How to Install Windows XP over/with Windows Vista
Now-a-days, most of the systems, either they are laptop or desktop, come with pre-installed Windows Vista. Though Vista has got its own advantages but the biggest disadvantage is that it does not support all drivers and softwares. That is why we often need to have Windows XP on our PCs and Laptops. Now there are 2 ways of doing that.
- Keep Vista, Install XP and create a Double Boot (Recommended)
- Remove Vista and have a clean Install of XP
Now, both the options have pros and cons, I will not get into them but to be short and simple, Option 1 is recommended keeping in view the various clauses and reasons. But any how, I will be explaining both options one by one.
1. Creating Double Boot
Well, its not very difficult to do. But it is a bit time consuming and you need to own a copy of Windows XP. You must be ready for any kind of troubleshoot. And if you are not ready for it, then go for the clean install. You must backup your data before continuing with this procedure.
- Step 1 – Shrink Drive and Create Space for Windows XP
- Now, there are three methods/ways of doing this. All are easy and work fine. For method 2 and 3, you do not need to burn a CD.
- Method – 1 (GPartEd)
- Our first step will be to shrink drive C and create space for Windows XP as most of the systems these days come with a single partition only. This will be done with the help of GParted. It can be download from here. Download it, burn it to a CD and boot the system from the disc. (The boot configurations can be changed from System BIOS. The CD/DVD Drive must be the selected as First/Primary Booting Device)
- When you boot from the GParted LiveCD, depending on your system, you should just need to select the auto-configuration boot option.
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- During boot, press Enter twice when prompted to select the keymap and language settings.
- When the main GUI loads, right-click on the main Windows XP NTFS partition (depending on your setup, probably /dev/hda1) and select Resize/Move.
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- Use the slider to reduce the partition size and free up enough room to install XP (at least 5GB) and click Resize/Move.
- The changes haven’t actually been made, they’ve just been scheduled to run. To commit the changes and resize the partition, click Apply. GParted will ask to confirm the changes – hit OK and you are done with this Step.
- Method – 2 (Windows Vista Builtin Feature – DISKPART)
- Boot the machine from the Vista DVD. Select the appropriate language and then “Install Now”.
- On the product key page, press SHIFT + F10 to launch a Windows PE 2.0 command window. Then type in DISKPART and press enter to get into the DISKPART utility.
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- Now type in LIST VOLUME – this gives you a readout of the volumes available on the system. Select the main Windows XP volume by typing in SELECT VOLUME 0 (in most cases it will be Volume 0 – in our lab in was Volume 1).
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- Now type in SHRINK. Vista will reduce the size the selected Volume by around 50%.
- Method – 3 (Windows Vista Builtin Feature – Disk Management)
- Open the Computer Management panel, which you can find under Administrative tools or by right-clicking the Computer item in the start menu and choosing Manage. Find the Disk Management item in the list and select that.
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- Now you have to shrink your drive volume down by right-clicking on the main hard drive and choosing Shrink Volume.
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- Now you can choose the size that you want to shrink, which really means you are choosing the size that you want your XP partition to be. Whatever you do, don’t just use the default. I chose roughly 10gb by entering 10000 into the amount.
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- The next step might be confusing, because we need to change the cd-rom drive that’s invariably taking up D: at the moment, because we want to use D: for the Windows XP partition, but it’s already taken by the cd-rom drive. If you skip this step than XP will install onto the E: drive, which isn’t the end of the world, but it’s not quite as tidy.
- Right-click on the cd-rom drive in the list and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths from the menu.
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- Now we’ll change the CD drive to use E: by selecting that in the drop-down.
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- Now we can create a new partition for XP to live on and make sure that the drive letter is set the way we want. If you do not create a partition now the XP install will do so automatically, but it’s easier and cleaner to do it this way.
- Right-click on the Unallocated free space area and then select New Simple Volume from the menu.
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- Follow through the wizard and select whatever options you’d like, making sure to use D: as the drive letter.
- Now you will need to close out of disk management and reboot your computer. This is because we can’t do the next step until we reboot. (you can try, but it won’t work)
- So we’ve come back from rebooting… open up Computer from the start menu and then right-click on the D: drive and select properties. Give your partition a meaningful name like “XP”. It would be wise to name the C: drive to “Vista” at this point as well.
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- Step 2 – Install Windows XP
- Now you need to insert your XP cd into the drive and restart it. You may have to configure your BIOS to enable booting from the CD drive. The boot configurations can be changed from System BIOS. The CD/DVD Drive must be the selected as First/Primary Booting Device.
- Once you come to the screen where you can choose the partition to install on, then choose either the unpartitioned space or the new partition you created. Whatever you do, don’t try and install onto your Vista partition! See how much cleaner it is now that we’ve labeled each partition distinctly?
