Installing Windows XP With Vista Preinstalled
Many users of Windows Vista are finding that they miss the utility of Windows XP, or they find that Vista is incompatible with many of their favorite programs that ran easily on Windows XP. Luckily it is possible to create a dual-boot program so you can have both Windows XP and Vista installed on your system. Even if you have a PC that came packaged with Windows Vista this doesn’t mean you don’t have a choice between platforms. So this tutorial is for PCs with preinstalled Vista.
Before you begin you should check if your warranty forbids a dual-boot system. Some computer manufacturers will no longer cover PCs that have a partition and a second operating system installed. Hardware that came with your Vista system may not be compatible with Windows XP as well.
Creating second partition in Windows Vista
Any dual-boot system requires the creation of an addition partition in your hard drive. To create a partition you must go to My Computer, right click on it then Manage and finally choose Disk Management.
You will see an image showing your primary hard drive and its partition/s, which is usually blue. Right click on the partition you wish to modify and select “Shrink Volume”, which will let you reduce the size of your primary partition. Then create your second partition where you will install Windows XP. You must remember to leave at least 10-20 G of additional space for programs on that partition and files, don’t simply make it large enough for Windows. Vista is still your primary operating system, so make sure to leave the majority of your hard drive space with that partition. And if you have your entire hard disc big enough you can create a third partition for video and other files and downloads. The typical example would be If you shrink Vista partition to 40-50G, leave for XP 30-40G and from the rest create a third partition.
Note: there can be some problems in resizing partition in Vista, it can be done with errors or simply these options are just grayed out. If this is the case you can use a third party programs like Acronis® Disk Director® 10.0 to resize partition in Windows Vista or XP.
Next you can change the drive letter that you use for the CD-DVD drive. Right click on CD-DVD drive in the Disk Management area and choose “Change drive letter and paths” and rename your drive to E. You should click OK and make sure to choose to confirm all of these changes when you are asked.
Why do we do this, you wonder? This simply keeps your drive letters more organized and keeps all your hard drives in order. The drive letter D will be the name you will use for your second hard drive. If you don’t want to do it that’s fine, leave it as it is.
Create your new Partition
After you shrank you primary partition you’ll see black colored unallocated space, right click on it and choose “New simple volume.” This will open up a Windows wizard that will guide you through the basic creation process. Choose all of the default options up to the choice for a “Volume Label”. Label the volume “Windows XP” in order to easily identify which partition you will use for the installation. Choose “Quick Format” and continue with the wizard and the defaults.
Close all open programs and restart your computer now. This will ensure that all of the changes to your hard disk are incorporated into your Windows Vista system.
Windows XP Installation
Congratulations, you have completed all of your preparations for your dual-boot system. Insert the Windows XP startup software and once again restart your system. Boot from the XP CD and follow the prompts to install Windows XP normally on the partition you just created. Then install all drivers as normally you would do. Now, when you restart your PC you will not see the boot menu and an option which operating system to load, instead it will boot normally with just created Windows XP. Why? Because XP doesn’t recognize Vista and XP’s bootloader was just installed into the MBR and Vista will no longer boot. What are we going to do about it?
Making Vista bootable and adding a Dual-Boot utility
In order to make Windows Vista bootable again we should reinstall Vista bootloader code to the MBR using Vista’s installation DVD. Just insert the DVD and boot your PC from it. Select “Repair your computer” when you prompted to install. It will search for installed Operating Systems and will come up with the Vista OS, don’t worry if you don’t see Windows XP there. Select Vista OS and press Next. The System Recovery Options screen will come up where you select the first option “Startup Repair”. Click Next and it will look and fix any startup problems Vista currently has, in our case is “something wrong with the bootloader”.
After it finishes it will give a log of what has been done, close it and press Finish. Now the PC will restart and boot with Vista. Now what?
Adding a Dual-Boot utility
Now you have to create a menu system so you can choose which operating system to use. Remember Vista can see XP but XP can not see Vista. So we will configure it from Vista OS. There are different methods of doing that – manual configuration (Vista made it quite complicated by entering and configuring BCD file) or through third party software like EasyBCD and VistaBootPro where it can be made in seconds.
After you install EasyBCD application press on “Add/Remove Entries” and under “Add an entry” select Windows tab and go to the drop down menu of “Version” section and select “Windows NT/2k/XP/2k3”. Then enter name like “Windows XP Pro” then press on Add Entry and save.
So now when you restart the PC you will be presented with an option of 2 or more Operating Systems.
Or you can use VistaBootPro to do the same. Follow prompts and install the .NET Framework 2.00 as well. Once you install it start VistaBootPro and use it:)
Restart your computer entirely. You should now have the option to select the operating system that you want to boot to.
