Dual Boot

[OldGuy]

I need to set up my new laptop to boot (dual boot) from either
Win 7 Pro 64 bit
or
Win XP Pro 32 bit

Both come with the laptop. Currently has a pristine factory install of
Win 7. I am have the DVDs for a clean manufacturer's Win 7 and Win XP
install.

I will be setting up on the 320 GByte HDD one partition for each Win
(60G each), a data partition (100G) and a Win Image partition (100G).

But, I do not want the dual boot to be dependent on Windows.
That is, I want to boot to either Win even if the other one is totally
corrupt.

So I am hoping there is a way to do this directly (by selection on
startup) or from a boot device to select Win: CD, DVD, eSata, SDHC or
USB drive. All interfaces are available on the laptop.

Are there any free apps out there to do this opeation as I described?
An other suggestions on how to accomplish this dual boot?

I would like to boot by default (no boot device) to Win XP Pro if
possible.

 

[pjp]

I need to set up my new laptop to boot (dual boot) from either
Win 7 Pro 64 bit
or
Win XP Pro 32 bit

Both come with the laptop. Currently has a pristine factory install of
Win 7. I am have the DVDs for a clean manufacturer's Win 7 and Win XP
install.

I will be setting up on the 320 GByte HDD one partition for each Win
(60G each), a data partition (100G) and a Win Image partition (100G).

But, I do not want the dual boot to be dependent on Windows.
That is, I want to boot to either Win even if the other one is totally
corrupt.

So I am hoping there is a way to do this directly (by selection on
startup) or from a boot device to select Win: CD, DVD, eSata, SDHC or
USB drive. All interfaces are available on the laptop.

Are there any free apps out there to do this opeation as I described?
An other suggestions on how to accomplish this dual boot?

I would like to boot by default (no boot device) to Win XP Pro if
possible.

Only problem I see is not wanting the boot process to have anything to
do with Windows. I'm guessing one of the fancy partition type programs
might somehow be able to re-map partitions into different sequence drive
letter. That way OS would always just be booting to C: and the "other"
partition could always be D: (as an example) with the static partitions
always being E: ...

Sorry, only dual-booting I've ever done is using Windows so all I can
tell you is that it's easier to install the older OS first then the new.
After it's all up and going you can change the default boot OS within
the new OS which is what it'd end up defaulting to. Seem to remember it
can even be done manually editing the Boot.ini file.

 

[philo]

I need to set up my new laptop to boot (dual boot) from either
Win 7 Pro 64 bit
or
Win XP Pro 32 bit

Both come with the laptop. Currently has a pristine factory install of
Win 7. I am have the DVDs for a clean manufacturer's Win 7 and Win XP
install.

I will be setting up on the 320 GByte HDD one partition for each Win
(60G each), a data partition (100G) and a Win Image partition (100G).

But, I do not want the dual boot to be dependent on Windows.
That is, I want to boot to either Win even if the other one is totally
corrupt.

So I am hoping there is a way to do this directly (by selection on
startup) or from a boot device to select Win: CD, DVD, eSata, SDHC or
USB drive. All interfaces are available on the laptop.

Are there any free apps out there to do this opeation as I described?
An other suggestions on how to accomplish this dual boot?

I would like to boot by default (no boot device) to Win XP Pro if possible.

Major PITA as you would have to shrink your partition to create free
space, then install XP

Of course Win7 would no longer be bootable
sop you'd have to use your Win7 dvd to repair the boot loader.

Too many chances for errors I'd say


Really, Win7 is not too hard to deal with...
I'd just get used to is and forget about XP

 

[BeeJ]

Then you know not much about Win 7.

Win 7 has corrupted many apps that run fine on Win XP and there are no
Win 7 versions and virtual XP on Win 7 is no good nor is so called
compatibility settings on Win 7 for XP apps. It just does not work.

Dual boot is a must.

 

[philo]

Then you know not much about Win 7.

Win 7 has corrupted many apps that run fine on Win XP and there are no
Win 7 versions and virtual XP on Win 7 is no good nor is so called
compatibility settings on Win 7 for XP apps. It just does not work.

Dual boot is a must.

I only had one problem with Win7 and that is because I used the 64 bit
version. It has no way to enable the 16 bit sub-system.

