Can I install windows on another HD and run two OS's?

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ProfitOfDoom

Member
I had a virus that killed my windows boot system,and pretty much my HD.
So a friend installed a OS that is having problems on a new HD but my pc still see's the old HD but it says I must format it to use it.
My question is can I format the old HD and install my windows 7 Pro disc "legitimate Copy" and have two operating systems on my one computer and use them separately as if I would have two computers in one?
 
Sounds good,Any type of instruction or things I would need to do?
Say I did this how would it work,would there be a option on what drive to use,or would my current OS be like the main start up then I go into my other drive once this OS is open to choose the other drive with the new OS on it.
 
First you'll want to make sure you know which drive you'll be installing to. All you do is boot to your Windows CD, follow the prompts, and format the desired drive. Every time you boot, you'll get a boot menu that will appear allowing you to select which OS you want to boot to (you can rename them later to make it easier).
 
If it for some reason doesn't give you an option to choose during boot (it almost certainly will), you can add boot entries (options) using a program called EasyBCD
 
Yes, You can. You can have two operating systems in the two different Hard Drives. What I did was that I had installed Windows XP in C Drive and Windows 7 in E drive and I had no problem at all. It is a wise decision to keep both OS in a computer. If one gets corrupted somehow, the other can be used instead.
 
I'm thinking about doing this with XP 64 and Win 7 64. I currently have Win 7 64 installed. Do I need to use EasyBCD or just point XP to the install partition? Back in XP days it was easy to modify the boot.ini, but now you can't since there is no boot.ini. I haven't done this in a long time.
 
Use EasyBCD from either OS and add the other installation. You wouldnt need to do this for WIndows when you go from old to newer, but adding an older OS you need to add the boot as it gets overwritten otherwise.

So add XP, install EasyBCD, add a Windows 7 boot entry and then you're done.
 
Agent Smith said:
I'm thinking about doing this with XP 64 and Win 7 64. I currently have Win 7 64 installed. Do I need to use EasyBCD or just point XP to the install partition? Back in XP days it was easy to modify the boot.ini, but now you can't since there is no boot.ini. I haven't done this in a long time.
Click to expand...

Wow XP 64?
It's been a long time since I saw someone using it lol.
Not saying it's bad,but it's 64 bit and mostly people who are on XP is 32 bit.
Who knows what we will have once 128-bit processors come into existance. :rolleyes:
 
I used XP 64 for years. Never had an issue. I need XP for Flight Simulator as my add-ons don't play well in Windows 7. It runs, but it's flaky. I had great success with XP.
 
Okedokey said:
Really? Run FXS in WIndows XP mode on 7 would be better.
Click to expand...
Windows XP mode is OK for some things but does not match a full copy of Windows XP Pro. The following hardware is emulated:
Intel Pentium II (32-bit)
Standard SVGA VESA graphics card - S3 Trio 32 PCI (4 MB RAM)
Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 ISA PnP

Since it was developed as a stopgap for business customers that should be enough for the type of applications they typically use.

I sometimes use Windows XP mode to support some software/hardware that does not work in Windows 7. As I replace those I will eventually have no need for Windows XP mode.

BTW, I do have old no longer used copies of Windows XP Pro so if I needed it bad enough I could install it as a dual-boot.
 
Agent Smith said:
I think he's referring to what compatibility mode does.
Click to expand...

Either way, it doesn't do what he says. It simply looks up an application table and executes shims which call for specific dll files that make an application operate as though it was in another version of windows whilst being within the same security and user profile of the current version. It has nothing to do with emulation. I am talking about right click, run as XP, not Windows XP Mode downloaded....
 
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