Windows Vista + XP dual boot

synister

New Member
So here is my problem. I have Windows Vista installed on my computer. There are some programs that I want that only run with Windows XP, so I am trying to install it so I can dual boot with both operating systems. I created the second partition under Disk Management with 200 GB of free space to install Windows XP on, then I restarted my computer and put in my Windows XP install disk. It goes to the blue screen and starts booting things (on the bottom), but then I get to a page that reads this:

Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer.

Make sure any hard disk drives are powered on and properly connected to your computer, and that any disk-related hardware configuration is correct. This may involve running a manufacture-supplied diagnostic or setup program.

Setup cannot continue. to quit Setup, Press F3.

--------------------------------------
That is my problem. I read a lot about dual booting operating systems, and have read about something with it not being able to read SATA (?). I'm not too savvy when it comes to things like this but I do realize that this is under the BIOS. I went to the BIOS by pressing the [delete] button as my computer was booting up, and then proceeded to the Advanced tab. Under the Advanced tab I saw that there was a place that referred to SATA but didn't find out how to do anything useful with it. I read that I need to disable SATA Native Mode or something like that, but it's nowhere to be found.

Thats all I can say on my problem at this point, thank you! If you need me to explain more I will, I can upload some pictures too if necessary. Please help I need this fixed quickly! Much appreciated.
 
Some general system information like which type of hard drive you are running would help here. It's not that difficult to add XP to an existing Vista installation on a second partition. Just don't be surprized to see XP seeing itself as D not C when installing the older version on the same drive.

Most likely the installer is halting since there's a need for either a driver floppy where the installer will copy and load onboard sata controller driver from a prepared disk for that with the F6 option or waiting until the second installation screen appears for the "press S for special devices" option where you simply pick the chipset closest to the one your board uses. The installer will then detect the drives installed(sata I or II) and proceed to copy the setup files onto the drive/partition selected.

Since XP is going on after Vista you will need a good 3rd party tool if you are not familiar with the BCD editor included in Vista as well as copying some XP boot files to the root of the Vista primary. The free tool EasyBCD is the correct tool for this seeing the latest 1.7.2 release at http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1

Note that once a working dual boot is setup Vista's restore points will be lost whenever you boot into XP. A solution for that is currently being worked on while seeing a few delays and hasn't reached the first beta release quite yet.
 
Back
Top