Vista pc and dual boot...

[lynx]

I have a new pc preinstalled with Vista . I have a Samsung 160gb hd from my old pc which i would like to install to my new pc installed with XP-Pro.Any tips on how to do this? With my old pc i had two separate drives, both installed with XP, i simply made an additional command line to the boot.ini file and when windows began to load i was given the choice which hd to boot up.Question is can i do the same with Vista's boot ini file.The intention is to have the standard oem drive in my pc retained as master and the Samsung as salve installed with XP.....any problems with this?

Now another question, this ones a little unconventional. The pc shipped with a paltry 512mb of DDR2, i have several gigs of DDR400 lying spare.Obviously they are slightly physically different - the locating slot is very slightly out of alignment.I can easily adapt a module of DDR to physically fit the memory slot...am i on a hiding to nothing attempting to try this????

As a point of interest, Crucials system scan reports as DDR2 - 4100. I've never heard of this speed, is it a mistake?

[Bilbob]

Most modern machines, and just about anything 'branded' will use the more modern ddr2 spec memory, and no, you can't 'adapt' the old ddr to fit

You will have to buy new stuff, or buy off the forums.

As for vista then xp, it's notoriously difficult. Vista refuses to let you!

A good goolge will give you a better answer, but I looked into it to get it running in the same way on my new vista lappy. Couldn't do it. I ended up reformatting and putting XP back on it

[Singh400]

Vista doesn't use the old boot.ini method. It's boot process has been completly rewritten.

Yes you can dual boot XP & Vista.

However you will need to install XP first, then Vista.

PS, Wrong section

[Uridium]

Multibooting with Windows OS'es has always been like this, even if it was NT4 and W2k you always need to install the oldest OS first.

As you've just got the machine you should have a recovery CD (or the option to create one from files on your hard drive) so if you want to multiboot now is the time to do it before you customise the vista install to much.

Just wipe the PC install XP on one partiton then re-install Vista.

[The Dude]

No need to wipe your Vista install if you've got a second drive to use for XP.

In the good old days of boot.ini, you'd do it like this:
Install your second drive, install XP on it, set this drive as the primary boot device, and use the Boot.ini within the XP install to launch Vista from the other disk.

Exactly the same result as with reformatting and starting again, but without the need to reformat and start again.


I don't think that works with Vista though (maybe it does?), so the nice people on the internet came up with VistaBootPRO


I haven't used it myself, but it comes on good recommendation.


Found some instructions here.... with two drives it should be even easier, you can ignore most of the steps listed there!

[The Dude]

Even easier, if it's possible with your kit:

With some PC BIOS, when you hit the 'Boot Device' option at startup (F12 etc) you're presented with the option of which HDD to boot from.


If you've got this option available, then that's all you'd need to use.

Two standalone Windows installations, on seperate physical drives, is the holy grail of dual-booting..... Nothing much changes there, even with Vista.

[JohnG]

Originally Posted by The Dude

Even easier, if it's possible with your kit:

With some PC BIOS, when you hit the 'Boot Device' option at startup (F12 etc) you're presented with the option of which HDD to boot from.


If you've got this option available, then that's all you'd need to use.

Two standalone Windows installations, on seperate physical drives, is the holy grail of dual-booting..... Nothing much changes there, even with Vista.

Yes, I do that with XP and Linux, works quite well for me.

[lynx]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm off out for the day and will look at the suggestions later. The one thing i need to keep simple is a clear and quick choice of os to choose from at boot up as kids/wife will also require to use the pc.

[The Dude]

From what I can see, It looks just like dual-booting XP, only you use VistabootPRO to create a vista bootloader on the XP drive, rather than editing boot.ini as previously done.


So,

1 install your old drive
2 set this drive in BIOS as your primary boot device
3 install XP on it
4 install&run VistaBootPRO on it
5 Reboot into a 'Windows Vista' boot menu.


Cracking little tool, by the looks of things.