Windows Vista forum: dual boot vista and xp two different hard drives

I installed Vista on a clean Raid 0 drive setup when I built my new computer before I read that you should have XP installed first. I also setup a Raid 1 Drive setup for all my data I had a backup image of my old XP drive from my old computer so I created a need cloned drive from the image on a second hard drive. I then unplugged my Raid 0 Vista drives and started the Computer with the XP drives (had to change the boot sequence in the bios). I installed all the new drivers and updates to my XP setup for my new computer, then I shut down and plugged my Vista drives back in and rebooted to Vista. I also pointed my XP My Documents to the same Mirrored Data drives that Vista stores my user files on.

I then did the manual boot loader repair mentioned by others in this thread. Everything work fine, except, that the boot loader does not properly control which operating system loads. While the selections show on my screen, I have to make a bios change to tell the computer which drive to boot from. This is simplified by an option my Gigabyte motherboard provides to just press the F12 key when I want to reboot from a different drive. Returning to Vista is easy as the bios looks at it as the default.

I would like to be able to get the Vista boot-loader selection option to work, but it is not that big a deal to do it pressing the F12 key. All I know is it worked without a hitch otherwise and by using an image of my XP drive with all my applications loaded saved me a ton of time setting the XP drive up for the few applications and peripherals I need it for.

That lets you out of the partitioning requirement. First, follow these instructions to perform a clean installation of XP on that second hard drive. Note that screenshots are provided in the left-hand column and expand at a click. Once XP's installed Vista will no longer run. From within XP, click here and follow the instructions under "Resolution" exactly as shown. Once complete, restart your computer and you should be given an option of which OS to run.

Hope this helps,
John

It doesn't matter if you're using a single hard drive with multiple partitions or multiple hard drives. When you install one OS it automatically scans for installed OSes on all connected hard drives and creates a boot menu for future use.

From your previous posts I see that you're trying to install two copies of Windows XP. Since Vista is not involved you may wish to repost your query as a new thread in the Windows XP forum to receive more responses. To get you started, though, I will say the problem likely lies in a missing boot.ini entry, for which information can be found in this Microsoft KB article.

John

John, when you said earlier that when you install a 2nd OS either on a diff partition or a diff hard drive it automatically scans for other OS systems. That is where i have been running into trouble, it doesnt recognize the other hard drive, even though it shows up in bios and it shows up after the os was installed as another drive. Its just when setup was running and it says something about searching for other OS's it does not find any so it thinks its alone.

Like you suggested though, I'm going to try to edit the boot.ini file, thanks for the link

hi there first post here.

like the previous post im planning to install vista on a second sata hdd. i already have i sata drive running xp. will this be a simple plug in,format,install vista kind of process?

will i be able to choose witch os to boot from at start up?

thanks a lot
R

John you seem to know a lot about the duel boot with Vista and XP so here's my situation. I did a Vista complete PC restore because I upgraded to a larger hard drive (I didn't want to do a complete Vista Ultimate reinstall) So I did a complete PC restore. I used one of my old hard drives to install XP of course after the Vista complete PC restore on to my new "C" drive. Everthing went well except after booting XP and shutting down the PC and restarting it when the duel boot screen comes up and I choose Vista I get a boot error for Vista. The two boot options are "windows vista ultimate (recovered)" and the next line says XP home edition which I used Vistabootpro to configure these options. My question is why can't I boot vista after booting XP then shutting off the PC and restarting when choosing Vista at boot I get the boot error message for Vista but I don't get it when I boot XP first then clicking restart when exiting XP then chosing Vista on the duel boot menu then Vista boots. Is this because Vista was a complete PC back up on my main drive and not a fresh install and if it is can vistabootpro help me correct this problem or do I need to do a fresh install of Vista? I sure hope this made sense.
Thanks in advance

Vistabootpro allows you to manipulate the boot the way you want..open VistabootPro and figure out how it is done...it is easy...go through each option at the top. You can even delete an entry and re-enter it.

Just plug the one in you want to use.

I hinged my side panel and have five hard drives and if I feel like using ubuntu today I plug it in..takes second since sata just plugs in and you don't have to be concerned about cable select, master, slave or any of that old stuff.

Yes, but not swap, OK, swap if you mean just plug the one in you want to use.

I now have 9 grandchildren that visit at one time and I put a hard drive in for them and when they get here I have it plugged in and and tell them they can do anything they want on the computer.

I saved a drive image {MSI P6N Motherboard with a Intel E-6700 processor} and when they leave to go home I restore a drive and it takes 4 minutes to make it the way it was before they showed up.


They have no idea they are not using "GRANDPA'S" computer, the one he built.

I have had major problems with using dual operating systems so good luck.

had no problems with the install. Both systems worked fine but I did have problems with a purchased security suite that would not run on both OSs at the same time. After a few months I abandoned this approach and made the jump to Vista only. I now use the second drive as a backup for Vista Business. Vistas working well for me but it did take some work, only some minor glitches remain.

I tried to do a dual boot with vista and xp when vista first came out. I experienced a great deal of problems. I am still using xp because my tv tuner does not work in vista. Anyway, I have one hard drive with xp on it and the other has vista on it. When I want to use vista I just unplug the other hard drive slide it out, slide in the vista hard drive and plug them back in. It is simple for me because both hard drives are SATA. Which is great becuase I have no jumpers to worry about.

I hope this helps.

The free version, Virtual PC.
What was your impression?
How does Virtual Box compare?

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/virtualpc/default.mspx

This might answer your questions.

I used this software for awhile and found the interface to be clunky and difficult to manage.

restart>on boot screen, click f1, hold it down> is the drive showing up here?