Dual booting on Vista.

[TheExero]

Hey guys i'm really getting sick and tired of some of my devices not working on vista so i want to put xp on my computer while keeping vista on it also.

But i want to know a few things before i do it first would i need to delete everything off my computer before i can put xp on it? Also would this effect my Vista in anyway would i need to reinstall Vista also?

[venney]

Vista issue with dual booting with XP
On a computer with both Windows Vista and either Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 installed, Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 deletes any existing System Restore points belonging to Windows Vista during boot. Microsoft confirms this issue but maintains that it is a fundamental function of the way XP works and cannot be changed. The solution, Microsoft maintains, is to install Windows Vista on a separate physical drive, not a partition, and make it invisible to XP.[citation needed]

i just read that on wikipedia. so be careful.

[TheExero]

[TheExero]

Hmm i was thinking would it be more simple to just put linux on instead?

[liljim]

[TheExero]

Well i installed linux everything was fine but i just did not like it that much so i removed it i think iwill take my chances with dual booting xp.

[TheExero]

Ok i have everything ready but i have another small problem i tried to make a new partition but now when i shrink the hd it says it may be corrupted and i need to run chkdsk when i try that it says i don't have the rights to run it anyone have an idea what may be going on here?

[liljim]

where are you trying to partition it from, from within windows?

[TheExero]

Sorry for the late reply been trying to fix my pc up anyway new problem now i got linux removed my hd is fine can make new partitions but here is my current problem i made a new 90 gb partition NTFS format it everything is fine shows up in my computer and boot from the xp disk loads all the settings then i start the install and here is where my problem is. http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/4228 ... onssr3.jpg
And if i move my up and down keys or press enter i get this blue screen. http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/115/ ... eenpp2.jpg Then i reboot and i can go back to vista here is what everything looks like in vista. http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/5736 ... staru4.jpg Someone i was talking to said xp would detect my partition if it was Fat32 so i removed that partition made a new 25gb partition formated it to fat32 everything worked like above pops up in my computer but when i boot off the xp disk i get the same problem no drive detected and blue screen.

[TheExero]

Forgot to add that my hard drive is a WDC WD5000AAKS-00TMA0 500gb and one of my friends said i may need to just update my driver for it so xp can detect it but i have no clue where to find it because their main site is down.

[liljim]

is this a sata hard drive?

if so, What you might need is your motherboards sata drivers on a floppy disk.

What did you use to create the partition for XP?

[TheExero]

I made the partitions with the vista partition tool and i have no clue if the hd i have is sata or not i have no way of telling.

Edit - Yes my HD is Sata just found out.

Edit again - Just for the record i don't have a floppy drive so installing the drivers with a floppy is not an option.

[liljim]

you might try to delete the xp partition then boot from the xp disk. IF it sees the HDD it should be able to create the partition itself. Vista may have a different allocation unit size which would cause XP not to see it properly.

[TheExero]

Hmm i did some messing around in the bios and foudn that if you switch the SATA mode from raid to IDE xp detects it now i have xp fully installed now i just need to get a bunch of drivers for my hardware. Thanks for all the help.