I do not boot from the DVD.

Using Startup Repair from Win7 DVD, always return "No Problems found"

I am totally puzzled and at a loss and would appreciate theories, suggestions, explanations and what-not to see if I could get the dual boot working.

Much obliged

 

[Brink]

Hello User62756, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Have you already tried using BCEdit to add Windows 7 to the boot list while you are in XP instead using steps 7 to 16 in METHOD TWO of the tutorial?

 

[Tomasvanschelve]

no primary partition?

HI.

I've tried to create a dualboot yesterday and failed. very badly.
however, i've managed to install windows 7 home premium again.

now i've found this method i wanna try it again.
I'm just beginning and think something is going wrong already.

here's the thing.

when i make a new partition in windows 7 it comes up as a logical, not as a primary like in the pictures in the method.

how do i change this. or is there no need to change!?

help me please

Tomas

 

[Brink]

Hello Tomas, and welcome to Seven Forums.

It will work fine on a logical partition as well.

 

[user62756]

BrinkHello User62756, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Have you already tried using BCEdit to add Windows 7 to the boot list while you are in XP instead using steps 7 to 16 in METHOD TWO of the tutorial?
Did not

I will give it a try

Besides adding the entry (if not in there), is there anything else I need to do ?

Just tried it - even after I go to the manage boot loader, and ask to "reinstalled the Vista/win7" + Write MBR
No go. If the DVD in not inserted, I boot into WinXP

 

[SIW2]

Please post a screenshot of 7 Disk Management window.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-how-post-screenshot-seven-forums.html

You possibly just need to change the boot order of the Hard drives.

 

[user62756]

did it !!

Since I suspect the hang up was because of the second drive, I went ahead, open the case, remove the second drive (temporarily) and did [another] clean install of win7. This time - voila - I can now see the boot menu, all options work and I do not need to have the DVD inserted to boot into Win7

Thanks for your help.

BrinkHello User62756, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Have you already tried using BCEdit to add Windows 7 to the boot list while you are in XP instead using steps 7 to 16 in METHOD TWO of the tutorial?
Did not

I will give it a try

Besides adding the entry (if not in there), is there anything else I need to do ?

Just tried it - even after I go to the manage boot loader, and ask to "reinstalled the Vista/win7" + Write MBR
No go. If the DVD in not inserted, I boot into WinXP

 

[Brink]

User,

I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted the way you wanted it.

 

[Bert Coules]

I just tried this: I disconnected the existing hard disk in my HP (Windows 7) desktop, installed a new, blank drive and connected it up. Then I booted the machine with my XP Pro disk in the DVD drive and ran through a standard installation of Windows XP.

My thinking was to see if the hardware was compatible with XP without compromising the Windows 7 installation at all.

The installation went perfectly, but when I tried to access the internet there was no connection. Checking in Device Manager revealed yellow question marks on the ethernet port and all the PCI devices. Presumably Windows XP doesn't have the necessary drivers.

So I changed the drive connections back to the original HDD (and everything's working perfectly, phew) and am in search of the necessary drivers. I'll try Hewlett Packard support, but wonder if anyone here has come across the motherboard? Belarc Adviser reports it as "PEGATRON CORPORATION EVANS 1.02" and a Google search turns up virtually no information at all.

Many thanks.

Bert

 

[SIW2]

You might have better luck checking the HP site for drivers under the machine model number - instead of chasing down the mobo. It may be specially made for HP anyway.

 

[Bert Coules]

You might have better luck checking the HP site for drivers under the machine model number - instead of chasing down the mobo. It may be specially made for HP anyway.

I'll do that; thanks for the thought.

Bert