Hi, Bert.
For your specific question, the answer is, "It doesn't matter." The Upgrade
and Full versions are the same EXCEPT that Upgrade will look for an
already-installed Windows.
Setup works the same for all versions of Win7 - and Vista.
Only one approach makes a difference: If you boot from the Win7 DVD to run
Setup, then it starts with a clean slate and assigns the letter C: to its
own Boot Volume (NOT the System Volume - see below), then assigns the next
letter (D
to the System Volume - which probably still is called Drive C:
when you reboot into WinXP. Setup then automatically assigns letters to all
the other volumes, according to rules built into Setup, Later, you can used
Disk Management, as usual, to reassign all the letters that Win7 will use -
except, of course, for the System and Boot Volumes; the only way to change
those letters is by running Setup again. In other words, to change which
drive Win7 sees as Drive C:, you'd have to re-install Win7. To be sure that
you always know which volume is which, no matter what letter is currently
assigned, be sure to give each drive a name (a label), which will be written
to the disk and will be the same no matter which OS is running.
The other approach is to boot into WinXP, then insert the Win7 DVD and run
Setup from there. This way, Win7 Setup can "see" and "inherit" the drive
letters that WinXP has already assigned. This way, you can tell Setup to
put Win7 onto Drive J., and Drive C: will continue to refer to the first
partition on the first HDD - which is already your System Volume. All the
other drive letters will remain the same when you are running Win7 as when
you reboot into WinXP.
With EITHER approach, Win7 Setup will write its own startup files into the
System Volume and update that volume's boot sector to look in the Root of
that volume for Win7's boot manager (bootmgr), rather than WinXP's NT Loader
(NTLDR). And the Status column of Disk Management will tell you which
volume(s) currently has the System and Boot status.
With EITHER approach, Win7 Setup will detect that WinXP is already installed
on your computer and will configure its startup files to present a startup
menu that will offer you two choices: Windows 7 or an "Earlier version of
Windows". If you choose Win7 (or simply accept the default), the boot
manager will find Win7 (whether or not Win7 sees your current Drive J: has
C
, load it and start Win7. But if you choose the "Earlier" option, the
Win7 boot manager will step back out of the way and turn control over to
NTLDR, which will find and load WinXP. Whichever Windows version you
choose, that installation's boot volume will become THE Boot Volume for that
session; the other OS's boot volume will be "just another volume" until you
reboot.
The definitions of "boot volume" and "system volume" don't seem important
when we have only one version of Windows installed. But when we dual-boot,
we must be very aware of the distinctions between those two terms. And
their definitions are backwards from most users' expectations! For an
explanation, please carefully study KB 314470:
Definitions for system volume and boot volume
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314470/EN-US/
I've been dual-booting for over a decade now, starting with Win95/NT4 in
1998. I've had as many as 8 Windows installations at once (and I'm running
out of drive letters). The details of Setup have changed a few times with
new Windows versions, but the basic pattern has remained the same: Boot-up
always starts in the System Volume, then branches from there to the Boot
Volume of whichever OS the user chooses from the opening menu.
By the way, I'm 74 now. How old do I have to be to qualify as a "Geaser"
(or Geezer)?
RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8089.0726) in Win7 Ultimate x64
