How to format a system disk ?

[SevenT]

Hello I am using win 7 ( Home premium ).My ram is 2GB .I use my PC alot with some heavy programs .So my system is slow down. I want to use Win XP .But Win 7 cant install win XP .I have read some internet page.They said I must format my system disk to install win XP .I dont know how to format this. Plz help me.Tks

 

[richc46]

Welcome
You will perform a clean install.
During the process you will be allowed to format
Clean Install Windows XP - How To Perform a Clean Installation of Windows XP - Part 1 of 4

 

[johnm32073]

Are you trying to run XP from within Win7 (known as XP Mode ) If You are,, windows 7 premium does not use this feature you need to have windows 7 Pro and above versions to have that XP Mode feature. (I got 7 pro so I would have xp mode) Widows 7 Ultimate has it also. other wise you have to do a clean install of XP and it will wipe windows 7 off the hard drive

 

[Lemur]

You could install a virtual pc like vmwareplayer or virtualbox, install XP, and keep Win 7.

 

[johnm32073]

I install virtual box and installed on an XP machine and install ubuntu and it worked well the only problem I ran upon in virtual box was that the window that virtual box window displays is small and I could not get it any bigger. It was like 5inches by 5 inches hard to see what was running in virtula box so gave up on that.

 

[mjf]

Hello I am using win 7 ( Home premium ).My ram is 2GB .I use my PC alot with some heavy programs .So my system is slow down. I want to use Win XP .But Win 7 cant install win XP .I have read some internet page.They said I must format my system disk to install win XP .I dont know how to format this. Plz help me.Tks

Slight aside - upgrading to 4GB may be worth it.

I would have thought dual booting XP was an option if you have the install disks. I haven't personally done it so advice is best from someone who has.

 

[richnrockville]

FWIW.
if you want to dual boot a real copy of XP PRO and Windows 7, the XP must be installed first and then leave unpartitioned space for windows 7. As windows 7 install changes all the boot files for windows XP. You then end up with a boot manager that allows you to boot whichever system you want as primary.

Or if you just want to run XP under the windows 7 envelope, If your machine allows Virtual operations in BIOS
and you get windows 7 pro or higher. the free copy of xp and Virtual PC from microsoft works fine.

Rich

 

[mjf]

StevenT,
Here is a tute from the forum on how to do it. It's "quite straightforward" in principle. Shows how to install XP either before of after Windows 7.

But if you're unsure about formatting your disk then a bit more background reading here on the forum may be the best approach. I'd go further and say you should have a system repair disk made and a system image before making these sort of changes.
Up to you of course.

Dual boot XP and Windows 7

 

[gregrocker]

After shrinking the Win7 partition to make space to install XP, boot the XP installer to see if it even sees the HD.

XP is so old it needs most SATA controller drivers inserted so you may need to provide the driver via a floppy drive at the F6 prompt during file-loading phase, or slipstream it into the XP installer: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/72185-sata-drivers-slipstream-into-windows-xp-cd.html?ltr=S

Once the XP installer sees the HD, use it to create and format the new XP partition before install. Then after install add XP to the Dual boot menu using EasyBCD 2.0 - you'll need to install Net Framework 2.0 to run Easy in XP.

 

[Dzomlija]

Instead of trying to get a dual-boot between Windows 7 and Windows XP, which in itself also has it own problems (most notably security permissions between the two installations), why don't you just rather upgrade you system memory from 2GB to 4GB which will give you enough of a performance boost for your heavy applications, so that you won't need to use XP at all...

Just my 2c worth...

 

[gregrocker]

Here's some other Virtual Mode options: http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/124103-dual-boot-windows-7-windows-xp.html#post1071362

 

[mjf]

Here's some other Virtual Mode options: http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/124103-dual-boot-windows-7-windows-xp.html

What's the new option you are suggesting?

 

[gregrocker]

VMware Player: Run Windows 7, Chrome OS - Free Download for a Virtual PC