how do I double boot?
- Thread starter macnoob
- Start date
You don't simply download an OS and run it. You can run the installer if the drive already has a compatible partition on it and then run the installer(Vista?) which will replace the existing OS already installed. For dual booting two versions of Windows you need at least two separate partition if you don't have another drive installed for the second OS.
If you are planning to dual boot XP with a Vista download you would need a second drive since Vista will otherwise replace the XP installation. Once installed onto a second drive or when installing one version of XP on a second partition/drive the boot loader will then see two OS entries instead of one. From the boot up upon completing the installation the option to choose which version to load is then seen. One will be set as the default until a change is made in the boot loader itself.
If you are planning to dual boot XP with a Vista download you would need a second drive since Vista will otherwise replace the XP installation. Once installed onto a second drive or when installing one version of XP on a second partition/drive the boot loader will then see two OS entries instead of one. From the boot up upon completing the installation the option to choose which version to load is then seen. One will be set as the default until a change is made in the boot loader itself.
Impulse666
New Member
depending on the OSs you chose, its basically getting two drives, or two partitions on one drive, and installing an OS to each of them normally. then you just chose in CMOS which one to boot from primarily and another to boot up as a backup or secondary when you want to. i used one in my studio before i got a dedicated studio comp. i had one OS to surf and such, and then a small partition with the same OS, just with only basic drivers installed, and only necessary programs. the secondary ran much faster, but only because its never touched the net and thats why i used it record on.
The first thing to correct there is the bios boot order determines which drive will be searched first for a boot partition/OS loader. The cmos retains time and date as well as some other information like bios version. On many the options to choose to boot from another drive while one is set as the default is pressing the F8 or other assigned key next to the one seen for entering the bios setup on the first post screen.
That's not to be confused with the Windows F8 boot menu for choosing normal, last known, safe mode, safe mode and command prompt only. There the floppy drives are listed at the top of the blue colored screen there with the optical drives on the bottom. You scroll to the drive you want to load with the arrow keys there and press enter.
That's not to be confused with the Windows F8 boot menu for choosing normal, last known, safe mode, safe mode and command prompt only. There the floppy drives are listed at the top of the blue colored screen there with the optical drives on the bottom. You scroll to the drive you want to load with the arrow keys there and press enter.