Hi
I'm wanting to create a dual boot for my PC. I would like to use 2 separate
HDDs. One HDD has Vista Business (current) and the other proposed HDD will
have XP. I would like to locate some good user-friendly instructions on how
to do this by downloading from a web site, or maybe someone on the group has
a set of instructions. Could someone assist please? Is there a good site on
this topic?

I have tried Virtual PC 2007 but I cannot get the screen to enlarge to any
extent. Full screen mode fails every time I try it. Anyway, I figure the
twin HDDs would be the cleanest way to go. One more thing, I plan on
upgrading the Vista installation to Windows 7 when released, would there be
issues with the dual boot when installing Win 7??
Thanks

The 'cleanest way' would be to disconnect your Vista drive then install
winxp as per normal, if its to a sata drive you may have to use the F6
option to install sata controler drivers from floppy early in the
installation process.
Once done and updated, shutdown, reconnect Vista drive.
On booting you use the Bios options shortcut to select which drive to boot
from

"DavidG" wrote in message
...
Hi
I'm wanting to create a dual boot for my PC. I would like to use 2
separate
HDDs. One HDD has Vista Business (current) and the other proposed HDD
will
have XP. I would like to locate some good user-friendly instructions on
how
to do this by downloading from a web site, or maybe someone on the group
has
a set of instructions. Could someone assist please? Is there a good site
on
this topic?

I have tried Virtual PC 2007 but I cannot get the screen to enlarge to any
extent. Full screen mode fails every time I try it. Anyway, I figure the
twin HDDs would be the cleanest way to go. One more thing, I plan on
upgrading the Vista installation to Windows 7 when released, would there
be
issues with the dual boot when installing Win 7??
Thanks

"DL" wrote:

The 'cleanest way' would be to disconnect your Vista drive then install
winxp as per normal, if its to a sata drive you may have to use the F6
option to install sata controler drivers from floppy early in the
installation process.
Once done and updated, shutdown, reconnect Vista drive.
On booting you use the Bios options shortcut to select which drive to boot
from

Clean and foolproof. I have a "triple boot" setup using three
different drives.

Just following up on your reply,
I do have sata drives. I don't have a floppy but I assume the drives are
already there? Or I can download them.
The last part,

On booting you use the Bios options shortcut to select which drive to boot
from

Do I need to go into the BIOS everytime? I was kinda hoping I could create
a menu choice there, so I could simply select what OS I was booting up, is
that possible?

"DavidG" wrote in message
...
Just following up on your reply,
I do have sata drives. I don't have a floppy but I assume the drives are
already there? Or I can download them.
The last part,

On booting you use the Bios options shortcut to select which drive to
boot
from

Do I need to go into the BIOS everytime? I was kinda hoping I could
create
a menu choice there, so I could simply select what OS I was booting up, is
that possible?

Getting a menu choice for which OS to boot into is the default dual/multi
boot scenario when you do a normal 2nd OS install. Using separate
harddrives or switching boot drives in BIOS isn't required, it's just the
way some people like to operate. Usually you would create a partition for
your second OS and install it from its disc while your first OS is running.
There's no difference between installing to a 2nd harddrive or to a new
partition as far as the bootloader is concerned. The dual boot startup menu
works the same either way.

The only tricky part comes if you want to install an older OS (XP) after
newer operating systems (eg. VISTA) are already installed. Each new OS adds
an entry to the boot manager start up menu but the XP boot manager will mess
up the existing Vista boot manager and some remedial repairs will be
necessary to be able to boot anything at all. If the instructions you've
already received aren't sufficiently clear there are some others at the site
below that might be helpful. Remember, 2nd harddrive or a new partition on a
single drive is irrelevant to the installation. There is a second link
explaining how to edit the XP registry in order to protect Vista's system
restore points from being deleted every time you boot into XP.

http://apcmag.com/how_to_dual_boot_v...step_guide.htm


http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926185 -- Method 1 is the appropriate
choice. Bitlocker isn't available in all versions of Vista.

Hi DL,

I really like your instructions, they are pure and simple. Why are so many
of the other responses so detailed and technical? I don't get it. So all I
have to do is disconnect the Vista drive from the motherboard, install the
brand new drive and boot from the XP CD in order to install it. Then, once
XP is installed, I shut down the PC. OK, then, I power the PC on and I have
to go to into the BIOS and select which HDD to boot. Question. How do I set
up a menu choice like 1) Vista,
2) XP, and away it goes, how do I do that?

"DL" wrote:

The 'cleanest way' would be to disconnect your Vista drive then install
winxp as per normal, if its to a sata drive you may have to use the F6
option to install sata controler drivers from floppy early in the
installation process.
Once done and updated, shutdown, reconnect Vista drive.
On booting you use the Bios options shortcut to select which drive to boot
from

"DavidG" wrote in message
...
Hi
I'm wanting to create a dual boot for my PC. I would like to use 2
separate
HDDs. One HDD has Vista Business (current) and the other proposed HDD
will
have XP. I would like to locate some good user-friendly instructions on
how
to do this by downloading from a web site, or maybe someone on the group
has
a set of instructions. Could someone assist please? Is there a good site
on
this topic?

