Need Help w/ Dualbooting to an Older OS

[SupermaNn]

I have Windows 7 64 bit installed. I need to dualboot and add Windows XP 32 bit. How would i go about doing this?

I know i need to make a new partition on the harddrive, i'm going to make a 50 GB one right now.

Will i run into any problems doing this? is there something specific i need to do to make sure this works and i dont **** anything up?

anything you guys want to add on and tell me that'll help will be much appreciated! thanks!

 

[SupermaNn]

My C: drive has Windows 7 64 bit, i just made a 50gb partition and labeled it J:

 

[SupermaNn]

i made the partition, but in disk management it says logical drive, not primary partition. i put my xp cd in and started it up but got a BSOD, is that why? because it says logical drive and not primary partition

 

[SupermaNn]

i guess that cant be the reason, because i didnt even try to install it and i got the bsod, im going to go look at the error code again and search google for it

 

[SupermaNn]

fixed the bsod problem so just forget all about that.

things i still need help with:

partition in disk management says logical drive, shouldnt it say primary partition?
will i run into any problems with this? anything i should know?

thanks

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Hello SupermaNn, welcome to Seven Forums.



Post a shot of the Windows 7 disk management for us to have look at; have a look at this tutorial at the link below.

How to Upload and Post a Screenshot and File in Seven Forums

​

 

[gregrocker]

If it crashed then you likely need XP SATA Drivers - Slipstream into Windows XP CD

This is more trouble than it's worth for an XPired OS. Have you considered trying to virtualize XP in Win7 using free XP Mode, VM Ware, Virtual Player or similar?

You can also get most XP programs to run in Win7, if necessary installing them in Compatibility Mode

 

[SupermaNn]

Using a virtual XP wont work for me, i have a piece of hardware that only has a 32 bit driver, and in a virtual XP it would need to be installed first on my 64 bit before it would work in the virtual machine right?

It crashed but i went into the bios and changed the sata mode and it worked fine, didnt get the bsod so i fixed that.

heres the screenshot of my disk management.

it says logical drive, but shouldnt it say primary partition?

 

[gregrocker]

In that case if XP installs you might be able to change the Win7 SATA mode to match it, or change XP to AHCI after install when installing it's AHCI driver is easier:

AHCI : Enable in Windows 7 / Vista - Windows 7 Forums

Change IDE to AHCI in BIOS - Much better performance - Windows 7 Forums

Enable AHCI in Windows XP After Installation - Bootbeta

 

[SupermaNn]

can anyone tell me why it says logical drive instead of primary partition? is it safe to install xp onto logical?

 

[gregrocker]

Yes you can install XP onto the Logical.

You can have four Primary partitions or three Primary and unlimited adjoining Logical partitions.

 

[SupermaNn]

Ok, ill install it onto there. am i going to have any problems with the MBR once i do this? since i have 7 installed and adding XP. i have EasyBCD and am familiar with it

 

[townsbg]

During the install the XP bootloader will be installed which doesn't know about 7 or vista so you will have to use EasyBCD restore the Vista/7 bootloader. It sounds like you have things under control but I suggest a backup.

 

[SupermaNn]

i will backup everything, when i install xp and have to use easybcd, will i have to use it on xp or the 7 partition?

 

[gregrocker]

Easiest is to restart Win7 by confirming 100mb System Reserved partition is marked Active: Mark Partition Active,
then run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times.

Once Win7 starts, install EasyBCD to add XP on the Add OS Entry tab.
EasyBCD (free Download at bottom of page - no name or email required)

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

If there is no data on the Extended/Logical that needs saved ...


Use Method One listed in the tutorial linked below to convert the Extended to a Primary.

Partition / Extended : Logical Drives

diskpart

list disk

select disk # = disk number

list partition

select partition # = partition number

delete partition

create partition primary

​

 

[townsbg]

i will backup everything, when i install xp and have to use easybcd, will i have to use it on xp or the 7 partition?

You will be using it on XP to get back 7. When you are done with the install you won't see an entry for 7 because now you are using the XP bootloader which doesn't know about 7. That is why it is preferable to install the oldest OS first. Therefore you are using easybcd to recover the 7 bootloader. Then you have to make sure that you have entries for both OSs. It is tricky to do. Also you need to consider whether or not your system have XP drivers because XP IMO is fairly useless without.

 

[SupermaNn]

Bare Foot Kid, those directions on that page are confusing. do i have to absolutely need it? and if i install it all and im missing drivers n what not, will i still be able to get to the xp desktop? and use easybcd to get back to 7?

 

[SupermaNn]

Looks like i messed up my computer. i found a usb hdd i had, thought i could install xp onto that instead of making partitions and it wouldnt mess up the mbr because it was on a completely different hard drive but i guess i was wrong. halfway through the setup of xp on that usb hdd i get a bsod (after it says it needs to restart for the first time), now whenever i try to start it up i guess its trying to start xp boot instead of windows 7 boot. help! ive tried putting in my acer recovery disc which there is no startup repair on that, i also tried my windows 7 disc and i still dont see startup repaid on that. help me! what should i do?

when i start it up with the usb hdd plugged in i get a bsod, when i take it out it says windows couldnt start because "computer disk hardware configuration problem, could not read from the selected boot disk"

 

[SupermaNn]

i still have the 50gb partition on my laptop harddrive, if i install another windows 7 onto that, will it fix the mbr so i can get back to my original windows 7?

and since im havin problems with xp, and since i need a 32 bit, after i clean this all up can i just install the windows 8 beta onto a partition and not have any problems with the mbr? thanks