Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP

Hi,
Sorry if you've answered this already but there are so many pages to read through I might have missed it.

I have four drives, C, D, E and K. Windows 7 Home installed on C.

I decided to install XP SP2 on the D drive, and so put the CD in and started it off, leaving the drive as it was (no format). It copied files, then tries to restart to complete install, but then runs into problems.

If I boot from CD - it tries to start the XP install from scratch.

If I boot from C drive - it says "Error loading operating system" (not looking good for using Windows 7 until this is fixed!)

If I switch boot order and make D drive first in list - it says NTLDR missing.

Any ideas what might be wrong here? Looks like the XP install failed to put a boot sector on my D drive in my amateur opinion...

Thanks in advance

I've solved this, but as nobody was interested, I doubt they'll be interested in my solution either.

Tara

Is that aquote from a previous post of yours?

I don't recall seeing it.

Do post your solution.

Interested to see how you decided to go about it.

SIW2 said:

Hi,

The ntldr entry should not be pointing at J.

It should be pointing at the 100 mb partition.

Rt click the 100mb partition in Disk Management and give it drive letter S.

Use Easy Add/Remove entries to remove the existing XP entry.

Add a new XP entry - don't try and point Easy at a Drive letter, let Easy do it automatically and autoconfigure for you.

Hope it helps.

OK, that worked like a charm. Thanks. Now I just need to talk Microsoft into letting me use my old copy of XP.

I finally beat the blue screen of death! Now I have another problem, but first for others trying to install an old copy of XP on a new computer: I went to the device manager and looked under the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers and found that I have an "ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI" controller. Googled that baby and found a link where I could download that driver for XP. Then used the maxEasyGuide mentioned below to create a new boot disk which then installed XP on my D drive as outlined in the tutorial. (the link in the guide for drivers didn't include my driver) THANKS ALL FOR THE HELP!

Quote: Originally Posted by SIW2
Might be it doesn't have the correct drivers for the HD controller - is it an old install cd?

You might not have that problem with an XP cd that has SP3 integrated.

In any case - if you could get it to install - you would need to activate - I doubt you can do it with your product key - it is probably only for the machine it was originally installed on.

I think you will need an up to date XP install cd - and the appropriate product key.

You could try this- but would still have the product key conundrum:

maxEasyGuide: A) Slipstreaming SATA driver into WinXp boot cd using nLite

Standard XP SATA driver d/l here

----------------
Now for my new problem: I can only boot XP. I think that I understand that I have to change the boot manager in XP, but I can't get to the internet because XP doesn't recognize my network adapter and the new computer did not come with a boot/recovery disk so I can't boot from that to get into Windows7.

Any ideas??

Hi ramdib,

Great - you got it working.

You can either install easybcd on XP and reinstate 7 bootmanagement system - adding an entry for XP (see the tutorial - Method Two Step 9 onward).

Or use the 7 dvd /recovery disc and run startup repair -that will get you booting back into7 - then add XP entry to 7 bcd with Easybcd , or bcdedit.

Gizmodo

Kirb said:

SIW2 said:

Hi,

The ntldr entry should not be pointing at J.

It should be pointing at the 100 mb partition.

Rt click the 100mb partition in Disk Management and give it drive letter S.

Use Easy Add/Remove entries to remove the existing XP entry.

Add a new XP entry - don't try and point Easy at a Drive letter, let Easy do it automatically and autoconfigure for you.

Hope it helps.

OK, that worked like a charm. Thanks. Now I just need to talk Microsoft into letting me use my old copy of XP.

Everything works great except for a few cleanup issues I still need help on:
1. I have 8 GB of RAM in Windows 7 but XP only says I have 3.25 GB. How can I get access to the rest?
2. I found drivers and got all of the "Other Devices" which weren't working in XP up and running except the SM Bus Controller. In Win7 I see that the SM Bus Controller hardware is identified as Intel ICH9 Family and doesn't require a driver. What is the SM Bus Controller used for and how can I get it working?
3. As you figured SIW2, Microsoft says that I can't transfer my OEM copy of XP Home to my new computer even though I won't be running it on my old computer anymore, they don't sell XP any more and their recommended reseller, NewEgg.com, only sells the OEM version which NewEgg doesn't recommend for me. Grrr. I'd appreciate any suggestions here. What happens after my 30 day XP activation period expires if I don't (can't) activate?

1. I have 8 GB of RAM in Windows 7 but XP only says I have 3.25 GB. How can I get access to the rest?

As far as I know - you can't.

2. I found drivers and got all of the "Other Devices" which weren't working in XP up and running except the SM Bus Controller. In Windows 7 I see that the SM Bus Controller hardware is identified as Intel ICH9 Family and doesn't require a driver. What is the SM Bus Controller used for and how can I get it working?

Intel SM Bus drivers for Legacy Windows

3. As you figured SIW2, Microsoft says that I can't transfer my OEM copy of XP Home to my new computer even though I won't be running it on my old computer anymore, they don't sell XP any more and their recommended reseller, NewEgg.com, only sells the OEM version which NewEgg doesn't recommend for me. Grrr. I'd appreciate any suggestions here. What happens after my 30 day XP activation period expires if I don't (can't) activate?

If you don't activate within 30 days, it will start shutting down.

No idea why they don't want you to buy the oem key - except, as you discovered, once you install the XP oem key on that machine - that's it. You can't move it to another machine.

SIW2 said:

1. I have 8 GB of RAM in Windows 7 but XP only says I have 3.25 GB. How can I get access to the rest?

As far as I know - you can't.

2. I found drivers and got all of the "Other Devices" which weren't working in XP up and running except the SM Bus Controller. In Windows 7 I see that the SM Bus Controller hardware is identified as Intel ICH9 Family and doesn't require a driver. What is the SM Bus Controller used for and how can I get it working?

Intel SM Bus drivers for Legacy Windows

3. As you figured SIW2, Microsoft says that I can't transfer my OEM copy of XP Home to my new computer even though I won't be running it on my old computer anymore, they don't sell XP any more and their recommended reseller, NewEgg.com, only sells the OEM version which NewEgg doesn't recommend for me. Grrr. I'd appreciate any suggestions here. What happens after my 30 day XP activation period expires if I don't (can't) activate?

If you don't activate within 30 days, it will start shutting down.

No idea why they don't want you to buy the oem key - except, as you discovered, once you install the XP oem key on that machine - that's it. You can't move it to another machine.

Do you understand what constitutes "another machine"? Is it the processor, the motherboard, the hard drive or the box? Or something else? If you replace whatever that key component is does that mean you've lost your OEM key?

Typically, it is the mobo. If your mobo dies and you have to replace it - a call to MS free activation line to explain may result in them giving you new key.

I have seen a lot about dual booting Win XP and Windows 7 on a single drive but nothing for dual booting the same on 2 HDD's (XP on disk-0 and Win 7 disk-1 ). Is any info on this set-up available?
Thanks,
Stash