Search
Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Closed

Installing Windows 7 with Windows XP But on Separate HDDs

Last response: in Windows 7
Share

Hi Forum Members,

I have a common problem, which I see has afflicted many (wish I had read the forum b4 venturing forth). I have a Win XP SP3 install working on the C drive. No problems there and working for over a year. I wanted to set up a dual boot Win 7 on a separate disk. No problem in the installation.

When I went to boot the system I realised that the install had changed the XP install because when I removed the Win 7 HDD my old system would not boot. I now realise that I have to use the two HDDs in tandem to have a working dual boot, which is not what I had wanted.

Another silly mistake made was that I didn't set a restore point when setting out as I thought I was being careful in installing Win 7 on a separate HDD. Now I realise that theWin 7 boot loader has overwritten the old boot.ini file. Without a restore point how do I get back to a working Win XP boot.

I am wanting to return to old state and install Win 7 again, but this time disconnecting the Win XP drive. The system will detect a new formatted blank drive only and hopefully set up a stand alone Win 7 installation.

Am I making sense and more importantly can it be done given I didn't set a restore point on my Win XP installation before setting out? I have read in forums that in Win XP I can go to the boot.ini file via msconfig and manually make some alterations to make the dual boot go back to only booting the Xp install.

More about : installing windows windows separate hdds

Register or log in to remove

Best solution

If you have the Windows XP CD, then your in luck. Since you already removed the hdd containing Windows 7, just insert the XP CD, boot off the disc. When prompted select "R" to boot into the recovery console. Then type the following hitting enter after each line

Fixboot
Fixmbr
Exit

This should allow you to boot back into Windows XP.
Windows 7 Expert

When you install Windows 7 on a separate disk or partition from where you have another installation of Windows XP the XP boot loader is overwritten by the Windows 7 one, which once the installation of Windows 7 is completed then gives you a choice as to which operating system to boot from. I don't know why this did not work in your case but you may be able to recover from this without having to reinstall by using a program such as EASYBCD to edit the Windows 7 boot menu.
Another problem with dual booting Windows 7 with XP is that when you start up Windows XP all restore points in Windows 7 are deleted. The fix is a registry hack in Windows XP to stop XP from seeing the Windows 7 drive.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices\offline]
"\\dosdevices\\d:"=dword:00000001


Where d: is the Windows 7 drive and 00000001 is to make the drive invisible and 00000000 to undo the change.
Related ressources
Ask the community
Windows 7 Expert

Quote:
Doesn't seem to work. When I get into Recovery Console it keeps asking for an installation number. I t ype in 1 and my administrator pwd does nnot work. What could I be missing?


If you want to get Windows XP working again without fixing your dual boot problem, then try not entering a password when it asks you for a administrator password.

Rancid504 said:
If you have the Windows XP CD, then your in luck. Since you already removed the hdd containing Windows 7, just insert the XP CD, boot off the disc. When prompted select "R" to boot into the recovery console. Then type the following hitting enter after each line

Fixboot
Fixmbr
Exit

This should allow you to boot back into Windows XP.


Thanks RANCID504, it finally worked with a little help from forum member PJMELECT whose suggestion about ignoring the admin pwd request in Recovery Console helped me out of a bind. I have a working XP booting computer and files seem to be accessible. Many thanks to both members.

pjmelect said:
Quote:
Doesn't seem to work. When I get into Recovery Console it keeps asking for an installation number. I t ype in 1 and my administrator pwd does nnot work. What could I be missing?


If you want to get Windows XP working again without fixing your dual boot problem, then try not entering a password when it asks you for a administrator password.



Thanks PJMELECT. That advice about not entering admin password worked. I now have a working XP boot and the boot loader menu doesn't show up at start up any more. I will now install Win 7 on a separate HDD, first disconnecting the XP drive physically. Thanks again.
Register or log in to remove
 
Ask the community
Read discussions in other Windows 7 categories
!