I have one very old version of Tetris that I like to play from time to time.

So I installed Win98 in a virtual machine and it works fine.


Other than that Win7 has been 100% ok

(for Windows that is, I am mainly a Linux user though)

Though I would not say dual boot is a must...
if someone wants to dual boot, that's totally fine with me...
I was just pointing out to the OP that it's going to be a bit of a PITA

If he would have installed XP first, it would have been a trivial tast

 

[Paul]

I need to set up my new laptop to boot (dual boot) from either
Win 7 Pro 64 bit
or
Win XP Pro 32 bit

Both come with the laptop. Currently has a pristine factory install of
Win 7. I am have the DVDs for a clean manufacturer's Win 7 and Win XP
install.

I will be setting up on the 320 GByte HDD one partition for each Win
(60G each), a data partition (100G) and a Win Image partition (100G).

But, I do not want the dual boot to be dependent on Windows.
That is, I want to boot to either Win even if the other one is totally
corrupt.

So I am hoping there is a way to do this directly (by selection on
startup) or from a boot device to select Win: CD, DVD, eSata, SDHC or
USB drive. All interfaces are available on the laptop.

Are there any free apps out there to do this opeation as I described?
An other suggestions on how to accomplish this dual boot?

I would like to boot by default (no boot device) to Win XP Pro if possible.

For both OSes to be on the same disk, and (relatively) independent
of one another, and dual bootable, that probably takes
a "third party boot manager".

I used to use such a thing on my first PC, which had the
old Celeron 300 processor in it. I could boot about three
different OSes, without using a Microsoft boot manager as such.
At that time, it's possible FreeBSD was one of the OSes.
There was some procedure in the control panel for the boot
manager, to add new OSes.

If you install two Windows OSes, and don't use a third party
tool, one of the OSes will use its boot manager, load code
in the MBR and partition boot sectors, and so on. With a
third party boot manager, I presume the third party tool
"owns" the MBR and hides boot code, somewhere. Then chainloads
anything else.

Using two separate disks, is how I manage two OSes independently
of one another, and without any further tricks. I consider that
to be a pretty clean solution. And, while doing that, I *unplug*
the old OS disk, and only leave the "install target" disk
during installation, so there can be no accidents. I've had
cases, involving Linux installers, where the stupid thing
writes the entire Linux install to disk #2, then turns around
and blasts my MBR on disk #1 and puts GRUB stuff there. It's
by these sad destructive lessons, I've learned to use unplugging
as my "power tool".

If you install both OSes on the same disk, you should be
prepared to learn about "OS repair" and be prepared to use
it. That may mean trips to the appropriate recovery console,
as needed. Not really a problem, just a "learning opportunity".

I have no idea what third party boot managers are available,
which could handle things all the way up to Windows 8 say. Sure,
GRUB could do it, but how messy would that be ?

I was hoping to find a list of boot managers over here,
but you may have to hunt them down individually.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XOSL

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootit-bare-metal.htm

Paul

 

[Rob]

For both OSes to be on the same disk, and (relatively) independent
of one another, and dual bootable, that probably takes
a "third party boot manager".

I used to use such a thing on my first PC, which had the
old Celeron 300 processor in it. I could boot about three
different OSes, without using a Microsoft boot manager as such.
At that time, it's possible FreeBSD was one of the OSes.
There was some procedure in the control panel for the boot
manager, to add new OSes.

If you install two Windows OSes, and don't use a third party
tool, one of the OSes will use its boot manager, load code
in the MBR and partition boot sectors, and so on. With a
third party boot manager, I presume the third party tool
"owns" the MBR and hides boot code, somewhere. Then chainloads
anything else.

Using two separate disks, is how I manage two OSes independently
of one another, and without any further tricks. I consider that
to be a pretty clean solution. And, while doing that, I *unplug*
the old OS disk, and only leave the "install target" disk
during installation, so there can be no accidents. I've had
cases, involving Linux installers, where the stupid thing
writes the entire Linux install to disk #2, then turns around
and blasts my MBR on disk #1 and puts GRUB stuff there. It's
by these sad destructive lessons, I've learned to use unplugging
as my "power tool".

