One of the most common problems encountered in configuring a dual-boot between Windows XP and Windows Vista happens when you try to install Windows XP on a computer with Windows Vista already installed.
When you install Windows XP, it’ll remove the Vista bootloader and use its own instead.
Create new partition (do this ONLY if you have only one partition in your hard-drive)
- Use partition editor to make a separate partition.(GParted live cd can be used to do this or any other partition utilities)
- Use the partition manager to shrink the partition with Windows Vista to make enough room at the end of the drive for Windows XP.
- Add a new primary partition located after the Windows Vista partition you just shrunk. Make sure it is a primary partition and formatted as NTFS.
- Reboot
Install Windows XP
You cannot install Windows XP by running the installer from within Windows Vista, instead, you’ll have to boot from the CD:
- Make sure your BIOS is configured to boot from the CD. Some computers also let you press F12 to pick where you want to boot from – you may use that option instead.
- Put your Windows XP CD in the drive and press a key when you see the “Press any key to enter Windows Setup…” message.
- If you’re installing Windows XP to a SATA drive, make sure you hit F6 to load the SATA drives.
- When you’re presented with a screen that has a list of hard drives and partitions, use the arrow keys to select the empty NTFS partition you created in the previous section, then press Enter to continue.
- Let Windows XP setup finish.
Setup Dual Boot option
Once Windows XP setup has finished, it’ll automatically boot you into the newly installed copy of Windows XP – note that you will not be able to boot into Vista at this point, nor will you see a boot menu option for it.
- Once in Windows XP, download and install Microsoft .NET 2.0 Framework.
- Download and install EasyBCD.
- Once in EasyBCD, go to the “Manage Bootloader” page, and select “Reinstall the Vista Bootloader” then “Write MBR” to get the Vista bootloader back.
- Once that’s done, head on to the “Add/Remove Entries” page and select “Windows NT/2k/XP/2003″ from the drop-down list, give it a name, then press “Add Entry” to finish.
- Reboot.
If All steps above were followed properly you would see the vista dual boot screen when the computer restarts.
0 comments to “Adding Windows XP to a PC with Windows Vista Already Installed”
Post a Comment