multiple operating systems

[jimjo16]

hi how many operating systems can i run. at present i have windows 7 ultimate 32 bit running on my d/partition its 200gb in size. i also have windows xp sp3 home edition on c/drive.i also have E/partition on my pc its 220gb in size. my pc is capable of running windows 7 ultimate 64bit. i have 3GB memory [ram] my pc has amd sempron[tm]processor 3000 plus 1.8ghz. ive heard of a free program called VMware does anyone else have multiple operating systems running on there desktop pcs thank you

 

[theog]

Each OS will need a partition, as you say,you have three partitions, OS = three.

 

[jimjo16]

yes thats right i have c/drive windows xp sp3 is on it it is 20GB in size with 12GB left.on my D/partition im running windows 7 ultimate 32 bit.i purchased windows 7 ultimate 64bit last week im going too run this on my E/partion and do a clean install would this be possible too do this any help much appreciated

 

[theog]

If your PC is 64bit, yes.

 

[jimjo16]

ok thanks for all your help i will install windows 7 ultimate 64bit on my E/partition

 

[theog]

You are welcome.

 

[seth500]

hi how many operating systems can i run. at present i have windows 7 ultimate 32 bit running on my d/partition its 200gb in size. i also have windows xp sp3 home edition on c/drive.i also have E/partition on my pc its 220gb in size. my pc is capable of running windows 7 ultimate 64bit. i have 3GB memory [ram] my pc has amd sempron[tm]processor 3000 plus 1.8ghz. ive heard of a free program called VMware does anyone else have multiple operating systems running on there desktop pcs thank you

VMWare needs a good amount of ram to run sufficiently. I don't know exactly what a good amount of ram is or should I say the least you can get by with but 3gb seems to be cutting it a little slim. You might hang on a lot of operations.

 

[whs]

Rather than VMWare I would recommend Virtual Box. I run Ubuntu in vBox on a 3GB system. I allocated 1 GB to vBox. Runs really well and practically as fast as my native Win7.

The big advantage is that I can run Ubuntu and Win7 in paralell and switch back and forth without doing anything special - with the guest additions activated.

As an example, this is a snip of part of the Ubuntu full screen window that I took with a Win7 snipping tool:

 

[jimjo16]

hi whs thanks for reply is virtual box a freeware program is there tutorials on this program

 

[gregrocker]

Are those driver letters fixed or does the OS you are booted into always show as C as it should?

If not, you apparently didn't boot Win7 to install it but ran it from XP which was already holding C and thus blocked it's use by Win7.

In the future, always boot the installer to install an OS so when booted into it on a multi-boot it will show as C. You must do this anyway to install a different bit-version, of course.

 

[jimjo16]

hi thanks c/drive has windows xp sp3 in it at the moment. partition D has my windows 7 ultimate sp1 32 bit on it. E/partition has nothing on it would i be better getting rid of windows xp on c/drive once i back everything up thanks

 

[seth500]

If it was me but this is me Windows 7 would be the main booting system since it supersedes XP and I would run XP from within Windows 7 virtually and any other operating system your going to run.
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[jimjo16]

hi again thanks for all replies im using windows 7 sp1 32bit all the time at bootup i get choice 7 or xp in my thread above i bought windows 7 ultimate 64bit last week i havent installed it yet

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

hi how many operating systems can i run. at present i have windows 7 ultimate 32 bit running on my d/partition its 200gb in size. i also have windows xp sp3 home edition on c/drive.i also have E/partition on my pc its 220gb in size. my pc is capable of running windows 7 ultimate 64bit. i have 3GB memory [ram] my pc has amd sempron[tm]processor 3000 plus 1.8ghz. ive heard of a free program called VMware does anyone else have multiple operating systems running on there desktop pcs thank you

Hello Jimjo.


I can't remember right now how many can actually be booted from the HDD, I've had as many as seven different installs at one time though the Windows boot manager will only list 6 at a time, one of these was an attached bootable virtual HDD.

A virtual machine is much easier to use but if you are curious, have a go, you'll never know if you never try. .

Create a Windows 7 VHD at Boot to Start with from Boot

click to enlarge

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[seth500]

Man BareFoot that's a lot of operating systems. lol

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Man BareFoot that's a lot of operating systems. lol

Hello mate, yeah it's a lot of work too but I enjoyed the experience and am glad I did it.

 

[whs]

hi whs thanks for reply is virtual box a freeware program is there tutorials on this program

Yes there are quite a few on the web. I had made one long time ago which may tell you about the basics. You can download the PDF from here (do not get confused by the title - it is more generic): https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=475a...#cid=475A0A48CA6D4035&id=475A0A48CA6D4035!237