"special" dual boot Vista/XP

Hi Fixo,

I try to stay away from extra software packages, if the solution can be done with what's already on the system, so my solution is...>

If you're Motherboard BIOS supports booting from a different device, ss an example on startup during the memory count, I press F8 key and I can boot from any of the 4 devices in my IDE controller (Primary/Master, Primary/Slave, Secondary/Master, Secondary/Slave).

Good luck,
DrD

There are bits of information sprinkled throughout this article that you may be able to adapt to your situation.

How to dual boot Vista and XP (with Vista installed first) -- the step-by-step guide

You could also look at VistaProBoot.

In your situation, "DrD123's" suggestion may be the easiest. Besides using F8 during the first part of the Boot process, some older machines use the "Esc" to display boot options. You may have to research the appropriate method for your machine.

There are some third party Boot Manager software that boots from floppy that perform the same type of function.



Have a look at Smart Boot Manager among those links, I have used it in the past but the documentation is a bit lacking, however it is a very small program that can be installed on the hard drive or run from floppy. Not sure how they would handle Vista as that may be a bit harder?

These will always get you into XP at boot time.

How to Use System Files to Create a Boot Disk to Guard Against Being Unable to Start Windows XP (Q314079)

Q305595 - HOW TO: Create a Boot Disk for an NTFS or FAT Partition in Windows XP

I thrive on a multiboot system setup....hee!…hee!
Ok now first you have to have these programs or similar software and hardware that is equal to them
1. Partition Magic 8 (doesn't work in Vista)
2. XOSL or equivalent 3. Two hard drives or more
4. A floppy drive (sometimes not needed)
5. An old Windows 98 boot floppy

Ok now this is where it gets fun
Download XOSL …just to note it is an old program and some video cards don’t work with it…if this is the case system commander is pretty good. If you run a Google search of Hiren’s Boot CD 9.0 that is pretty good but it does have ethical copyright issues….LOL.

I absolutely DO NOT LIKE AT ALL the Microsoft boot manager.
It is an absolute headache to use and is very limited

Before I begin I just want to let you know that this setup will also work with Linux and any other OS…at least so far that I have found.

Prepping the XP OS:
1. Reconfigure the Computer so the XP is the first boot up hard drive.
2. Unplug the Vista drive from the system
3. In XP make a bootable floppy and copy PQboot.exe from the DOS portion of partition magic it should be here C:\Program Files\PowerQuest\PartitionMagic 8.0\DOS
if you have the Symantec version then it will be in a different spot. I happen to have the older version
4. Using Partition Magic create a 57 meg primary partition FAT32 at the end of the drive. You will have to resize the XP partition so it will fit.
5. Copy to the new Fat32 partition the DOS folder in partition magic. And copy the XOSL folder that you have already unzipped. Make sure that you have copied the last folder with the install files…this makes it easier to get to in the DOS environment.
6. copy PQboot.exe to the fat32 drive
7. Using PQboot32.exe reboot to the Fat32 drive. The drive will boot and say no system disk found
8. Reboot with the bootable 98 floppy and Run the SYS C:
9. Reboot without the floppy and it should boot to the DOS and read C:\
10. Type in CD Xosl it should read C:\XOSL\
11. Type in Install
12. Load XOSL and reboot when prompted
13. Go to setup tab (within XOSL)
14. Select the XP primary partition. Name it what you want. Here is a link to that pages setup 15. Test boot to XP
16. Shut down and hook op the Vista drive
17. Boot to XOSL and go to setup…then setup the Vista to boot. Check Swap drives.
18. Hide the xp drive for now
19. Go to preference and check auto boot last drive
20. Boot to Vista and make sure it boots ok. It should boot as though it is C:\ drive
21. Reboot and unhide the XP
22. boot to Vista and you will see the XP drive and your Vista drive
23. reboot to XP and you will see the Vista drive

Here is the XOSL help manuals


read the manual to make sure I did not miss any steps

I currently use 5 drives
• XP and the fat32 partition
• Vista Ultimate
• Ubunta
• XP clone of primary drive (updated once a week)
• DOS windows 3.1 drive for an old game I play


I hope this helps

Hi,
Given the relatively low price of new Vista-based computers, I would rather have 2 computers then go through all those steps...Too many failure points and chances for 'gotchas' that could be hard to debug..

Just my 2c





To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

LOL....
I have 3 to 6 six computers at any one time. but my primary I use for all the day to day stuff. the secondary one I use for all my work stuff...then I have a web/ftp server and of course a laptop with Vista Ultimate. the rest come and go as needed...loaner computers and such

that and I have to know what my costumers are using and the problems they encounter so I can fix their issues.

It may look difficult but it is quite easy to setup and get going