Setting up dual boot - Win7 & XP

[martinlest]

This isn't going to happen for some months as I am abroad and don't have the PC in question with me, but I want to know what I am doing next time I visit the UK so that I can make the changes with confidence!

I have one or two programmes which will not install in a Win7 environment and the only way to have these available is going to be to go back to Windows XP. The PC in question is for gaming, I don't use it for email or much else than Microsoft Flight Simulator, so I could just change the O/S, but I'd rather have both installed - that is Windows 7 x64, as now, and then add Windows XP x64. I have space on other physical drives. (I have the necessary drivers for the XP 64-bit version, and a currently unused XP x64 installation disc). I know XP is no longer supported, but that's not really a problem as far as I can see.

I have looked already at ways to do this, but just wondered if anyone had tried the same dual boot (or with XP x86 of course) and run into any problems. I thought that, installing XP on the PC would make it impossible to boot into Win7, but I see there is a tool called EasyBCD which will fix this. (Is that the best one to use?).

Does the XP partition have to be at the start of the physical disc? If it isn't, is that an issue? I guess I could juggle things around to make it so...

My system was built with the CPU (Intel i7-950) pre-overclocked to 3.80GHz.. never had any issues with that. Installing a new O/S presumably won't affect that as the setup is in the BIOS?

Anything I should watch out for that I may not have anticipated?

OK, thanks!

Martin

 

[pbcopter]

Have a look at this tutorial, It should answer your questions.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/8057-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-xp.html

 

[gregrocker]

If you have separate hard drives, unplug the Win7 drive when you install XP, then choose the XP HD to boot using BIOS Boot Menu. This keeps them independent of each other in every way, except that you can access your files from the other drives if they have a drive letter assigned.

 

[martinlest]

Thanks, have saved the tutorial - it's a bit more detailed than the one I already have. Unplugging the Win7 disc (I want Win7 and XP on separate physical discs, in case of disc failure) is a good idea.

On one of my laptops, I have XP x86 and XP x64 set up a dual boot with a menu appearing after boot to choose between them, defaulting to one after ten seconds (which is what I suppose I would get with Win7/XP too).

 

[AddRAM]

You won`t get a dual boot menu if you unplug the W7 drive when you install XP, but you can make one with EasyBCD.

EasyBCD - NeoSmart Technologies

 

[Wandering one]

Check for a TUT regarding XP and restore points in W7. There is a fix to prevent loosing all your W7 restore points each and every time you boot XP. Real PIA. Art.

 

[gregrocker]

If you install each OS with the other unplugged, there is no Dual Boot menu created since they are booted using BIOS Boot menu and Boot Priority order. This avoids the System Restore points problem since the OS's literally cannot see each other, except that files can be browsed on all other HD's per normal if each is assigned a letter in Disk Mgmt. Each OS is blind to any other HD containing an OS if the Boot Manager is not involved.

 

[Wandering one]

To Gregrocker
"If you install each OS with the other unplugged, there is no Dual Boot menu created since they are booted using BIOS Boot menu and Boot Priority order. This avoids the System Restore points problem since the OS's literally cannot see each other, except that files can be browsed on all other HD's per normal if each is assigned a letter in Disk Mgmt. Each OS is blind to any other HD containing an OS if the Boot Manager is not involved"

This is exactly how mine is set up and believe me I spent a long time looking for the lost restore points. It was finally the TUT here that cleared the problem.
Art.

 

[gregrocker]

Thanks for clarifying, Art. You have no Dual Boot menu at all?

 

[Wandering one]

Actually each OS is on a separate HDD. All are active on their own and selected by F10 one time boot. The set up was suggested to me a couple of years ago by BFK, as I found the selective boot menu was a PIA. Now I just put the popular OS as #1 in BIOS and can select a secondary if wanted. W7 has been primary now almost two years
As a matter of fact the XP3 has been wiped and waiting to try W10 one time soon.
Art.

 

[gregrocker]

10 is great. Haven't been back to 7 in 4 months.