Two Drives: C with Win 7 and D with XP

[gbalch]

I have read most of the posts regarding dual boot and I see nothing that addresses my situation. I have Windows 7 64bit pro installed on 320GB Drive C and Windows XP 32bit Pro installed on 1TB Drive D. To boot from XP I have to go into BIOS setup and change the boot drive. That's time consuming and cumbersome.

Does anyone know of a 3rd party boot utility program that would give me a choice of startomg up either Win 7 or Win XP OS when I boot up? I know I could dual partition my 1TB drive and reinstall Win 7, but that my last resort.
And by the way Mr. Windows 7, that virtual PC that lets me run XP from within Win 7........ is a piece of crap!

Appreciate any suggestions.

gbalch

 

[Jonathan_King]

I have read most of the posts regarding dual boot and I see nothing that addresses my situation. I have Windows 7 64bit pro installed on 320GB Drive C and Windows XP 32bit Pro installed on 1TB Drive D. To boot from XP I have to go into BIOS setup and change the boot drive. That's time consuming and cumbersome.

Does anyone know of a 3rd party boot utility program that would give me a choice of startomg up either Win 7 or Win XP OS when I boot up? I know I could dual partition my 1TB drive and reinstall Win 7, but that my last resort.
And by the way Mr. Windows 7, that virtual PC that lets me run XP from within Win 7........ is a piece of crap!

Appreciate any suggestions.

gbalch

Yes, there is. Download EasyBCD 2.0, and manually add the XP entry in Windows 7.

You will need to register with the site first, but it is free.

 

[gregrocker]

You needn't change the boot order in BIOS every time, just set your preferred HD to boot first (after DVD drive) then if you want to boot the other HD, use the key given on bootup screen for Boot Menu to trigger the other HD instead.

If you will post back your make computer, we'll look up what key it is that you press at bootup.

Otherwise use EasyBCD to create a Windows-managed Dual Boot but it is harder to extricate later.

 

[gbalch]

EasyBCD 2.0 DDoes the trick

Thanks Jonathan,
I downloaded EasyBCD 2.0 Beta and it did the job for me. I now get two boot up options, as I wanted.
For your info, I had also downloaded Acronis Disk Director Suite 11, but found it very intimidating, so much so that I did not even try to use it. So, I decided to give EasyBCD 2.0 a try. It is very easy to set up two different OS on two different drives..... don't know about two partitions on same drive.

Thanks again.
GBalch

 

[gbalch]

No dual boot option in BIOS Setup

You needn't change the boot order in BIOS every time, just set your preferred HD to boot first (after DVD drive) then if you want to boot the other HD, use the key given on bootup screen for Boot Menu to trigger the other HD instead.

If you will post back your make computer, we'll look up what key it is that you press at bootup.

Otherwise use EasyBCD to create a Windows-managed Dual Boot but it is harder to extricate later.

Gregrocker,
Thanks for your response, but my BIOS lets me set up a main boot drive only. I can change the boot drives, but it is a cumbersome process. EasyBCD 2.0 beta did the job for me.

GBalch

 

[seekermeister]

You needn't change the boot order in BIOS every time, just set your preferred HD to boot first (after DVD drive) then if you want to boot the other HD, use the key given on bootup screen for Boot Menu to trigger the other HD instead.

If you will post back your make computer, we'll look up what key it is that you press at bootup.

Otherwise use EasyBCD to create a Windows-managed Dual Boot but it is harder to extricate later.

Gregrocker,
Thanks for your response, but my BIOS lets me set up a main boot drive only. I can change the boot drives, but it is a cumbersome process. EasyBCD 2.0 beta did the job for me.

GBalch

Since you have an Asus motherboard, I doubt that is true. As far as I know, all Asus MBs have a hotkey to enter the BBS Popup Menu. On mine, it is F8, but as Gregrocker indicated, this will vary, and it should be stated on the first screen of the BIOS run which to use. Having the OSs on separate drives as you have is the most reliable way to multi-boot. If you install a boot loader, it may become the weak link that will prevent you from booting any OS, instead of providing a backup to work from. I would recommend that you look closer.

 

[gbalch]

You are correct on the F8 key.

Hey, Gregrocker and Seekermeister,

You both are correct about using the F8 key option. I had totally forgotten about that option. Using the F8 key gives me the option to boot up from any of my hard drives or CD/DVD drives.
I kind of like the EasyBCD beta 2 screen better though.... it is only one step, whereas the F8 key option is 2 steps.
Thanks for your help.

Gbalch