Dual boot Window7 & XP

qubusqubus · Jan 24, 2017

Hi,
My PC has two hard drives: HD1 has all the data safely stored on it and HD2 has the OS, Windows 7 (W7), on it.
I should now like to install a second OS (XP) on HD2 in addition to W7 and then be able to boot up into either of the two OSs as and when I decided. The reason for this is that I have a number of legacy programs that do not run correctly in W7. I understand that I need some Dual Boot software to do this.
At my first attempt at this, I already had W7 on the PC on HD2, so I created and formatted a second partition on HD2 and installed XP onto this new partition. However, I found that whilst I was able to boot up into XP without difficulty, I could not access W7. So I looked on the Internet and found the software EasyBCD, which I downloaded and installed on the XP partition. Unfortunately, the installation procedure for EasyBCD was not the same as the way that I had checked before via YouTube and I ended not being able to access anything properly, so then in exasperation I wiped the whole of the HD clean and re-installed W7.
So, now I have a few questions:
1) Should I install XP before I install W7?
2) Do I then install W7 on the second partition?
3) Do I then install EasyBCD on the W7 partition, assuming that I can boot up into it?
4) Do I really need to install the Dual Boot software, or is there some way that I can configure W7 to act as a boot manager?
5) When I have successfully installed XP on one partition and W7 on the second partition, do I need to install the chipset onto both partitions?
Many thanks in advance for your guidance.
Qubus

captaincharisma · Jan 24, 2017

if you have windows 7 pro you MS has an XP mode you can download and install that will run any XP programs in a virtual machine. if you have windows 7 home and a legit copy of windows XP you can still use some kind of visualization software like virtualbox or VMware player to setup an instance of the XP OS and your programs within windows 7

USAFRet · Jan 24, 2017

Couple of options here.

1. Install XP first, then Win 7 on a different partition.
2. Install XP on its own drive, with the Win 7 drive completely disconnected.
3. XP Mode within Win 7.
4. Run XP as a Virtual Machine.

gdmaclew · Jan 24, 2017

You should install EasyBCD on your "primary" boot partition. If you use Windows 7 most often, install it there.
Install both OS's where you want them.
Boot into Win7 when you are done and run EasyBCD.
Tell EasyBCD where your XP is but let it choose the partition and drive letter itself.
Set your "Primary" OS as the default one, save and reboot.
It will display a "Boot Menu" offering you a choice between Win7 and XP.
You should install the chipset drivers after the OS(s) are installed.

gdmaclew · Jan 24, 2017

USAFRet :

He only has one OS drive.

mrb 59 · Jan 24, 2017

qubusqubus :

Hi,
My PC has two hard drives: HD1 has all the data safely stored on it and HD2 has the OS, Windows 7 (W7), on it.
I should now like to install a second OS (XP) on HD2 in addition to W7 and then be able to boot up into either of the two OSs as and when I decided. The reason for this is that I have a number of legacy programs that do not run correctly in W7. I understand that I need some Dual Boot software to do this.
At my first attempt at this, I already had W7 on the PC on HD2, so I created and formatted a second partition on HD2 and installed XP onto this new partition. However, I found that whilst I was able to boot up into XP without difficulty, I could not access W7. So I looked on the Internet and found the software EasyBCD, which I downloaded and installed on the XP partition. Unfortunately, the installation procedure for EasyBCD was not the same as the way that I had checked before via YouTube and I ended not being able to access anything properly, so then in exasperation I wiped the whole of the HD clean and re-installed W7.
So, now I have a few questions:
1) Should I install XP before I install W7?
2) Do I then install W7 on the second partition?
3) Do I then install EasyBCD on the W7 partition, assuming that I can boot up into it?
4) Do I really need to install the Dual Boot software, or is there some way that I can configure W7 to act as a boot manager?
5) When I have successfully installed XP on one partition and W7 on the second partition, do I need to install the chipset onto both partitions?
Many thanks in advance for your guidance.
Qubus

gdmaclew · Jan 24, 2017

I would do what captaincharisma suggested.

mrb 59 · Jan 24, 2017

Installing XP after Windows 7 or Vista
You had Vista or Windows 7, then partitioned the hard drive and installed XP (or installed XP to an existing partition) and the computer only boots to XP. What’s going on? The other partition is there and the files seem to be there and look OK.
Each time you install a version of Windows, it rewrites the MBR to call its own boot loader. If you install Windows 7 (or Windows Vista) as a second operating system on a PC where Windows XP is already installed, the Windows boot menu incorporates the options from the older boot menu. But if you install a fresh copy of Windows XP (or Windows server 2003) on a system that is already running Windows 7, you’ll overwrite the MBR with the one that doesn’t recognize the Windows 7 boot loader. To repair the damage, open a Command Prompt window (in XP which is the only one that will boot) and run the following command from the Windows 7 DVD, substituting the letter of your DVD drive for d here: d:\boot\ bootsect.exe /nt60 all and press enter.
When you restart, you should see the Windows 7 menu (which is the only one it will boot to). To restore the menu entry for your earlier version of Windows, open an elevated Command Prompt window (right click Command Prompt and chose “Run as administrator”) and type this command: bcededit /create {ntlr} -d “Menu description goes here” and press enter.
Be sure to use the Quotation marks. Use “Windows XP” or something more to your liking in place of Menu description goes here.

SkyNetRising · Jan 24, 2017

Installing XP Mode in Windows 7 would be the best option, but you can make dual-boot also.

For correct dual boot operation, bootloader must be on separate partition, windows xp must have separate partition and windows 7 must have separate partition.