I have tried Virtual PC 2007 but I cannot get the screen to enlarge to any
extent. Full screen mode fails every time I try it. Anyway, I figure the
twin HDDs would be the cleanest way to go. One more thing, I plan on
upgrading the Vista installation to Windows 7 when released, would there
be
issues with the dual boot when installing Win 7??
Thanks

If you install XP first, then Vista, Vista will setup the dual boot menu
automatically.
To install XP second can be a PITA.
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/22...-vista-xp.html


--
Windows 7 RC
http://get.live.com/wlmail/overview
http://download.live.com/wlmail

"DavidG" wrote in message
...
Hi DL,

I really like your instructions, they are pure and simple. Why are so
many
of the other responses so detailed and technical? I don't get it. So all
I
have to do is disconnect the Vista drive from the motherboard, install the
brand new drive and boot from the XP CD in order to install it. Then,
once
XP is installed, I shut down the PC. OK, then, I power the PC on and I
have
to go to into the BIOS and select which HDD to boot. Question. How do I
set
up a menu choice like 1) Vista,
2) XP, and away it goes, how do I do that?

"DL" wrote:

The 'cleanest way' would be to disconnect your Vista drive then install
winxp as per normal, if its to a sata drive you may have to use the F6
option to install sata controler drivers from floppy early in the
installation process.
Once done and updated, shutdown, reconnect Vista drive.
On booting you use the Bios options shortcut to select which drive to
boot
from

"DavidG" wrote in message
...
Hi
I'm wanting to create a dual boot for my PC. I would like to use 2
separate
HDDs. One HDD has Vista Business (current) and the other proposed HDD
will
have XP. I would like to locate some good user-friendly instructions
on
how
to do this by downloading from a web site, or maybe someone on the
group
has
a set of instructions. Could someone assist please? Is there a good
site
on
this topic?

I have tried Virtual PC 2007 but I cannot get the screen to enlarge to
any
extent. Full screen mode fails every time I try it. Anyway, I figure
the
twin HDDs would be the cleanest way to go. One more thing, I plan on
upgrading the Vista installation to Windows 7 when released, would
there
be
issues with the dual boot when installing Win 7??
Thanks

Hi, again, David.

In this post you are mixing apples and oranges. :(

EITHER:

You choose Microsoft's built-in system for multi-booting, which I've
described (at length) in this thread. This always boots from the same
System Partition on the same HDD each time and presents a menu.

OR

You create multiple System Partitions, one on each HDD, and reset the BIOS
before each reboot. Each System Partition boots only a single OS, either
WinXP or Vista. So far as I know (I haven't used this much), this does not
offer a menu; you must reboot - and reset the boot device in the BIOS - each
time.


Using the built-in system, and assuming a single installation of Vista and a
single installation of WinXP, the opening menu (simplified) would look like
this:

Which system would you like for this session:
Earlier version of Windows
Windows Vista

If you choose Vista, Vista will be loaded and started.
If you choose "earlier", WinXP will be loaded and started.


I like the built-in system better, but the choice is yours.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX

Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8064.0206) in Win7 Ultimate x64 RC 7100

"DavidG" wrote in message
...
Hi DL,

I really like your instructions, they are pure and simple. Why are so
many
of the other responses so detailed and technical? I don't get it. So all
I
have to do is disconnect the Vista drive from the motherboard, install the
brand new drive and boot from the XP CD in order to install it. Then,
once
XP is installed, I shut down the PC. OK, then, I power the PC on and I
have
to go to into the BIOS and select which HDD to boot. Question. How do I
set
up a menu choice like 1) Vista,
2) XP, and away it goes, how do I do that?

"DL" wrote:

The 'cleanest way' would be to disconnect your Vista drive then install
winxp as per normal, if its to a sata drive you may have to use the F6
option to install sata controler drivers from floppy early in the
installation process.
Once done and updated, shutdown, reconnect Vista drive.
On booting you use the Bios options shortcut to select which drive to
boot
from

"DavidG" wrote in message
...
Hi
I'm wanting to create a dual boot for my PC. I would like to use 2
separate
HDDs. One HDD has Vista Business (current) and the other proposed HDD
will
have XP. I would like to locate some good user-friendly instructions
on
how
to do this by downloading from a web site, or maybe someone on the
group
has
a set of instructions. Could someone assist please? Is there a good
site
on
this topic?

I have tried Virtual PC 2007 but I cannot get the screen to enlarge to
any
extent. Full screen mode fails every time I try it. Anyway, I figure
the
twin HDDs would be the cleanest way to go. One more thing, I plan on
upgrading the Vista installation to Windows 7 when released, would
there
be
issues with the dual boot when installing Win 7??
Thanks

DavidG wrote:

Hi DL,

I really like your instructions, they are pure and simple. Why are so many
of the other responses so detailed and technical? I don't get it. So all I
have to do is disconnect the Vista drive from the motherboard, install the
brand new drive and boot from the XP CD in order to install it. Then, once
XP is installed, I shut down the PC. OK, then, I power the PC on and I have
to go to into the BIOS and select which HDD to boot. Question. How do I set
up a menu choice like 1) Vista,
2) XP, and away it goes, how do I do that?

You don't, using that method. Entering the BIOS is your "menu".



"DL" wrote:

The 'cleanest way' would be to disconnect your Vista drive then install
winxp as per normal, if its to a sata drive you may have to use the F6
option to install sata controler drivers from floppy early in the
installation process.
Once done and updated, shutdown, reconnect Vista drive.
On booting you use the Bios options shortcut to select which drive to boot
from

If you install XP on the second hard drive it will rewrite the boot manager
and Vista will not start.
Vista uses a different and incompatible boot manager than XP.
Unfortunately the automated tools on the Vista install disc are not very
effective at reinstalling the Vista boot manager which is capable of
recognizing both the vista and XP installs IF you installed Vista after XP.
Having recently run into that issue I was pleasantly surprised to find that
the automated tools on the Win7 install disc very effectively restored the
Vista boot manager, recognized and configured both the Vista and XP installs
without having to install Win7, when the Vista install disc tools failed to
do so after multiple tries. You can then control which will be the default
OS and how long the choice menu will display through Vista.