Windows 7 And XP at a same time

gigoe

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Jun 2, 2013
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i have currently windows xp and i want to install windows 7 on another drive but if i want to do this i have to loose xp start up so my question is can i Start Windows XP without formatting 2 drives one after another

Means is there any way to add windows Xp start up in start up boot file ?
 

ram1009

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IMHO, you are over complicating this. I have XP on an older SSD and recently installed W7 on a new SSD. In the BIOS I can choose which drive to be the default boot drive and by pressing F8 during booting I get a list of boot devices to choose from and can pick the W7 drive. Just be sure to disconnect the XP drive when installing W7.
 
ram1009 has ably described one of the many options available to do what you describe. This is the closest-to-the-metal option, where you have two drives that are both bootable and each one has an OS installation. This is an excellent solution. Among other things, if either drive is messed up the other one will still boot.

A more traditional method is to create a new partition on your system drive for Windows 7 and install it on the existing system drive. The Windows 7 bootloader overwrites the XP bootloader, but the installation process will set the bootloader to know about both Win7 and XP. You will be presented with a choice on startup. The advantage is convenience; you don't have to go into the BIOS to pick the booted OS. Some people prefer this. Personally, I use ram1009's solution.

This can also be done with Win7 installed on a second drive, but in this case the (Win7) bootloader will still be on the XP drive and the Win7 drive cannot boot on its own. Never really a good idea.

If you want to get deeply involved you can install third-party boot managers, but there is seldom a reason to do this (other than having fun with it or dual-booting Windows and Linux or Hackintosh or some such).

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Short answer: To add XP to the start-up boot file but have Win7 the default, instal Win7 to a blank partition on the XP drive or a second drive while the XP drive is still connected to the system. This will accomplish what you described.

Many people will recommend that you have two completely independent boot drives, which requires that you remove the XP drive from the system while you install Win7 on a second drive. You then choose which OS will boot in the BIOS.
 

gigoe

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dude i am getting your point i know that i have made this little bit complicated to tell but i don't want to install 7 on another hard disk since 2 i have but i want to install on same hard drive but on different partition without loosing boot loader of XP So there is an way to make it ?

Which 3 rd part software manages boot loaders ?
 

gigoe

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dude it s another method but i don't want to install on another hard disk since its only data hard drive and its WD Green Intilipower so will make my OS little bit sluggish

Tell me something dude
 

gigoe

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Jun 2, 2013
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dud i got your point but is there any way to set 2 os selection option like i want which 1 to choose on start up
 

ram1009

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Dude, your original post said you wanted to install W7 on a second HDD and I told you how to do it.
 
I have to ask you to be a little clearer. Here are two quotes from you. The first says that you want to install Windows 7 on a different drive:


The second says that you want to install it on the same drive as XP:


So please make it clear. Do you want Windows 7 on a different disk drive from the one that has XP installed on it, or the same drive?


Any of the approaches outlined so far will let you boot to a choice of startups.
1) Install Win7 on a new partition on the same drive that has XP. Win7 will replace the XP bootloader, but will see that XP exists and offer you a choice when you boot up.
2) Install Win7 on a separate drive while the XP disk is still attached to the system. As above, Win7 will replace the boot sector on the XP disk, the installation process will see the XP installation and build a boot menu. If it doesn't, use the tool EasyBCD to add XP to your boot menu.
3) Install Win7 on a separate drive while the XP disk is disconnected. Then reattach the XP disk. At this point, you can either
3a) Choose the boot drive in the BIOS menu
3b) Use EasyBCD to add XP to the Win7 boot and make the Win7 drive your default in BIOS.

Unless you are already familiar with the BIOS, it's easier to use approach one or two. The Windows 7 installation should set up the boot menu for you.

Please back up your system drive to an external disk before installing 7 so that you can recover if anything goes wrong.

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Please just add an answer at the bottom of the page instead of using the "reply to" button. I type a lot of words and having them repeated in your post is a waste of screen space.