hi i am in the middle of downloading windows vista 32bit i am planing on installing it on a new hdd and i want to know if i can dual boot because i will have xp on another hdd if i can duel boot how do i do it and can vista mess up my pc or when i boot xp will it run as it always does with know problems
vista
- Thread starter meanman
- Start date
PC Hobbyist
New Member
Yes, you can dual boot; however, as far as I know, both operating systems need to be on the same physical harddrive (but different partitions) - at least for Windows they do. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong on that. At least, that is how I have always done it.
Anyway, you can either use a program like Partition Magic to set up your partitions and install different OS's on them, or you can create a partition yourself in xp and then when you install Vista, it asks you what partition you want to install it on, in which case you choose the one you created (or else it will install on top of xp).
Here are instructions for creating partitions yourself in case you don't know how:
Microsoft's instructions
Other instructions with pictures
After you have both OS's set up, your computer will ask you upon booting up what OS's you wish to load. In windows xp pro, you can access these settings in:
control panel - system - advanced tab - startup and recovery settings
Like I mentioned in the beginning, before you spend your time installing Vista, make sure you can actually have it on a different physical harddrive than xp. My understanding is that you cannot, but I could be wrong. Also, it is always good to back up data that is important to you in case something goes wrong and you lose your files. It has never happened to me, but I still back up just in case.
Hint: I highly recommend having the My Documents, My Pictures folders etc... in their own partition/drive, so that in case something goes wrong with the partition where the OS is installed, your files will remain untouched. However, for important data, always save onto a cd or dvd as an extra safety measure.
If you want, I can tell you how to set up your registry so that your computer knows that those special folders are now located in a different place other than in the C drive. That way you will still see them in the open and save dialog boxes etc... just like they normally are.
Anyway, you can either use a program like Partition Magic to set up your partitions and install different OS's on them, or you can create a partition yourself in xp and then when you install Vista, it asks you what partition you want to install it on, in which case you choose the one you created (or else it will install on top of xp).
Here are instructions for creating partitions yourself in case you don't know how:
Microsoft's instructions
Other instructions with pictures
After you have both OS's set up, your computer will ask you upon booting up what OS's you wish to load. In windows xp pro, you can access these settings in:
control panel - system - advanced tab - startup and recovery settings
Like I mentioned in the beginning, before you spend your time installing Vista, make sure you can actually have it on a different physical harddrive than xp. My understanding is that you cannot, but I could be wrong. Also, it is always good to back up data that is important to you in case something goes wrong and you lose your files. It has never happened to me, but I still back up just in case.
Hint: I highly recommend having the My Documents, My Pictures folders etc... in their own partition/drive, so that in case something goes wrong with the partition where the OS is installed, your files will remain untouched. However, for important data, always save onto a cd or dvd as an extra safety measure.
If you want, I can tell you how to set up your registry so that your computer knows that those special folders are now located in a different place other than in the C drive. That way you will still see them in the open and save dialog boxes etc... just like they normally are.
PC Hobbyist
New Member
Actually, I looked into it a bit more because I was feeling hesitant with what I knew.
Here are some highlights:
1. Yes, you can install two OS's in two different physical hard drives
2. It is important to know what operating systems you want installed, because the order in which you install them makes a difference.
3. Programs like partition magic and acronis can make your life easier when setting up different OS's.
4. Take the time to get informed about what is the best way to do it for your specific case. Google and Microsoft have a lot of info regarding this.
See these articles that I found regarding multibooting:
MS article - Multibooting with windows xp (4 pages)
MS article - Correct installation order is essential
MS article - How to multiboot the various windows versions
MS article - Multibooting Windows Vista
It was in this last Vista article that they mention the possibility of installing on separate hard drives.
@Bobo: I don't know if being able to install on 2 HDs means that you can simply take either one of them out and still be able to boot. I suppose it would work, but I can't say that with 100% certainty. I assume your HDs are internal and not usb - because as far as I know, you cannot boot to a usb hard drive.
Can anybody else enlighten us here?
Here are some highlights:
1. Yes, you can install two OS's in two different physical hard drives
2. It is important to know what operating systems you want installed, because the order in which you install them makes a difference.
3. Programs like partition magic and acronis can make your life easier when setting up different OS's.
4. Take the time to get informed about what is the best way to do it for your specific case. Google and Microsoft have a lot of info regarding this.
See these articles that I found regarding multibooting:
MS article - Multibooting with windows xp (4 pages)
MS article - Correct installation order is essential
MS article - How to multiboot the various windows versions
MS article - Multibooting Windows Vista
It was in this last Vista article that they mention the possibility of installing on separate hard drives.
@Bobo: I don't know if being able to install on 2 HDs means that you can simply take either one of them out and still be able to boot. I suppose it would work, but I can't say that with 100% certainty. I assume your HDs are internal and not usb - because as far as I know, you cannot boot to a usb hard drive.
Can anybody else enlighten us here?
Last edited:
OK, I installed Vista on a separate partition on my XP drive, and it works fine to dual-boot, it comes up with Windows Boot Manager. What I am going to try next is to install XP on the second hard drive, and see if that installation also shows up in the Boot Manager.
And about those links: I have installed operating systems in different orders than that and they work fine, because they are all NTFS-based. So NT, 2000, XP and Vista can be installed in whatever order (doing a clean install on a different partition)
And about those links: I have installed operating systems in different orders than that and they work fine, because they are all NTFS-based. So NT, 2000, XP and Vista can be installed in whatever order (doing a clean install on a different partition)
Last edited:
PC Hobbyist
New Member
Bobo said:
Well I assume it will work with xp on that other HD. Let me know, though. The problem with changing the order in which you install the OS's can arise when you mix between the following two groups or between the versions in group 1:
group 1: (Win 95, 98, ME) all use the same boot file
and
group 2: win 2000, xp, NT
Here is a quote from microsoft:
"Therefore (because they share a boot file), multiple booting Windows 95, 98, and Me at the same time is not supported.
You should install Win 95, 98, or Me before you install Win NT, 2000, and XP to prevent the Win 95, 98, or Me Setup program from replacing the XP, 2000, or NT boot sector with its own boot sector. Because 95, 98, or Me boot sector identifies the partition as a FAT16 or FAT32 partition, Win NT, 2000, and XP can no longer access NTFS volumes."
But in practicality, most people today are dealing with 2000, xp, NT, Vista and most likely NTFS so yeah, it should be fine.
Also, I believe Microsoft's quote does not apply when you are using programs like partition magic etc... because those programs take care of the boot file and sector issue. In any case, those programs are made to throw a red flag at you and warn you if you are about to screw up.