Dual Boot Installation with Windows 7 and XP

thanks for the quick reply guys ,

1 yes win7 first then xp
2 i see both: my xp partition under D: & win7 is under C: no matter what os i am using.
I just dont want to have to change software installs to D: when im in XP.

PS: i tried to disable the drive letter for win7( C: ) in XP but it errors saying it cant disable/change a system/boot drive letter
PPS:
i have disabled the drive letter for the xp partition in win7 so i dont see it, although im a bit worried (havnt rebooted yet) it wont boot back to xp now that ive done that ?

It doesn't matter - I deliberately set my system up so my first partition (Vista) is always seeen as C, and my second partition (7) is always seen as D - no matter which o/s I boot into, all the drive letters are consistent.

When I am booted into 7 ( D) - I find virtually all software installers automatically point to D.

davidjohn610 said:

I have the same issue, i had 7 on my one pc, just added XP and all i get is error loading operating system. did a fixmbr on the xp drive but still the same thing? any help please?

Hi David,

You need to reinstate the 7 boot management system, and add an entry for XP to that.

Easiest way is to run 7 startup repair from the dvd 3 times.

Boot into 7 - install easybcd on 7.

http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1

Click add/remove entry.

In the drop down flap , select "Windows NT/2K/XP/2K3".

Type the name you want - select the active partition for Drive letter.

Click Add Entry.

SIW2 said:

It doesn't matter - I deliberately set my system up so my first partition (Vista) is always seeen as C, and my second partition (7) is always seen as D - no matter which o/s I boot into, all the drive letters are consistent.

When I am booted into 7 ( D) - I find virtually all software installers automatically point to D.

Ahh No probs thanks, thats mainly what i was concerned about.
Is there a way to get both OS showing up as C: in each respective boot up ? if not i'll just have to get used to it. :) just that i would like to know in case of probs.


PS: if i disable my XP ( D ) Letter in win7 disk management, will i still be able to boot into XP?

You may have all sorts of trouble if you change the letter for the System partition.

As XP is ( presumably) a boot partition - not the system partition - you may be okay to do that - but you can't make it C as that is already used.

No point , really.

SIW2 said:

You may have all sorts of trouble if you change the letter for the System partition.

As XP is ( presumably) a boot partition - not the system partition - you may be okay to do that - but you can't make it C as that is already used.

No point , really.

Ok SIW2 thanks very much for your help, much appreciated :)

SIW2,

Thanks for the info, however I already lost patience with it late last night and tried using a boot disc I have "Mr. O's Boot" . I tried a few utilities and no luck, for some reason before xp finished installing it rebooted. thus causing it not to find a valid boot location. I messed with it then just wiped it and threw XP on to be sure the board drivers i rounded up worked. Now that it is on I am going to use the pc for what I needed xp for, then install 7 back on then "hopefully" get that xp partition working. I have done this many times before and really got stumped. I tried the XP disc on another PC and it did the same thing, with around 14 mins left in the "Setting up XP" screen it reboots. That disc went in the trash soon there after. Your info will def help out a bunch when it comes time to do this again, is it possible to do it efficiently with XP on first. It seems like every one does it with 7 on initially?

Dave

SIW2 said:

davidjohn610 said:

I have the same issue, i had 7 on my one pc, just added XP and all i get is error loading operating system. did a fixmbr on the xp drive but still the same thing? any help please?

Hi David,

You need to reinstate the 7 boot management system, and add an entry for XP to that.

Easiest way is to run 7 startup repair from the dvd 3 times.

Boot into 7 - install easybcd on 7.

Download EasyBCD 1.7.2 - NeoSmart Technologies

Click add/remove entry.

In the drop down flap , select "Windows NT/2K/XP/2K3".

Type the name you want - select the active partition for Drive letter.

Click Add Entry.

Hi,


Yes,you can do it the other way round.

If you install 7 after XP - it will normally add XP into the boot menu automatically.

If not - for example, if you change the Active partition - you can again install Easybcd on 7 and have it add the XP entry to bcd for you.

chuckr said:

loadingtext said:

Good guide.

I have Windows 7 installed. I want to dual boot with Windows XP. I already have the separate partition in place for Windows XP. Here is my problem.

Everytime I restart Windows and put in the Windows XP CD. It goes to the standard blue setup screen, then checks the files. But then it does not load to the Windows XP menu to install Windows XP, but rather, it goes to the blue screen.

Any help on this issue would be good.

Pretty sure that you have to boot from the XP CD, and install from there.

See if that does the trick for you...

Be aware that when you finish XP installation,

you'll probably lose your w7 Bootmgr screen...

I did. Same problem. I can't seem to slipstream the SATA driver on my window XP CD.

By the way, would a 64 bit system work with a 32 bit OS?