Dual Boot setup

[RudeDawg]

I have 3 hard drives in my computer. One for Windows XP Professional, one for Windows 7 Ultimate and one just for storage. My question is can I change my Windows 7 installation to 64 bit and still be able to run XP?

 

[1Bowtie]

Short answer is YES, you'll have to do a clean install of the 64 bit os with all new drivers but then XP will work just as it did before

 

[RudeDawg]

Sweet! Thanx! RJB

 

[gregrocker]

Unplug all other HD's, set target HD to boot first in BIOS setup, boot the WIn7 DVD to clean install Win7.

After install, plug in XP HD and boot using one-time BIOS Boot Menu key. This keeps HD's independent to come and go as you please.

Leave XP HD plugged in during install only if you want Win7 to write it's boot files to XP while creating a Windows Dual Boot menu, which interlocks the HD's.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

If you want a Windows managed dual boot and want the boot files to be created to the Windows 7 partition, after the installation completes, have a look at this tutorial at the link below to see how to mark active the Windows 7 partition and run the startup repairs needed to create the new boot files.


Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times