How to make a dual-boot with Vista/XP

Phila

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I have a machine with XP pro, I want to install Vista on a second hard drive and make it a dual-boot system.

I will be using a .iso Vista with a disk emulator. Will there be an option to make this dual boot during installation?
 
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When I installed Vista, on the same hard drive with XP on it, it either gave me a dual boot option, or installed dual boot automatically (don't remember exactly, it was January last year).
I installed on 1 hdd though, and I had created a second partition with Partition Magic before running the install.
 
Ok

I had previously partitioned the hdd when I was going to install Linux but it didn't go right. It was a 100gb hdd but now its only 37.2 (dont know how that number happened) and the other partition is not visible. I tried to format the drive but it says I can't because something is using the hdd, but there isn't. Is there any 3rd party software I can use to get the full hdd back?
 
Partition Magic has always worked for me, but anything you do with partitions is not without risk, make sure you have backups of important stuff just in case.
 
Thanks, there's maybe 200mb of data on the hdd, its all backed up ;)
 
Yeah, partition magic FTW. Even if that way doesn't work, you can just format it from a command prompt (format X: ) when x is your drive. If you happen to have a windows 98 bootdisk lying around, you can boot from that, and at a command prompt, type fdisk. After confirming that NTFS partitions are large, and some other things like that, you can delete partitions from that program.
 
I did that on a partition. I just installed Vista through the BIOS system, not through XP, to sort out another partition.
 
I have it all up and running, thanks everyone.

Any gadgets you recommend?
 
Now that I finally got everything settled with Vista (drivers, programs, etc) I just realized my machine is crap because I can't run Aero Glass. :mad:

I just have a slightly better looking XP now.
 
AMD Athlon XP 2400+ 2ghz with 512mb memory

I don't know what type of graphics card it is (this computer was given to me) but I'm assuming its crap because the machine is pretty old.

edit: this is what I got off HPs website when I typed in the tower's model number- Integrated nVidia GeForce4 MX graphics with up to 64 MB allocated video memory
 
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Now that I finally got everything settled with Vista (drivers, programs, etc) I just realized my machine is crap because I can't run Aero Glass. :mad:

I just have a slightly better looking XP now.

My old ass laptop, meanwhile, runs Compiz Fusion just fine...
I'm pretty sure the GF4MX would have no problem running it too. And 512MB Ram shouldn't be a problem either.
 
Well I've read that while doing in the install Vista detects your hardware and decides whether your machine can handle it.

I then found a way to manually enable it, but even that didn't work for me. Honestly, if I can't get that to work I may just get rid of Vista. Its nice to look at I suppose but not worth keeping when XP pro runs so much better/faster.
 
You need at least 1GB+ to get Vista to run nicely. Also, that "video card" is complete crap too (no offense :p)
 
I just did what you did. I installed Vista on a second hard drive.
Honestly, if I can't get that to work I may just get rid of Vista. Its nice to look at I suppose but not worth keeping when XP pro runs so much better/faster.
Do it. If Vista's being a bitch then ditch her. I learnt my lesson with it quickly, and lost all of my stuff in the process. Currently Vista is going OK, I installed the SP1 update, haven't noticed anything new or amazing though <_<
 
^ I figured once I did all the updates it would get better, but nothing changed.

Even with Aero Glass I dont think it would make much difference, just a somewhat better looking XP with a few new features that don't really matter to me. Oh well, at least my experiment worked, for the most part.
 
:lol: Thanks

btw I don't see what everyone's problem is with Vista.The installation went smoothly, it ran well, and finding drivers was never an issue. I don't get it.
 
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Same. They say vista is buggy, but I haven't ever gotten a software related BSOD.
 
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