Dual boot problem with XP and Vista...

[fretman]

OK everyone. I’ve nailed down what I’m trying to do with no luck. Hope someone can help. This is a follow-up thread to the one I posted but this one has more information.

I’m trying to create a dual-boot system with XP and Vista.

I have a 500gig hard drive.

I created a 70gig partition and installed XP on it.

I then created a 145gig partition and installed Vista on it.

When I get to the dual-boot menu screen, if I choose Vista everything goes fine. I get logged into the system and C: is Vista and D: is XP.

However, if I select XP from the boot menu, it will do a ChkDsk on H: and then it will do a whole lot of re-indexing of files, error correcting of files, and security file checks.

The system does boot up into XP eventually and C: is XP and H: is Vista.

So, question number 1 is. When I boot into XP, why is Vista being recognized as the H: and not the D:

I was able to do it in the past where only the C: and D: were recognized and therefore didn’t have to go through the ChkDsk verifications.

And now question number 2.

When I boot into Vista and try to create another partition for my Data storage, the next time I try and boot into Vista I get an error. The boot menu doesn’t seem to recognize that Vista is there anymore. I have to go back in and delete the Data storage partition and then boot into XP and go through all the ChkDsk verifications again before I can get Vista back.

Anyone can help me on these questions? Thanks.

 

[zhaf]

I've read on other forums that Vista has to be installed first and XP second or XP will fail to boot. so you can try that. I'm sorry but I don't have answers to your other questions.

 

[fretman]

Thanks Zhaf. Any bit of information helps. I'll try your suggestion as well.

 

[aggiestudd07]

over the summer i did a dual boot with xp and vista. everytime i loaded the other os, the drive letters changed: XP=C and Vista=D under XP, but Vista=C and XP=D under Vista. I had a 150Gb raptor partitioned into the C and D drive with XP installed under C (initially) and Vista under D, with a storage drive E. The storage drive was never affected, but some programs could not run under the dual boot conditions such as office 07, even though it was only installed under XP, when I went to vista and then back to xp it would lock up. I dont know why but i dont think xp and vista completely get along with each other.

i would think that a separate hard drive for either would help (but thats just a guess)

 

[monnewbie3]

Hey there.
Have you tried a program called vistabootpro? Google it and check it out.
Its used for dual booting. Worked really nice for me. Also has some nice lil tools in it.
Don't know if it'll help, but who knows, maybe it'll rewrite something somewhere and it'll all work.
Worth a shot.

Peace.

 

[fretman]

Thanks to everyone for the help. I think I found my problem. I was creating my partitions under the original XP and it was only able to recognize 128gigs of my 500gig hard drive. I'm going to create an XP bootable with SP2 slipstreamed into it. It should recognize the entire drive this time. Thanks again.

 

[Scotteq]

I've read on other forums that Vista has to be installed first and XP second or XP will fail to boot. so you can try that. I'm sorry but I don't have answers to your other questions.

Incorrect - XP first, Vista after.

 

[ahmadfuzal]

Actually, what fretman did is fine by installing XP first and Vista last. Scotteq is right. I tried and it is impossible to install XP after Vista without formatting the HDD. There is another problem. I think it is with hardware.
Try to do the same thing with another new HDD

 

[lee-gamer]

I didn't have a problem with dual boot no matter which OS I installed first.
All the OS are on the same HD but in different partitions.
When I messed up my XP I simple reinstall if from CD and everything goes smoothly and the same thing happened for Vista.
All my partition were formatted in XP.

 

[falconhr92]

I was trying to install xp on my vista laptop in a separate partition but when i went to install there were no hard drives listed!
So gave up, but now am wondering if there is a way to overcome this?