What to do if your computer (hp) does not come with a vista DVD. Just recovery disks.
In the above section it tells you to install all drivers as normally you would do. Where can I find the drivers?
Usually on the your motherboard’s manufacturer website if you don’t have installation disk of your mother board. Otherwise somewhere else on the Internet.
I’ve seen this guide (or at least the same/similar process) on a number of sites so am disappointed to find it doesn’t work for me. Everything is OK until during XP installation it finishes copying the files required for setup to the HDD and restarts and just freezes on restart. Where normally you would expect either a boot menu (in a dual boot config) or for it to go straight to booting the OS (in a single boot config) it instead does nothing (absolutely nothing).
Fixed it by skipping to the next steps and restoring/repairing the Vista boot loaders then I can boot vista as previously. I tried skipping to final step next to setup the dual boot menu/option on startup hoping it might be a way for me to get back to the partially installed XP OS and continue with it but I was unable to do this successfully.
Why is my PC freezing after first restart and preventing me from finishing the XP install? I really want XP because so many things don’t work on Vista as a result of Microsoft requiring all drivers are digitally signed and many hardware providers deciding this isn’t worth the effort. But I would like to keep the functionality of both.
What version of XP do you use?
What exactly do you see on the screen when it freezes?
Did you do slow formatting or quick one before installing XP?
Did you already have additional partition or did you create one for windows XP?
Give as much details as possible.
Thank you,
Vadim
I am using Windows XP Pro SP2. First I tried installing XP on a seperate HDD, didn’t work. Then on same disk as Vista in a newly created partition, didn’t work. I’m not seeing anything particular on the screen, it’s just after the BIOS screen where it lists the attached drives/devices then it scrolls through a load of text and when it stops it normally goes to the windows loading screen (or you would expect dual boot selection screen if that’s how it’s configured) but instead it does nothing.
I’ve just unplugged the Vista disk and managed to successfully install and boot XP on the second disk then plugged the vista disk back in and I can boot either now by changing which drive I boot from in BIOS. It’s a step in the right direction but far from ideal so if you can help me get Vista and XP working off the same disk (seperate partitions) with a dual boot menu it would be much appreciated.
P.S. It’s really good of you to offer help and I am very grateful. I forgot to say this first time because I’m getting so angry with my computer so apologies for forgetting my manners.
Hi Rich,
no problem, you are welcome.
You need to try again to install XP on the same disc with Vista and then when it happens again you need to do the next section: “Making Vista bootable and adding a Dual-Boot utility”.
After you repair MBR of Vista you need to download EasyBCD in Vista and create entry for your XP. Then after restart you should see boot menu, you choose XP and continue installation of XP from there, it will start installation automatically when you choose XP in the boot menu.
It happens some times and this is the way to go around this problem.
Vadim
Vadim, thank you very much. I did try something similar to what you described but without using any additional tools (EasyBCD) to change the MBR without any luck so I was sceptical of your suggestion but it worked a treat! EasyBCD is brilliant and you guys are fantastic. Thanks for all your help!
You are welcome:)
repairpcguide.com
Hello
I am having issues dual booting.(Compac Presario)
I have a partition created and ready to use, when I try to install XP fron a disk. Install XP is grayed out.
When I try to boot from the XP CD, It tells me I have no hard disk.
Can anyone help?
Thanks
David
David, you need to install XP by booting from it, learn how to boot from the disc and then try it again.
Hi
This article is really interesting. I would like to ask about Partition part.
"Acronis Disk Director" you mention on articles, is not found in the website.
However the Acronis Disk Director is not compactible for vista. , my Laptop. ( Toshiba Satellite L200) has preinstalled VISTA Home edition.
I wish to have dual operating system.
My questions is:
1. do you have any other idea for software like Acronis Disk Director that work for Vista?
if so, would you please give me a clue about this kind of software?
Vista only allows to shrink the volume of partition to 14.8 G.
I have download the EasyBCD you recommend.
2. I know this article is for PC, would it also work for Laptop?
3. If all are Works, and I would like to install SQL SERVER 2005 into XP Pro OS. how much of G do you recommend?
I would need it for doing my Reporting Services.
Please help me.
My laptop spec is :
CPU Manufacturer: GenuineIntel
CPU Family: Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual CPU T2310 @ 1.46GHz Model 15, Stepping 13
CPU Speed: 1467 MHz
Memory :
I have Acronis Disk Derector and I use it for Vista.
It is compatable for any Vista.
This article applies to a laptop as well.
Hi Admin,
Thank you.
Yes, I have search it on the google, can only get 14 days free trial.
thank you for reply.
Regards,
Kakinang