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

 

[feua]

is it possible to make dual boot windows 7 and xp with windows7 home premium install first?

I read somewhere that we can only make dual boot win7 and xp only if we have win7 professional or higher.

Thanks.

 

[myzr7]

Welcome to SevenForums feua.. This thread has a tutorial for just your question 7 first is the second option. I think you are mistaking dual boat with xp mode which is different thing. XP mode is only available with win 7 pro and above. Good luck to you!

 

[feua]

Thank you for warm welcome.

so, i am right that i cannot make dual boot from my win7 home premium with win xp?

Correct?

If it it correct, is there anyway that i can make dual boot?

Or because i bought new win7 home premium in japanese with no original installation dvd and i am not good in japanese. i want to change to English.

I have 2gb ram.

I am thinking of using win7 home premiun 64 in C as it is and install win7 ultimate 32 in D. Do you think it is a good idea to do so?

Thanks in advance for your helps.

 

[theog]

Thank you for warm welcome.

so, i am right that i cannot make dual boot from my win7 home premium with win xp?

Correct?

If it it correct, is there anyway that i can make dual boot?

Or because i bought new win7 home premium in japanese with no original installation dvd and i am not good in japanese. i want to change to English.

I have 2gb ram.

I am thinking of using win7 home premiun 64 in C as it is and install win7 ultimate 32 in D. Do you think it is a good idea to do so?

Thanks in advance for your helps.

No, you can use any Windows 7 from starter to Ultimate.

 

[feua]

thank you.

how about win7 home premium in C and win7 ultimate in D? Is it a good idea than dual booth with xp?

 

[Brink]

Hello Feua, and welcome to Seven Forums.

If you would like to dual boot with Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Ultimate, then the tutorial below can help show you how to. It's the same procedure except substitute Vista for the other Windows 7 instead. It doesn't matter which one you install first. Plus, it will be a lot easier to do than trying to dual boot with XP.

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

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Ekhangel]

Fire in the hole, problem incomiiiiiiing...

I created a 30gig partition for my WinXP ( i want to create a dual-boot from Windows 7 Pro x64). I inserted my XP disc, booted from it, proceeded with standard installation procedure, selecting the newly created 30g partition as the system partition for the XP.

The files have copied succesfully, and the PC rebooted, as expected. Then, when the installation screen would normally pop up, THIS appeared:

The text reads (in Polish) "Press any key to load from CD...". The weird thing are the colored squares, one of which blinks with a SMILEY inside, like a little emoticon (the camera didn't pick it). I went "WTF?!" after seeing this.

Honestly, it's either a virus, or aliens attacking my PC, or Microsoft programmers making fun of us.

I tried waiting a couple of minutes for something to happen, to no avail. I rebooted the PC, set booting from HDD, and after the bios screen loaded, a "_" went blinking on a dark screen, in the left-right corner, like in old DOS screens. Waiting also didn't help here.

I "repaired" my Win 7 from the Windows 7 install screen, and managed to get back to my 7. The XP partition is still there with some Windows files in, but that's pretty much it.

Thinking dual-booting was easy, I nearly got my PC messed up. I'd appreciate any help, and apologeze for language mistakes, I'm Polish.

 

[dr ill]

Viral perhaps

Ekhangel,

One must wonder about the source of the install disk. That is weird and possibly viral nonsense.
I would recover the data, run AVG on the recovered data, and then wipe the drive with a fresh install from proper sources. Good luck.

iLL

 

[Brink]

Honestly, it's either a virus, or aliens attacking my PC, or Microsoft programmers making fun of us.

Hello Ekhangel, and welcome to Seven Forums.

LOL, nope I (alien) haven't been playing or attacking your PC.

Where did you get the installation file or DVD?

I agree. It looks like you have a virus modified copy. I would recommend to ditch it, format the hard drives, and make sure that you are using a genuine Windows 7 installation DVD.

 

[Ekhangel]

This will surprise you, but both of my CD's (XP and 7) are purely original, genuine, legit, certificed Microsoft copies. I asked one guy about it and he said it's probably a "bios virus", or something.

