Dual boot Vista and XP?

EvilMonkey

Is it possible to set up a dual boot of windows vista and XP? I really want to try vista but as it has a lack of driver support and is only a beta version i do not want to install it over XP.

seamus

Yes it is, I have it set up.

DonkeyStyle \o/

Q1: Which would you install first?
Q2: What partition size would you set for vista to install on?
Q3: Does it require lots of tinkering or 3rd party boot loaders?
Q4: Should I just google it?

seamus

DonkeyStyle \o/ wrote:

Q1: Which would you install first?
Q2: What partition size would you set for vista to install on?
Q3: Does it require lots of tinkering or 3rd party boot loaders?
Q4: Should I just google it?

1. Install XP first. In general with MS OSes, if you plan to multi-boot always start with the oldest OS and work upwards.

2. I forget what the minimum partition size is, but it's something crazy like 15GB. Remember that you can share data between XP and Vista, so I would advise one partition for XP and its programs, one for Vista and its programs, and a third for data.

3. No tinkering at all. Vista will detect the XP OS and will configure a bootloader automatically. However, it will call XP something like "older windows version" on the menu. The boot.ini file has kind of been done away with, and bootcfg no longer exists. There's now a command-line utility (forget the command) for editing the bootloader in Vista.

Q4. If you're doing a plain install on a spare machine, then there's no need for google unless you get stuck. The Vista install is super straightforward. If you're going to stick it on your main machine, I'd google around, print out some instructions and keep an XP repair disk handy.

DonkeyStyle \o/

Bah, see I've got this handy 5gig partition that I keep for experimenting with other OS'es... I was hoping the 15gig listed in the min spec was just a suggestion ... wishful thinking.
Is there no install step where I can de-select some of the bloatware?
Either that, or it's time to dig out partition magic again

seamus

I don't think you get the option to choose what's installed. It's a beta after all, so I think it just dumps everything possible.

Although it demands 15GB, it only uses half of that in the default install.

EvilMonkey

Thanks seamus and donkey. I have red some stuff on the net and I am going to give this a try.

After all that vista beta is no longer available from microsoft!! :mad:

zuma

Installed 5472 a couple of hours ago.

What an improvement.........far better than the public Beta released a month ago!!!!

An odd thing happened though.
After a successfull install and play around I decided to restart the computer(from within Vista)....but no boot option appeared after the restart and XP booted.

Anyone have this problem?

MartMax

Hi

Just wondering, is it possible to upgrade from Beta 2 to 5472 without doing clean install?

Btw, Zuma, what are the major improvements 5472 has over Beta 2?

Cheers

Mart

zuma

mart_max wrote:

Hi

Just wondering, is it possible to upgrade from Beta 2 to 5472 without doing clean install?

Btw, Zuma, what are the major improvements 5472 has over Beta 2?

Cheers

Mart

Well the big improvement appear to have occured in 5456:
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_5465_gallery_01.asp

5472 carries these improvemnts through but adds only minor improvemnts:
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_5472_gallery_01.asp

Im pretty sure you can just install a newer build over an older one.

After experiencing Beta2 its nice to see something less hungry for all your system resources.

Edit:
I spoke earlier of Vista 5472 booting problems.
If the DVD is in the DVD drive it boots directly to Vista, without the DVD inserted you get the bog standard XP boot....weird!