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

 

[Nikolay]

Great guide. Just wish this was made sooner, the one that I used wasn't as clear as yours.

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Nikolay, and thank you.

Yeah, I wish I had it sooner also, but I just now manged to get my hands on a copy of XP to work with.

 

[stinkstink]

i am currently running windows 7 as the main OS and want to install XP as a dual boot. i've followed all the steps above but after loading the win xp files and trying to boot into xp i get a msg that says "error loading operating system" . any ideas?

 

[Brink]

Hello Stinkstink, and welcome to Seven Forums.

You may have a bad installation of XP. You might see if reinstalling using METHOD TWO may allow it to work afterwards.

 

[Kingism]

Good Morning everyone, I have installed Win 7 first on my laptop and I installed xp secondly. I rebooted and it only boots to xp. I noticed that Win 7 is on C and XP is on E drive . But when I was on Win 7 ,XP was on drive D . I followed the above tutorial and downloaded BCD and followed it and only got to boot to Win 7 . No options were given to choose an OS at boot up. Im now in XP and cant get back to Win 7. I went ahead and put in my Win7 disk and it repaired itself but when I did the tutorial it booted back to XP . Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks ..

 

[Brink]

Hello Kingism,

I have updated the tutorial to help with this. In METHOD TWO step 10, check to make sure that you select the drive letter that Windows 7 was installed on. Normally this would be C:

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[stinkstink]

i reinstalled windows xp again and followed all the steps above. but now when i choose to boot into win xp from the boot manager i get this error message
"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt.

<Root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe

Please reinstall a copy of the above file."

i have reinstalled this file from the winxp cd but still no fix. any ideas?

 

[Brink]

Stinkstink,

Since you can only boot into Windows 7, do steps 8 on in METHOD TWO to add XP back to the boot file. It sounds like you may have missed step 12 & 13 before.

 

[Luciak]

Here's a riddle (at least for me):

I've installed Windows 7 to be the second system with Windows XP using baarod's method with a little modification using tips from this tutorial.

What I've done is described in this baarod's tutorial.

And the riddle:

Everything is working properly but here is what I see when I am on XP:



And here is what I see when I am on W7:



Why is it like this?

 

[Brink]

Here's a riddle (at least for me):

I've installed Windows 7 to be the second system with Windows XP using baarod's method with a little modification using tips from this tutorial.

What I've done is described in this baarod's tutorial.

And the riddle:

Everything is working properly but here is what I see when I am on XP:


And here is what I see when I am on W7:


Why is it like this?

Hello Luciak,

This is normal. Whatever OS you have started up in will see itself as the C: drive by default, and the other OS with another drive letter.

Shawn

 

[Luciak]

Oh - ok
So is there any possibility for me to see XP partition when I am on W7?

 

[Brink]

Luciak,

Double check in Windows 7 Disk Management to see if you may just need to add a drive letter to the XP partition to be able to see it Windows 7 afterwards. This tutorial will helps how you how to Just subsititute Vista for XP.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Luciak]

He - it's ok now.
Just had to add letter to a drive.
Sorry for such a dumm question.
But when I get back from work I do not always think 100%

 

[Brink]

No problem Luciak, see my signature about questions.

I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted out.

 

[Roy Shopland]

Dual Boot installation

I am running Windows XP on my C drive and I also have a spare drive D (300GB). If I install windows 7 on the D drive I presume I start at "2 - Use seperate Hard Drive". If I instal the new operating system on the D drive will it access my existing programmes which are all on the C drive? Sorry if these are pretty basic questions but I have no experience of operating a dual boot system. Many thanks foe any guidance.

 

[Brink]

Hello Roy, and welcome to Seven Forums.

You will be able to access the files on the C: drive with XP. Unfortunately you will need to reinstall any program that you wish to use on the D: drive with Windows 7 for it to be able to run.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Roy Shopland]

Many thanks. If I partition the C drive presumably windows 7 would then be able to access all existing programmes? Sorry that these questions are so basic!!

 

[Brink]

No Problem Roy. Sorry, but no. Programs will need to be reinstalled per OS in order for them to run in that OS.

However, an exicting new installable feature called Windows XP Mode will allow you to install XP only programs inside the virtual machine and run them from inside Windows 7 as if they are still running in XP. Sadly, you would still have to reinstall the programs though.

 

[Roy Shopland]

Shawn

Many thanks. I am gradually getting there!!! Regards
Roy