If you install both OSes on the same disk, you should be
prepared to learn about "OS repair" and be prepared to use
it. That may mean trips to the appropriate recovery console,
as needed. Not really a problem, just a "learning opportunity".

I have no idea what third party boot managers are available,
which could handle things all the way up to Windows 8 say. Sure,
GRUB could do it, but how messy would that be ?

I was hoping to find a list of boot managers over here,
but you may have to hunt them down individually.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XOSL

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootit-bare-metal.htm

Paul

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/8790/dual-boot-your-pre-installed-windows-7-computer-with-xp/

http://www.techspot.com/guides/143-dual-boot-windows7/

http://lifehacker.com/5126781/how-to-dual-boot-windows-7-with-xp-or-vista

http://apcmag.com/how_to_dual_boot_windows_xp_and_windows_7_xp_installed_first.htm

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/268758-32-dual-boot-windows-each-individual-hard-drives

or type into Google - dual boot windows 7 and xp

 

[Paul]

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/8790/dual-boot-your-pre-installed-windows-7-computer-with-xp/


http://www.techspot.com/guides/143-dual-boot-windows7/

http://lifehacker.com/5126781/how-to-dual-boot-windows-7-with-xp-or-vista

http://apcmag.com/how_to_dual_boot_windows_xp_and_windows_7_xp_installed_first.htm


http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/268758-32-dual-boot-windows-each-individual-hard-drives


or type into Google - dual boot windows 7 and xp

That's not the question. The OP wants a boot manager,
which is independent of both OSes. Such that, if you
delete one OS, all that happens it is disappears from
the third-party boot manager.

The product I used to use, for my old computer, did exactly
that.

Sure, you can quote a zillion recipes for a normal dual
boot scenario, using either two OSes on one disk (one OS
is the boot manager), two OSes on two disks (with boot menu
in one used to manage both), or you can do two OSes on two disks,
and steer them with the BIOS popup boot manager (so neither
boot manager has two entries). Some of those options, suffer
if you delete one of the OSes (the wrong one).

I use the two disk, two OS, BIOS popup, to run this computer.
And that method, I can pull either disk, and not cause a problem.
The OP is on a laptop, with only one disk, so there's only
one installation option for dual booting. One of the OSes
would normally provide boot management functions, and if that
OS gets deleted, then a repair of the startup details
is needed to get the second OS running again. It's not
a big deal, but the user has to learn how to do it.

If you have a completely independent boot manager, you
can stick two OSes on the same hard drive, and delete their
partitions without affecting the other OS. That's the
idea. GRUB may be able to do that, but I can't stand GRUB.
There just isn't the documentation to explain how to do
stuff with it.

To give another example, I have a GRUB boot floppy, which
could be used to launch a Linux OS that had no boot capability
of its own. The Linux OS wasn't allowed to do its normal
"GRUB thing", and the boot floppy allowed it to be bootstrapped
without that. This was a decision on my part, an experiment
to see if not allowing the Linux install to "GRUB" my machine,
my Windows partition wouldn't suffer. It worked, but I lost
the floppy diskette I guess that's a downside.

So it's a question of which is easier - researching a third-party
boot manager, or, researching how to repair OS pairs, when the boot
manager OS gets deleted.

Paul

 

[Rob]

That's not the question. The OP wants a boot manager,
which is independent of both OSes. Such that, if you
delete one OS, all that happens it is disappears from
the third-party boot manager.

The product I used to use, for my old computer, did exactly
that.

Some of the above are just that

 

[OldGuy]

A lot to digest. Working ...

 

[BillW50]

For both OSes to be on the same disk, and (relatively) independent
of one another, and dual bootable, that probably takes
a "third party boot manager".

I used to use such a thing on my first PC, which had the
old Celeron 300 processor in it. I could boot about three
different OSes, without using a Microsoft boot manager as such.
At that time, it's possible FreeBSD was one of the OSes.
There was some procedure in the control panel for the boot
manager, to add new OSes.

If you install two Windows OSes, and don't use a third party
tool, one of the OSes will use its boot manager, load code
in the MBR and partition boot sectors, and so on. With a
third party boot manager, I presume the third party tool
"owns" the MBR and hides boot code, somewhere. Then chainloads
anything else.