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- We’ll assume XP is completely installed at this point, and you will have lost your ability to boot into Windows Vista, so we’ll need to use the VistaBootPro utility to restore the Vista boot loader.
- During the install you’ll be forced to install the .NET 2.0 framework. Open up VistaBootPRO and then click on the System Bootloader tab. Check the “Windows Vista Bootloader” and then “All Drives” radio buttons, and then click on the Install Bootloader button.
- At this point, the Windows Vista bootloader is installed and you’ll only be able to boot into Vista, but we’ll fix that. Instead of manually doing the work, we’ll just click the Diagnostics menu item and then choose Run Diagnostics from the menu.
- This will scan your computer and then automatically fill in the XP version.. click on the “Manage OS Entries” tab and then click in the textbox for Rename OS Entry, and name it something useful like “Windows XP” or “The Windows That Works”
- Click the Apply Updates button and then reboot your computer… you should see your shiny new boot manager with both operating systems in the list!
- If you get an error saying “unable to find ntldr” when trying to boot XP, you’ll need to do the following:
- Find the hidden files ntldr and ntdetect.com in the root of your Vista drive and copy them to the root of your XP drive.
- If you can’t find the files there, you can find them in the \i386\ folder on your XP install cd
- This is a critical piece of information: Windows XP will be installed on the D: drive, even in Windows XP… so you’ll need to keep that in mind when tweaking your system.
- You can share information between the drives, but I wouldn’t recommend messing with the other operating system’s partition too much… it might get angry and bite you. Or screw up your files. What I do recommend is that you store most of your files on a third drive shared between the operating systems… you could call that partition “Data”
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How to dual boot Vista and XP (with Vista installed first) — the step-by-step guide with screenshotsJames Bannan19 December 2007, 4:00 PM UPDATED | Got a Vista PC and want to install XP so you can dual-boot between them? Here’s how to do it, in an easy, step-by-step format.Page 2 – Create Free Space for Windows XP We assume that before you start this tutorial, you have backed up the drive (partitions and data) that will host the two operating systems. Your first step will be to modify the Windows Vista system partition to make space for XP using GParted The GParted Live CD ISO is available here – burn it to CD and boot the system from the disc. The version we used was 0.3.7-7. When you boot from the GParted LiveCD, depending on your system, you should just need to select the auto-configuration boot option. Option 1 – Using GPartEd
During boot, press Enter twice when prompted to select the keymap and language settings. When the main GUI loads, right-click on the main Windows XP NTFS partition (depending on your setup, probably /dev/hda1) and select Resize/Move.
Use the slider to reduce the partition size and free up enough room to install XP (at least 5GB) and click Resize/Move.
The changes haven’t actually been made, they’ve just been scheduled to run. To commit the changes and resize the partition, click Apply. GParted will ask to confirm the changes – hit OK and away you go. Option 2 – Using DISKPART
Boot the machine from the Vista DVD. Select the appropriate language and then “Install Now”. On the product key page, press SHIFT + F10 to launch a Windows PE 2.0 command window. Then type in DISKPART and press enter to get into the DISKPART utility.
Now type in LIST VOLUME – this gives you a readout of the volumes available on the system. Select the main Windows XP volume by typing in SELECT VOLUME 0 (in most cases it will be Volume 0 – in our lab in was Volume 1).
Now type in SHRINK. Vista will reduce the size the selected Volume by around 50%. Option 3 – Using Disk ManagementUsing the Disk Management GUI is really no different to using DISKPART (it’s the GUI frontend to the DISKPART utility), but using the GUI does mean that you can make the changes within Vista before rebooting to install XP, without needing to use the Vista DVD.
Right-click on Computer and select Manage. In Computer Management, expand Storage and select Disk Management.