If you install windows xp first, windows 7 - second, then all is set up and no additional manipulations are needed.
If you install windows xp after windows 7, then you just need to boot from windows 7 install media again and perform commands:

bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /rebuildbcd

After that use EasyBCD to add Windows XP boot entry to bootloader.

USAFRet · Jan 24, 2017

gdmaclew :

USAFRet :

He only has one OS drive.

He has 2 physical hard drives.

gdmaclew · Jan 24, 2017

USAFRet :

gdmaclew :

His data is on the other drive.

USAFRet · Jan 24, 2017

gdmaclew :

Which can be repartitioned as needed.

gdmaclew · Jan 24, 2017

USAFRet :

Point taken.

qubusqubus · Jan 25, 2017

USAFRet :

gdmaclew :

qubusqubus · Jan 25, 2017

Hi,
Yes, let me clarify things. I have only one physical drive (HD) for the OSes. I have a second physical drive (HD) for my data, but when I am messing about trying to install the OSes, I disconnect the data HD so that I cannot unintentionally wipe it.

So I have only one HD on which I can create two partitions and onto which I want to install two OSes: Windows7 and XP.

So, do I install XP first on one partition and then, after that, W7 on a second partition?

Do I really need to install EASYBCD or can I get away without doing that? If I do need to install EASYBCD, onto which partition do I install it, XP or W7?

Do I need to install the chipset onto both the W7 and the XP partitions?

Thanks, sorry for any confusion; I am a bit of an amateur, and don't exactly know how to run XP as a virtual machine, or even what a virtual PC(?) is or how to download XP into W7 as suggested elsewhere.

Perhaps I should stick to DOS !!!

USAFRet · Jan 25, 2017

If installing on the same physical drive:
Generally, with Windows OS's, you install the older one first, then the newer one.
The newer OS will not screw up the boot info for the older, as would happen if you installed newer first.

Win XP knows nothing about how Win 7 should boot, and it would simply overwrite that.

If installing the OS on different physical drives, it does not matter.
And even though you currently have 1 'OS drive' and 1 'data drive', you could easily partition off some of that data drive for the XP install. If desired.

We can go into some detail of the specifics of how to do this, and other possible paths.

What is the actual use of the XP in this? What would you be using that OS for?

qubusqubus · Jan 26, 2017

USAFRet :

If installing on the same physical drive:
Generally, with Windows OS's, you install the older one first, then the newer one.
The newer OS will not screw up the boot info for the older, as would happen if you installed newer first.

Win XP knows nothing about how Win 7 should boot, and it would simply overwrite that.

If installing the OS on different physical drives, it does not matter.
And even though you currently have 1 'OS drive' and 1 'data drive', you could easily partition off some of that data drive for the XP install. If desired.

We can go into some detail of the specifics of how to do this, and other possible paths.

What is the actual use of the XP in this? What would you be using that OS for?

qubusqubus · Jan 26, 2017

Hi USAFRet,

Many thanks for your answer.

qubusqubus · Jan 26, 2017

captaincharisma :

qubusqubus · Jan 26, 2017

Hi,
Many thanks for your answer. Unfortunately, I am not very well up on virtual machines!

qubusqubus · Jan 26, 2017

gdmaclew :

You should install EasyBCD on your "primary" boot partition. If you use Windows 7 most often, install it there.
Install both OS's where you want them.
Boot into Win7 when you are done and run EasyBCD.
Tell EasyBCD where your XP is but let it choose the partition and drive letter itself.
Set your "Primary" OS as the default one, save and reboot.
It will display a "Boot Menu" offering you a choice between Win7 and XP.
You should install the chipset drivers after the OS(s) are installed.

qubusqubus · Jan 26, 2017

Hi, thanks, I will try that.

qubusqubus · Jan 26, 2017

mrb 59 :

Installing XP after Windows 7 or Vista
You had Vista or Windows 7, then partitioned the hard drive and installed XP (or installed XP to an existing partition) and the computer only boots to XP. What’s going on? The other partition is there and the files seem to be there and look OK.
Each time you install a version of Windows, it rewrites the MBR to call its own boot loader. If you install Windows 7 (or Windows Vista) as a second operating system on a PC where Windows XP is already installed, the Windows boot menu incorporates the options from the older boot menu. But if you install a fresh copy of Windows XP (or Windows server 2003) on a system that is already running Windows 7, you’ll overwrite the MBR with the one that doesn’t recognize the Windows 7 boot loader. To repair the damage, open a Command Prompt window (in XP which is the only one that will boot) and run the following command from the Windows 7 DVD, substituting the letter of your DVD drive for d here: d:\boot\ bootsect.exe /nt60 all and press enter.
When you restart, you should see the Windows 7 menu (which is the only one it will boot to). To restore the menu entry for your earlier version of Windows, open an elevated Command Prompt window (right click Command Prompt and chose “Run as administrator”) and type this command: bcededit /create {ntlr} -d “Menu description goes here” and press enter.
Be sure to use the Quotation marks. Use “Windows XP” or something more to your liking in place of Menu description goes here.

qubusqubus · Jan 26, 2017

Hi, Many thanks for the detailed reply.

qubusqubus · Jan 26, 2017

USAFRet :

If installing on the same physical drive:
Generally, with Windows OS's, you install the older one first, then the newer one.
The newer OS will not screw up the boot info for the older, as would happen if you installed newer first.

Win XP knows nothing about how Win 7 should boot, and it would simply overwrite that.

If installing the OS on different physical drives, it does not matter.
And even though you currently have 1 'OS drive' and 1 'data drive', you could easily partition off some of that data drive for the XP install. If desired.

We can go into some detail of the specifics of how to do this, and other possible paths.

What is the actual use of the XP in this? What would you be using that OS for?

Dual boot Window7 & XP

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