Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP


  1. Posts : 9
    Windows 7 ultimate 32bit
       #1060

    Alright thanks for the help guys. Dual boot is the best option for us as we use fairly system intense programs that require XP. The XP mode may not be sufficient.

    Well for some odd reason the Dell BIOS has 3 SATA settings, ATA, AHCI, and Raid On. It came preinstalled on the Raid On setting, but in order to boot from XP i needed to switch it to ATA. However, when it was switched to ATA I couldn't boot Win7 but I could boot XP, and vice versa when I switched back to Raid On. I just talked to our IT person and it seems like they also recommended what Theog has.
    I'm going to first backup the Utility and Recovery partitions as disk images on an external drive, then commence the install of SATA drivers and reinstall of XP. Now to find those drivers

    Thanks again for your insight and I will let
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  2. Posts : 11,408
    ME/XP/Vista/Win7
       #1061

    Strife18 said:
    Alright thanks for the help guys. Dual boot is the best option for us as we use fairly system intense programs that require XP. The XP mode may not be sufficient.

    Well for some odd reason the Dell BIOS has 3 SATA settings, ATA, AHCI, and Raid On. It came preinstalled on the Raid On setting, but in order to boot from XP i needed to switch it to ATA. However, when it was switched to ATA I couldn't boot Win7 but I could boot XP, and vice versa when I switched back to Raid On. I just talked to our IT person and it seems like they also recommended what Theog has.
    I'm going to first backup the Utility and Recovery partitions as disk images on an external drive, then commence the install of SATA drivers and reinstall of XP. Now to find those drivers

    Thanks again for your insight and I will let
    If your Dell has a Intel Sata Controller.
    You can download your F6 Sata Controller drivers from here:

    Intel Sata Controller Drivers

    Check your model first.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 9
    Windows 7 ultimate 32bit
       #1062

    Ya I found the driver in there. However, these laptops do not have a floppy drive to install with F6. Does this mean that I will be required to slipstream an XP disk with the drivers?
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  4. Posts : 9
    Windows 7 ultimate 32bit
       #1063

    Well thats good. I downloaded the Intel Rapid Storage Tech drivers and went through the nlite slipstream process. Though when I got to the driver loading process there is a iaAHCI and iaStor to choose from, either one gives the same drivers to choose from. However it lists about 20-25 different drivers, none of which give any indication of which one is for XP32bit, they all should be 32 bit, but different OS's. The only thing that they hint to is different intel chipsets (i think). What I tried was a multiple driver select and added them all to the boot disk. Unfortunately after burning, the xp disk will not boot.

    Edit: So I looked up my RAID controller and the file was listing different types. So I found which one the computer has but now I have the choice in drivers for that controller of either "hdc" or "scsiadapter" type.
    Im thinking that if I add one of these then there would be a chance that the disk would be bootable.

    Update: Tried burning/boot from the "scsiadapter" type. Once again does not boot. I select boot from dvd-drive at startup, and it does not even get to the blue load screen before it restarts the computer. Same with the other XP disks I've made (besides the factory XP which does).

    It is looking as if the slipstream is not working at all, and ive looked around town for a usb floppy drive and it doesn't look like I'll find one. I've been thinking of starting from square one (comp is new anyways). So I thought i might start by creating backup system images just in case. Then delete xp/7 partitions and do a fresh install of XP, set that up, install the raid drivers while in xp, then dual boot windows 7.
    Good idea or bad idea?
    Last edited by Strife18; 11 Jan 2011 at 17:45.
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  5.    #1064

    You didn't need the SATA drivers the first time you installed XP, correct? Maybe theog can help you slip the RAID drivers since it appears Win7 was installed in RAID mode but won't run now that you changed it to SATA mode to install XP.

    Can you find an old IDE HD to install XP? This is the best Dual Boot method anyway.
    Last edited by gregrocker; 11 Jan 2011 at 22:43.
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  6. Posts : 9
    Windows 7 ultimate 32bit
       #1065

    At the moment, all I have are external hdd which I assume are 2.5" SATA drives.
    Though i was just wondering if this would theoretically work:
    - In windows 7, delete the installed windows xp partition
    - Then boot up off of windows xp disk, delete windows 7 partition (keeping the dell recovery/util partitions intact)
    - Repartition unallocated space, install windows XP on first partition, after installation install dell drivers, install windows 7 raid/sata drivers, Install Acronis Home
    - Follow first page instructions to setup the unused partition
    -Run Acronis Recovery and restore unused partition using a system image created of my current windows 7 drive
    - Install EasyBCD and continue instructions

    Of course I would create the partitions in exactly the same sizes for the operating systems. I also created full system images with acronis to get back to where I am right now if anything went wrong.

