how to duel boot my computor?

Question

windowsXP and vista home premeon

Answer 1

not a lot of info here...what operating systems/platforms are you trying to dual boot?


for xp and vista, first you will need to partition your hd, unless you have more than one. i recommend at least 30GB if possible for vista http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4701
then just put in the vista dvd and install to the new partition (not over you XP)

Answer 2

Normally you will have one OS installed. Then you need to Defrag to tighten things up on the Hard Drive and make a Recovery Disk in case the OS want to dispute the change.
Have the computer to boot from the CD/DVD Drive as first boot, this done in BIOS under BOOT in most cases. I put the new OS CD into the drive and Re-Boot and read the instructions. It will Partition the Hard Drive so the computer see it as two Hard Drives, usually C: and F: if there not other Drives taking F:
After everything is finished and your start for the first time you will usually see a screen and this where you choose which OS you want to Boot to. If, you not choose it will Boot to the first choice in about 15 seconds.
The "Time" to boot and which OS come first can be changed. You should ask this in a separate question so you not be confused and it does take more to say.

IF, you installing Linux with Windows, you may want to use the Default suggestions if you not understand Partitioning the Hard Drive and let Linux do the thinking for you.

Answer 3

Firstly, back up your data. Then you need to run special software to divide your hard disk into two partitions. Vista can then be installed in the normal way in the second partition.

Paragon Hard Disk Manager would do the partitioning. There is a free copy of this on the CD that comes with Personal Computer World magazine, May 2007 (maybe not in all shops yet).

Answer 4

The idea way to do it is have two hard drives,I did this myself.But you must set one to master and one to slave.I had to switch them when I wanted to run the other os.But if you are doing this because of vista comparability problems it is getting better.I have received several updates and almost every thing is working on my machine now so deleted xp and am using the other drive as storage...good luck

Answer 5

there are two to Dual Boot
1 Boot your Computer with xp insert vista DVD and Istall Vista with Clean instalation remember only with clean instalation not upgrade if you do so you will not get dual boot option.
2 open c:/boot.ini
[boot loader]
timeout=20
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

Edit this entry if you are installing in same partion and folder name winvista add entry like that
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINVISTA="Microsoft Windows VISTA" /fastdetect

Answer 6

dual boot with what? you need to specify what you want to do(example: another install of XP, linux, mac OS ,etc.)