Windows 2000 professional and Windows xp Pro. dual boot?

[Dook]

Ok, so right now, I'm running Windows Professional. In my attempt to get System Shock 2 to work on my computer, I decided to install Windows 2000 professional. However, I ended up erasing everything and doing a fresh reboot. Why? Well, i sorta messed up with Partition magic and deactivated my C: and activated the other partition for the immediate install. For some reason , my windows 2000 disk saw the 2nd partition ( the activated one ) as unformatted or damaged and it said it could'nt format the C: partition. So then, I was screwed since I deactivated the other partition. So then I did a full reboot with the windows xp disk. So now, since my dual boot attempt seemed to have failed, I looked up on Google on how to dual boot XP and 2000 pro. More than one of the sites said that I have to install 2000 first and then XP for a dual boot. Is there a way to install 2000 as a dual boot even though I have XP?

 

[vanka]

Since it seems like you already made toast of your partitions it would be a good idea to start over and do the dual boot correctly. There are a few reasons for the 2k then XP install routine:

1) the 2k boot loader will not recognize XP and will need to be configured manually (it may not even be able to load XP - but don't quote me on that); while XP will automatically recognize 2k and configure the boot loader for you.

2) XP uses a slightly newer version of NTFS than 2k which might be the reason that the 2k setup saw it as damaged. I have had no issues accessing XP partitions from within 2k though, so no worries there.


To setup a 2k/XP dual boot do the following:

1) Setup the Drives/Partitions - If using Partition Magic 8 format the first drive/partition with the 2k version of NTFS and the second drive/partition with the XP version. If you are using Partition Magic 7 or earlier format both drives/partitions with NTFS and then do a quick format on the second drive/partition from within the XP setup.

2) Install Windows 2k - Self explanatory, just install Windows 2k on the first drive/partition.

3) Install Windows XP - Install Windows XP on the second drive/partition.

You should be set to go.