Dual Boot Xp and Windows 7

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Chan_ZA

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Hi Guys .... I have Xp loaded at home and a free 250 Gig harddrive that is empty on my machine. Just wondering how to load on Windows 7 onto this second disk and have a choice of a dual boot ? Is it possible ? If so, when you are installing Windows 7, does it give you the option ?

Dont wanna stuff up my existing setup ....

Thanks
 
Install Windows 7 on the 2nd disk. Then just use you BIOS boot selector to select the appropriate hard drive to load at startup
 
Yup remove the drive with xp, load windows 7 and then reconnect the drive with xp and use the bios to alternate between the 2.
 
yeah I got this up and running... Decided not to go the dual boot route though!

I unplugged my main drive and installed Win 7 on the spare. So whenever I wanna go into Win 7, I simply change the boot order in my BIOS...

good luck and enjoy!
 
That might work. I think I might have a problem though .... I have the Microsoft Sidewinder X6 as my keyboard. When I tried to use the option previously, it refused to pickup options from my keyboard. I had to connect my old keyboard via ps2 connection to make the selection ... Any other options ?
 
when you boot from your win7 dvd and install the installation will scan and detect your xp installation and it will create a boot menu for you. once the installation is finished and you will get a startup menu with an option to load windows 7 or 'an older version of windows' in other words XP.
 
use your old kb for installation, after it is installed win7 will auto install drivers for your new kb. you dont have to remove any drives, lol, dont listen to killadoob
 
Lord Fubar said:
when you boot from your win7 dvd and install the installation will scan and detect your xp installation and it will create a boot menu for you. once the installation is finished and you will get a startup menu with an option to load windows 7 or 'an older version of windows' in other words XP.
Click to expand...

So in other words, none of my existing data would be touched by the install of Window 7 ? Is there no option when installing to laod it on the second drive/partion ???????
 
Lord Fubar said:
use your old kb for installation, after it is installed win7 will auto install drivers for your new kb. you dont have to remove any drives, lol, dont listen to killadoob
Click to expand...

Yes you do, you need to unplug your main OS so that your not dual booting. Can you install windows 7 with your xp drive plugged in and not dual boot?

nothing for me worse than dual booting the best way is make sure your xp install is unplugged then load windows 7, replug your xp drive and use the bios to boot in xp or windows 7.

Too many problems arise from dual booting i find.
 
Chan_ZA said:
So in other words, none of my existing data would be touched by the install of Windows 7 ?
Click to expand...
That would be correct. Choose the custom option when installing Windows 7 - this will give you a dialog with a list of hard disks you can install to.
 
I have 3 drives.
1) WinXP
2) Win7
3) Stuff

Basically I installed WinXP first, then Win 7. When booting up, I get the option to boot into an older OS or Win 7. You can even set which one must be the default and how much time it gives your to make the selection.

At some point I had Ubuntu as well (triple booting), but I have that now on another PC.

No need to swap BIOS orders. Never had any troubles with dual or even triple booting.

PS If you need to uninstall Windows 7, you can do a repair using XP CD which should fix (replace Win7's with WinXP's) the boot sector.
 
Last edited:
Chan_ZA said:
That might work. I think I might have a problem though .... I have the Microsoft Sidewinder X6 as my keyboard. When I tried to use the option previously, it refused to pickup options from my keyboard. I had to connect my old keyboard via ps2 connection to make the selection ... Any other options ?
Click to expand...
Enable "legacy USB" in your BIOS ;)
 
Cool guys ... Thanks a million - Will give it a try tonight.
 
RoosTa said:
I have 3 drives.
1) WinXP
2) Win7
3) Stuff

Basically I installed WinXP first, then Win 7. When booting up, I get the option to boot into an older OS or Win 7. You can even set which one must be the default and how much time it gives your to make the selection.

At some point I had Ubuntu as well (triple booting), but I have that now on another PC.

No need to swap BIOS orders. Never had any troubles with dual or even triple booting.

PS If you need to uninstall Windows 7, you can do a repair using XP CD which should fix (replace Win7's with WinXP's) the boot sector.
Click to expand...

A question if I may.

I've got one 250GB drive that I want to use for OS.

Is it possible to have the disk partitioned in 3 to have XP, Win7 and Kubuntu running off of it?
If yes, would I also have to toggle the BIOS to choose which OS to boot with?
Or something else?
 
Yes use a boot loader. There are many, the best for you is probably Grub which comes with Linux. Another good one is EasyBCD for Windows 7/Vista.

You basically put the bootloader on the partition which is flagged "active".
 
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