He also said that it would be the best to install XP first and then go with 7. I am considering wiping out all of the systems from my HDD, leaving only a partition with my private files for later use on 7, and then install an XP, followed by install of 7.

Would that cause me any problems?

I'm starting to think playing Heroes 3 and Gothic 2 freezelessly is a too small prize for all this hell I'm experiencing here.

EDIT:

What's weird is that the colored squares appear only after the XP installer reboots the PC. When trying to boot from the CD in the first place, nothing like that appears. Furthermore; the Win XP CD has already been used before, a couple of years ago, to install XP on the very same machine, with the same BIOS (I was updated in the meantime, perhaps I should ask the guy who updated it about where he got the files from...) But still, would it be so much a BIOS issue?

 

[Brink]

He also said that it would be the best to install XP first and then go with 7. I am considering wiping out all of the systems from my HDD, leaving only a partition with my private files for later use on 7, and then install an XP, followed by install of 7.

Would that cause me any problems?

No, you shouldn't have a problem doing that if you wanted to dual boot them. If you just wanted Windows 7, then a clean install is always best.


If you have another monitor and graphics card you can test using them one at a time instead to see if you may have some sort of hardware issue with your current ones.

It wouldn't hurt to flash your BIOS with a newer version (if available) to make sure that is not corrupted.

 

[Ekhangel]

I'm afraid the BIOS i'm using now is the newest.

Hell with that, I think I'll forget about the issue for now.

Thanks for the answers, everybody.

 

[Jack8530]

do i need to buy a windows xp installation disk?

 

[Brink]

Hello Jack,

That or purchase a legal XP .iso file to use to create a XP installation disk with. If you have a TechNet subscription, you can download it for free there.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/548-burn-disc-image-iso-img-file.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31541-windows-7-usb-dvd-download-tool.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Cameraman]

Dual Boot & Dual Raid1

Hi, I have only just found your site, but think I have done all that you reccomend, everything seems to be working, but I dont know how to check it. this is what I did.

Installed 2 new Sata Raptor 160Gb Drives. (both in Caddies)
Formatted them and partitioned each in half. (using Gparted)
Set the Bios to raid
Loaded Windows XP pro using F6 floppy for the intel drivers
Loaded Intel's Matrix Manager
Set raid to 1 (for safety) these are just for the Operating Systems
and called the raid volume XP_32Bit
Loaded W7 Pro 64bit on the other partition
Loaded the Intel Matrix Manager and it confirms Raid configured (even though I didnt do anything) but it is calling the volume XP_32Bit
Both Operating Systems boot fine
Both Matrix Managers report Raid 1
But are they I know the XP is, but is the W7? ? ? ?
Intel support say, this evening, I should have created the raid, THEN partitioned them for dual boot, Is that what I have done in a convoluted way or did I get it wrong
Many thanks for your time
PS I intend to add 2 more 300GB HD and partition them dual Raid0 for my editing and games later

 

[Brink]

Hello Cameraman, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Well, if your dual boot setup is working for you, then that is all the checking you need. Great job.

When you set up a RAID, it would have formatted the entire drive anyway, so you would usually have had no choice but to create a new partition afterwards. It really doesn't matter when you create the new partition though as long as it's created before installing the second OS.

The 2 300GB drives in RAID 0 should help with storage.

 

[lurbe]

Best tutorial I've seen!
Thank you for this, I often come here but never wanted/needed to register, but this time I had to just to say Thank You!!
I really loved this tut!
Well done Friend!
Keep it up.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Lurbe, and welcome to Seven Forums.

 

[martvg]

I'm trying to get windows xp next to my pre-installed windows 7 but as many others I gte the blue screen and I was wandering if there is an other way to boot the extra sata driver besides floppy (have no floppy drive)

 

[Brink]

Hello Martvg, and welcome to Seven Forums.

You could also slipstream the SATA drivers into a XP DVD, then use that newly created DVD instead to install XP with the SATA drivers already included.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/72185-sata-drivers-slipstream-into-windows-xp-cd.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn