where to install programs when dual booting

S

sarus86

New Member
ok so im just wanting to make sure, with dual booting when i am installing programs where do i install them too? do i install them to the data partition or the xp partition or the windows 7 partition? i want to use the programs on both OS. Im just trying to double check what i have read. Thank you in advance.
 
You have to install each program you want to use on each OS. Since Windows, by design, does not use self contained applications you must install each app you want on each copy of the OS. So, if you want to install games that will run on either OS you must install that game twice.

Typically, you will have a "Programs" folder which these things install into.
 
ok thank you thats what i thought, i just wanted to double check before i went and did this. What size would you recommend partitioning the OS partitions too then if i am going to have to install programs on them?? no games really just stuff like virus protection, microsoft office, google chrome, and maybe a few other, but not really any games
 
Do you need to dual boot? Ever think about just running Windows 7 and then Windows XP in a virtual machine? Really, there is no benefit from running two versions of Windows unless you wanted native support on an old legacy product.
 
i dont "need" to dual boot, i moreso just want to for the fun of it and to learn windows 7 before i go and completely wipe out my xp which i am use to and like to use still. but no i guess i dont "need" to just want to
 
Well, to be honest, a virtual machine will be best I think for your needs. You can still use Windows XP with in Windows 7. Then once you want to get rid of XP you can just delete the virtual machine instead of having to deal with multiple OSes, a boot loader and other annoyances that come with dual booting.
 
we'll c, ill have to read more about virtual machines, i havent really heard any issues about dual booting, and it sounds fairly easy to do and manage. What annoyances might there be??
 
I have messed with virtual machines a little bit it was kinda nice to have and run. I really enjoyed looking a how to configure something in xp, then looking at how 7 does it by just minimizing the xp window. I just think that a dual boot will be a hassle to work with and a bit permanent if you want to make the switch to 7. As for potential problems, I'm not too sure if this was the problem but I tried to run xp 64 bit as my virtual machine in my windows 7 32 bit that gave me an error saying that the cpu was not 64 bit compatible. Maybe someone with more knowledge about them can clear some of that up. But I would highly recommend it.
 
sarus86 said:
we'll c, ill have to read more about virtual machines, i havent really heard any issues about dual booting, and it sounds fairly easy to do and manage. What annoyances might there be??
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One major annoyance is you gotta reboot every time you want to switch OSes. With a VM, you just fire up the VM and you never have to reboot. You can also easily share files between your VM and your native OS by drag and drop, where as on separate partitions you are going to have file permissions issues. Plus VMs boot faster and as long as you aren't doing any heavy work they run just as fast as the native OS.

Really, dual booting is kind of old and busted way of using 2 OSes.
 
i guess the having to reboot would be a personal preference on if it was annoying or not (on a quick machine i dont have an issue there) as for sharing files, i have read thats why you make a third partition and save all your files to that and that way if you have the program on both OS you can open it on either with no issues. But like i said ill have to read about VMs because i really dont know much if any about them.
 
sarus86 said:
i guess the having to reboot would be a personal preference on if it was annoying or not (on a quick machine i dont have an issue there) as for sharing files, i have read thats why you make a third partition and save all your files to that and that way if you have the program on both OS you can open it on either with no issues. But like i said ill have to read about VMs because i really dont know much if any about them.
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Oh trust me, I have a very decent spec computer (well a couple of them) and virtual machines run WAAAAAAY faster than dual booting. I mean boot time on my Linux VM (ubuntu) on my PC is about 3 to 5 seconds and I am at the desktop.
 
that def is quick, what do you recommend for a virtual machine? like do you use virtualbox? i dont really know and of them
 
sarus86 said:
as for sharing files, i have read that's why you make a third partition and save all your files to that and that way if you have the program on both OS you can open it on either with no issues.
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While I think that it will work, It seems like more work than it is worth depending on the size of your hard drive. If you partition a space for documents, there is a chance that you will fill that up and have extra space between the other partitions that can not be shared. It seems kinda risky to me since I'm fairly sure that you can't delete partitions. (someone correct me if I'm wrong).
 
As I understand it you must have Win 7 pro to download VM. I have Win 7 home premium so seems to be out for me. I 've gone for dual boot with XP and 7 on separate HDDs.
 
firefrost said:
As I understand it you must have Win 7 pro to download VM. I have Win 7 home premium so seems to be out for me. I 've gone for dual boot with XP and 7 on separate HDDs.
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Uh what? Virtual PC is free from MS and runs on all versions of Windows. Virtual box is made by Sun and is free and works on all versions of Windows.
 
Perhaps I've got it wrong. On M/S web page Windows Virtual PC it states
Introducing Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual Machine, Available on Win 7 Pro and ultimate. Further on I tried to down load a tool and got the message I needed Win 7 Pro.
I did not go any further.
 
firefrost said:
Perhaps I've got it wrong. On M/S web page Windows Virtual PC it states
Introducing Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual Machine, Available on Win 7 Pro and ultimate. Further on I tried to down load a tool and got the message I needed Win 7 Pro.
I did not go any further.
Click to expand...

Oh well, it isn't that great of a product anyway, I would say check this out instead

http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

It is fantastic for being free and open source
 
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