Using two separate disks, is how I manage two OSes independently
of one another, and without any further tricks. I consider that
to be a pretty clean solution. And, while doing that, I *unplug*
the old OS disk, and only leave the "install target" disk
during installation, so there can be no accidents. I've had
cases, involving Linux installers, where the stupid thing
writes the entire Linux install to disk #2, then turns around
and blasts my MBR on disk #1 and puts GRUB stuff there. It's
by these sad destructive lessons, I've learned to use unplugging
as my "power tool".

If you install both OSes on the same disk, you should be
prepared to learn about "OS repair" and be prepared to use
it. That may mean trips to the appropriate recovery console,
as needed. Not really a problem, just a "learning opportunity".

I have no idea what third party boot managers are available,
which could handle things all the way up to Windows 8 say. Sure,
GRUB could do it, but how messy would that be ?

I was hoping to find a list of boot managers over here,
but you may have to hunt them down individually.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XOSL

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootit-bare-metal.htm

Paul

Actually it is possible to take BCD and use it as a third party boot
manager. EasyBCD makes editing of the BCD so much easier. How those
third party boot managers work is either by running totally from the MBR
sector, or if it need more room on a small partition that is usually
hidden without a drive letter. BCD is fully capable of working this way.
BCD would need the Boot folder in this small hidden partition. I am not
sure you if you would need winload.exe (and maybe some more) in this
partition too or not. Then use EasyBCD to list all of the OS (even Linux
and Mac), even USB, ISO images, and virtual disks too.

http://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/

 

[BillW50]

Really, Win7 is not too hard to deal with...
I'd just get used to is and forget about XP

That is a pretty ignorant statement if you ask me. As how do you know
which is somebody who you don't even know would be better off with
Windows 7 instead of XP? Sure today I use Windows 7 and 8 a lot. But if
I had to do it all over again, I would have stayed with XP.

 

[Bob Henson]

That is a pretty ignorant statement if you ask me. As how do you know
which is somebody who you don't even know would be better off with
Windows 7 instead of XP? Sure today I use Windows 7 and 8 a lot. But if
I had to do it all over again, I would have stayed with XP.

He knows that Windows 7 is better than XP and that makes it highly
likely that they will be better off with Windows 7. The fact you prefer
XP doesn't alter the facts, nor make him ignorant - in fact it makes him
well informed.

 

[BillW50]

He knows that Windows 7 is better than XP and that makes it highly
likely that they will be better off with Windows 7. The fact you prefer
XP doesn't alter the facts, nor make him ignorant - in fact it makes him
well informed.

Really? philo was giving advice to OldGuy to just forget XP. And philo
and yourself actually knows that OldGuy knows Windows 7 better than XP?
If so, how did you both figure that one out? As from OldGuy's posts, it
sounds more like he knows XP far better to me and that Windows 7 is
completely new to him.

 

[OldGuy]

Where is your adventurous spirit to try new things?
Come out from the shadows and into the light of trial and error.
It's more fun than you can imagine otherwise just sit and stare at the
Windows Desktop and be bored to death.

On the other hand, I like to try new and different things. It is part
of the Windows experience and my life experience.

I don't ride dirt bikes or ski or sky dive, because physically I cannot
but I do enjoy tinkering and occasionally blowing up the delicate
Windows OS.

Fun, fun, fun in the summer sun. Other times too!

 

[Rene Lamontagne]

Where is your adventurous spirit to try new things?
Come out from the shadows and into the light of trial and error.
It's more fun than you can imagine otherwise just sit and stare at the
Windows Desktop and be bored to death.

On the other hand, I like to try new and different things. It is part
of the Windows experience and my life experience.

I don't ride dirt bikes or ski or sky dive, because physically I cannot
but I do enjoy tinkering and occasionally blowing up the delicate
Windows OS.

Fun, fun, fun in the summer sun. Other times too!

That's the spirit, Keep it up, I'm 78 and still enjoy digging into
Windows and bending it to the shape I desire and yes once in a while I
manage to bust it when it won't bend. That's part of the fun and only
requires an image reload to put it back to rights. The hardest thing
about windows 8 is trying to find where thy moved and hid things.

Regards, Rene, Another old guy.