    It sounds feasible to me, but I thought I would ask.
    Thanks
      My Computer

  7.    #1066

    I just re=read the thread as SATA controller issue has sidetracked us a bit. If you changed RAID to SATA to install XP then you likely don't need SATA drivers, but possible RAID drivers would allow you to install XP to the RAID.

    The RAID presents a complication which makes it hard to advise you to proceed to reinstall XP and reimage 7. We see many problems with Win7 installs to RAID and generally advise to un-RAID the HD's to install Win7 with SATA controller set to ACHI or IDE mode.

    I cannot say for sure if an Acronis image of RAIDed Win7 would work if you un-RAID the HD's to install XP first, but I know for sure the Recovery partition and OEM utlities partition would not work. If you make the Recovery Disks first, you might be able to restore everything to unRAIDED HD's.

    What you might consider at this point is unRAIDing your HD's then clean installing XP to one HD with the others unplugged. After that is set up as you want unplug the XP HD to clean install Win7 from Recovery Disks, or from a Win7 installation DVD to get the cleanest possible install without the factory bloatware or useless utilties which have better versions built-into Win7. Here's how to get a purrfect clean reinstall of factory preinstall: re-install windows 7

    This will leave you with the best method for Dual Booting anyway: separate HD's via the BIOS.

    I hope I haven't confused you more, but wanted to lay out your options as thoroughly as possible. Feel free to ask back all the questions needed to make a sound decision.
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  8. Posts : 9
    Windows 7 ultimate 32bit
       #1067

    Well this is a laptop with just one hard drive. And I don't think that it is actually setup as a RAID.
    What I meant by doing the switch is that in the BIOS there is a tab 'System Configuration' which inside contains another tab called 'SATA'. In this you can switch the setting between disabled, ATA, AHCI, and Raid On. So im not sure if it was setup as a Raid, but I know that the default is selected on the Raid On option, but I think ive also read that this is like a Raid autodetect mode. Is there a way to check in windows 7 if the partitions are set up in raid?
    If I could determine if it is Un-raided then it would be safe to do the XP install and re-image of 7.
    At the same time I'm looking into the possibility of upgrading all our software to work with windows 7, It will hinge on the ability to install and the costs, but Im in the process of finding this out.
    That would of course be ideal as we would no longer need XP (other than maybe XP mode for some smaller programs). But I still need to have a fall back of XP/7 dual boot in case we are unable to upgrade.

    Thanks again
      My Computer

  9.    #1068

    If you only have one HD then it isnt' set up as RAID. Are you certain that the controller was set to RAID On before you changed it to install XP?

    Were you planning to install XP and then reimage Win7 with controller set to ATA? It is not certain the image will work if you change the setting, and almost certain the REcovery Partition will not. This is a lot of risk and trouble to Dual Boot an XPired OS.

    If you're determined then I'd back up files, make my Recovery Disks and a Win7 image. Next change the controller setting to ATA, wipe the HD and attempt to reimage Win7. IF this fails I would run the Recovery Disks. Then I would shrink if necessary, boot XP to create and format its partition and install. It doesn't matter which order since neither of these Win7 methods will configure the Dual Boot. So you'll have to mark Win7 Active and run Startup Repair to start Win7, install EasyBCD 2.0 to add XP. Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times

    The alternative is to find a Win7 installation DVD, install XP first, then do a clean install of Win7 which should configure the Dual Boot while shedding all of the factory bloatware and useless factory utilities which have better versions built into Win7: re-install windows 7

    While you mull this over I've asked a RAID expert to look at it.
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  10. Posts : 9
    Windows 7 ultimate 32bit
       #1069

    K well I just went to the BIOS, I loaded the default settings and it does have Raid On as the default. Though in the description it says SATA is configured to support RAID mode (Intel Rapid Restore Technology). This page talks about it:
    Intel® Rapid Storage Technology — What is Intel® Rapid Recover Technology?
    It seems to be a mode to help with recovery rather than RAIDS.
    However, I switched it back to the ATA setting and it went back to Windows 7 not booting. So I am having a little difficulty trying to find a way to handle that with the recovery.
    Like you mentioned, it is looking unlikely that a system image would take in ATA setting if it won't boot when I switch to it.
    In my last post I had mentioned that we may still be able to upgrade all our software to win7, and at this point im really hoping we can do this.
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