Dual boot x64 and xp

E

eddievanzant

New Member
Hi, I have a problem, and I haven't found a tutorial that helps exactly.
I already have xp x64 on a partition with 10 gb of free space. I would like to shrink this partition and use the free space to install xp, and be able to dual boot.
What program should I use to shrink the partition and make another one?
What program should I use to dual boot?

Also, is it possible to install two operating systems on one partition?
 
The last time I saw two versions of Windows on the same partition was when custom installing 98SE to a Window98 directory instead of the default Windows while having 95 on the same Fat16 primary. No way since then! Each OS needs it's own primary for normal use. That custom install seen with the two Fat based versions simply saw 98 run without anything else then.

Only 10gb of free drive space? How large is the drive? With a drive nearly full shrinking a partition is quite limited and the need to backup files to another drive or medium is advised first. You might see that space shrunk down where you could see a 4-5gb primary created for XP but not much room there.

By default XP will see about 2gb of that space reserved for the paging file used for virtual memory. 2-3gb would cramp XP or any other version. Freeing up more drive space first for seeing a larger second primary as well as planning to reinstall Vista later to see the newer version install XP as a boot option has to be planned out.
 
I got up to 15 gb. I just don't know what programs to use in what order. I'm not planning on using xp very often, I just want to run a couple programs that can't run on xp x64.
 
Anything over 8gb is actually good for the basics even though XP will run on smaller partitions or drives. That leaves room for some softwares that chew up drive space as well as any folders created for storing files in. You would be surprised how fast that can go even on a 500gb drive!
 
Small or few larger ones that won't run on the 64bit edition would be the only answer there. Often games meant for multiple versions of Windows will be more flexible then those written specifically for the 32bit editions.

Desktop applications usually take more of the brunt there however not being as cross platformed. Just going to a newer version of Windows too often requires a newer version of programs you may be currently running. With the lack of drive space for the 32bit edition you may be better off shrinking the one for XP Pro 64 in order to see more run on the 32bit edition.

Many simply skipped over the 64bit edition of XP to try out the Vista editions instead due to the increase seen in support there. They are also looking at running 4gb of memory at the time usually.
 
There are retail programs as well as the free Linux Gnome Partition Editor generally known as GParted that are used for resizing MS as well as Linux VFat type partitions. The few platform independent versions can be also be used to see new Fat or NTFS type partitions created.

The first step you need to take there however is backing up anything important on the current Vista 64 primary not only to free up the needed drive space in order to shrink that in size but to avoid losing anything if somethine goes wrong. The full install disk for Vista sees it's own drive partitioning tool there in the repair tools section.

Once you have copied files to another drive or backed them up on removable media you then shrink the primary down far enough to see the second primary created. The XP installer will format the new primary when going to install XP on it. But to see Vista install XP into it's own boot loader being the newer version you will then need to see Vista reinstalled afterwards.

At first Vista will remain the default OS that will boot but see the option for previous version of Windows as a choice at startup. You can use two different ways to see XP made the default OS through the boot order section in Vista's version of the msconfig utility or by using a a BCD editing tool like EasyBCD. http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1

Dual booting XP along with Vista will likely see the Vista restore points lost on the 64bit as well as the 32bit editions. The links here will cover additional information on dual booting with XP and the work around for preserving Vista's restore points.

A general Faqs page for dual booting Vista with one of XP's editions is seen at http://vistafaqs.com/viewfaq.aspx?faq=73

One MS MVP's guidelines for prevernting the loss of restore points can be reviewed at http://vistasupport.mvps.org/preven...ng_lost_when_dual_booting_with_windows_xp.htm
 
Eventually you may since Vista's 64bit edtitions see far better driver support now then XP Pro 64 did. But GParted is still a great free tool for partitioning a drive especially when planning a dual boot. XP's Disk Management tool lacks the ability to resize partitions.

You will have to see files removed from the current primary however. Backing things up is the usual adivce as well as simply seeing more free drive available. Shrinking takes quite a bit longer to see done then simply expanding an existing primary.

For using GParted first get familiar with how that works by reviewing the documentation provided along with screen shots at http://gparted.sourceforge.net/larry/generalities/gparted.htm

Try a few practice runs to get familiar with how to boot it up to the main gui first. Simply pressing the enter key at each prompt leaving the settings the way they are seen like 1024x768 for a screen resolution and 24bit and not switching to 32bit will see it load right up for you.

The platform independent releases for creating new MS Fat or NTFS type partitions are two in number currently available at http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=115843&package_id=173828

The screen shot below shows the 0.3.3.0 and 0.3.2.0 releases with the 0.3.3.0 seeing the fastest load time when booting from the cd-r seeing the iso image burned to it.



Need a program that reliably burns iso images to disk? You can generally use a cd writer or dvd burner for this with the free version of BurnOn found at http://www.burnworld.com/burnoncddvd/

Another free burning program often used is the Deep Burner free program found at http://www.deepburner.com/?r=download BurnOn opens up an IE window for huying the full version after each burn. But I found that good for data dvd backups and other burns as well as seeing GParted images burned to disk.
 
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