Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP

Try with only 3 partition.


Screenshot here greg
can't install Xp after 7

Saw that. The XP installer should create Primary NTFS and mark Active but I suppose you could make sure by using free Partition Wizard bootable CD to be sure you get the optimal partitioning for install.

Note if install fails again you'll have to move Active flag back to 100mb System Reserved partition to boot 7.

gregrocker said:

I suppose you could make sure by using free Partition Wizard bootable CD to be sure you get the optimal partitioning for install.

got it. any special settings whe i partition ?

i'll just have partitions then

PW will see to it you can have your maximum four Primary partitions which Disk Mgmt will not do - it will offer Logical Extended for the fourth.

So I'd try creating the fourth XP install partition as Primary NTFS then Modify>Set to Active using PW boot CD so you can set it back if it doesn't work after trying install.

This works sometimes for Win7 installation failures.

must i have 4 partitions ? i was just gonna pare down to 3

System
Windows 7
Windows XP

That's fine.

I followed the guide for partitioning and created a new space of 50gb. When i check properties it only shows 99.9mb? Before I found this out I tried to load Windows XP home Ed. and instead of asking where to install it just started the install after which it instructed me to shut down the computer to avoid damage to the system. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong ? I'm not very comuter savy. any help would be greatly appreciated

Jerry11 said:

I followed the guide for partitioning and created a new space of 50gb. When i check properties it only shows 99.9mb? Before I found this out I tried to load Windows XP home Ed. and instead of asking where to install it just started the install after which it instructed me to shut down the computer to avoid damage to the system. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong ? I'm not very comuter savy. any help would be greatly appreciated

1) First check for all the Win XP drivers for your hardware on the manufacturer's web site.
2) Can you post a screen shot of Disk management?
3) For better help with problems, Can you post your specs.

gregrocker said:

So I'd try creating the XP install partition as Primary NTFS then Modify>Set to Active using PW boot CD so you can set it back if it doesn't work after trying install.

ok, i'm ready to create my XP partition [which will be partition #3]

should i create the partition from within Windows 7, or us PW boot CD ?

thx again

First try booting the XP CD to see if you can create a partition there and full Format NTFS. Report back exactly what happens including verbatim error messages.