Vista laptop, 2 hard disks, want to install XP?

Question

New laptop, Vista Business. 2 hard drives. Have legit XP Pro from previous laptop, different company, w/key code, other company's restore disks. Want to install XP on 2cd disk for dual boot system. Have done XP clean installs on old computer. Help, please. Should I remove the Vista hard drive and just do a clean install w/XP on the blank one? Should I try to install XP on the scd drive? Should I hire a tech? Should I give up and buy a cheap XP computer? Need XP for work for now.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Depending upon the size of the second partition, this tutorial may be useful :

http://apcmag.com/5485/dualbooting_vista_and_xp

Answer 2

To be honest, I've only installed Windows Vista once on an empty hard drive and I hardly even use it. Since Vista SP1 is going to be out soon to fix many problems, I need to brush up my Vista knowledge by using it more often. Even though I will try to use Vista more often, I still want to use XP. The best way is to install both Vista and XP on the same hard drive and make it dual bootable. There are 2 scenarios I can think of. First one is you already have Windows Vista installed and you'd like to install Windows XP as a secondary operating system. As for the second scenario, you are currently using Windows XP and would like to install Windows Vista.

We'll start off by learning how to dual boot Windows Vista and Windows XP with Vista installed first. In this tutorial, I assume that you know how to install Windows because I'll only be more detail in showing the important steps on how to configure your boot manager to dual boot between Windows Vista and Windows XP.

Just follow the steps below on how to dual boot Vista and XP with Vista installed first.

If Vista has been installed on a partition which takes up 100% of the hard drive, you need to repartition your drive to make some space for XP.

1. In Windows Vista, right click My Computer and select Manage. Expand Storage and select Disk Management. Right click on the drive that's taking 100% of the hard drive space, and select Shrink Volume.

- For my 250GB hard drive, I am able to shrink it to 160GB, leaving 77GB free space. 77GB should be enough for Windows XP. If you want more space than what Disk Management can give you, try using Disk Partition Tools from Hiren's BootCD.

2. Boot up computer with Windows XP CD and install it as normal on the new partition that you've created.

3. Once XP is installed, boot up compuer with Vista DVD. When you get the screen that says "Install Now", at the bottom you'll see "Repair your computer".

- Problem after installing Windows XP after Vista, you won't be able to boot into Vista with Windows XP Boot Loader. You need to use Vista Boot Loader.

4. Select Microsoft Windows Vista and click Next. At System Recovery Options, select "Startup Repair". Once it's has finished repairing, click Finish and the system will restart and boot into Vista.

5. Download and install EasyBCD.

6. Run EasyBCD and go to Add/Remove Entries. Select Drive E:\ first and then select Type Windows NT/2k/XP/2k3. Then type the name that you want it to appear in boot loader such as "Microsoft Windows XP" or "Windows XP" or even "XP". Click Add Entry and Save.


7. Reboot your computer and you should two entries in the Vista bootloader, and can boot into either operating system.


Now that wasn't too hard right?

STILL IF YOU HAVE ANY DOUBTS MAIL ME AT [e-mail]

Answer 3

if you would like to have both Vista and XP on one system then do a dual boot system....

you will need a minimum of a 20 gig hard drive..split into two 10 gigs,

to find out how you can do this do a web search on
dual boot+vista+XP

click on the link below

Answer 4

Chances are the 2nd hard-drive you're seeing is just a partitiion off the first hard-drive anyhow, the easiest thing would be just to get an old cheap computer and put XP on it, or build your own.

Answer 5

Dude you can install both the OS on the same HD...juz change the location of ur installation..(usally 4m C drive to D drive)...its an easy process..work it out ueself...if u cant hire a tech...but keep dat the last option..!!

Answer 6

yes, you can't installl xp over vista.

Answer 7

first never buy vista , secound good luck