Right-click the primary partition (the one you need to make space on) and select Shrink Volume
The default values which Vista provides represent a fairly aggressive shrink – as long as the values will give you enough space to install XP, accept the defaults and select Shrink. Vista will churn away for a moment, and then you’ll see the newly-created free space on the primary disk. Now you can reboot and install XP. Related stories
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rOcKnRoLL:I coppied the Vista’s root folder the folder Boot, and the files bootmgr, boot.ini, NTDETECT.COM and ntldr and pasted them to the root of my XP drive. bdon:is this comment after following the direction from this page or is is prior to. Because now im questioning if i should even do a dual boot on my inspiron 1505. when i go to disk management i see 4 partition so im guessing if i wanted to do a dual boot i would have to shrink the 100 gig OS? Jennifer:I saw Steve’s comment on problems with dual-booting Vista and XP on a notebook. I would like to ask some advice. Right now I’m torn between buying an Acer TravelMate 6592G which has a 15 inch screen and XP pre-installed or an Acer TravelMate 7720G with a 17 inch screen and Vista pre-installed. I prefer the 17 inch screen because I’m a graphic designer and this particular model also has a better processor etc. BUT, I use Adobe products that don’t run (well) on Vista. My computer salesman said it’s possible with the 17 inch model to do a dual-boot for Vista and XP, the bonus is it has two separate hard-drives so I wouldn’t need partitions. I am NOT a techie and would try dual-booting myself with the help of a tutorial, hoping all will go smoothly. But is there any guarantee it will run properly, if I do everything right? Can anyone give me some advice? I would really appreciate it! Anonymous2:http://apcmag.com/5485/dualbooting_vista_and_xp try this tutorial and i would go with the 17in if that is what you really want www.nogodforme.com/HPDV6500T.htm i am not that big of a techie and i got it. Oooooops!:Ok, so I guess this stuff was a bit too much too chew. I got as far as creating the unallocated space, 2nd partition, on my hard drive. XP install disk does not see any hard drive and cannot continue. old noob (New user):your not the only 1 when trying to install xp on a pre installed vista machine running sata drive on a rca410L/800-M2 MB captain_bb (New user):i think u should check bios ang disable the SATA whick is enable coz of vista program. hope this will help uglymutt (New user):Its not rocket science, no need for any software to run a dual boot either, all you need in vista and xp, its so simple a caveman can do it.. already have vista installed just use the disc partition tool if you know anything about windows you know what I mean, then make a new partition and install xp on this new partition, then reboot and ohhh xp took over well you need to edit the boot loader so if you know anything xp does not see vista but vista can see xp so you need to input your vista disc and boot and select repair and go to command prompt so now if you know anything about windows it all started with DOS and you need to edit the boot loader to show xp and its so simple… no need to run all this extra software crap to confuse everyone and it don’t work like it should, if you know anything about windows then doing a dual boot is as simple and knowing how to play with yourself, OMG this tutorial is about as far out in space as you can get….. glad I know how to run windows…. good luck ChesterCopperpot:Because you CANNOT install OSX on any generic motherboard. IndustrialG33k:I have my Toshiba tri-booting with Fedora Core 6, Windows XP, and Mac OS 10.4.3. This has been possible for a couple years now… Keys (New user):Not true! You don’t need a mac to install Mac OS. It will install on an AMD or intel PC processor! I installed mac os on my 2nd partition as a dual boot – works perfectly (sound took a little bit to get working, but running well now that’s all sorted out) Craig:Nice article, exactly what I have been searching for. My problem is this PC only came with a “restore” disk and so don’t have the option of doing a repair install to fix the corrupt bootloader. Anyone have any suggestions? drew:I had the same problem with my Sony VAIO n250e. You cannot do this without a vista install dvd. Don’t even try or you will be pulling your hair out. Even though theres other forums with information how to do this using vistaboot pro, I could never get that program working. I suggest you have someone download you a torrent of the dvd so you can get yourself an illegal copy. Your Vista key should be on the bottom of your computer. Good luck. Skippy:You can do it from XP. Install SP2, .NET Framework 2.0, then EasyBCD. Run BCD, click Manage Bootloader. Select Reinstall the Vista Bootloader, then click write. Reboot and it should boot into Vista. From there you can install and run BCD. Click ADD/Remove Entries, and add an entry for XP and save it. That should be it. Craig:I couldn’t boot into anything….Vista or XP. Now I have a copy of Vista so I got the repair done so I can boot into Vista. Reuben:I am having the same problem. The dual boot is set up. I can run vista fine. I keep getting the “File: /ntdlr” is missing or corrupt. Any ideas? James:copy ntdetect.com and ntdlr from the /i386 directory on the XP CD to your XP drive, eg, copy e:\i386\ntldr c:\ KWR:Two issues… EasyBCD did not set the boot drive properly after I added an entry for XP while running Vista. So add your entry and then click on “Configure Boot”. Select you Windows XP OS under “Entry-Based Settings” and note the drive location. Make sure it’s set to C:\. Even though I installed to a D: drive, the ntldr, boot.ini etc, were written to the C: drive. Since vista does not use these files I guess it’s ok to put them in the same directory…seems odd to me. At any rate, The boot entry has to be set to C:\ not D:\. DW:Changing the drive letter to Point to C: worked (even though XP is installed on F:) TheRealAnonymous:1: BIG Help >Changing the drive letter to Point to C: >worked (even though XP is installed on F:) You need to stop thanxing and alloting and learn to spell. Anton Donchev Donchev:This was very, very, very helpfull information. I have no words to say THANK YOU !!! cheers and from meee raj shekhar:Hurray, Follow these step my problem is resolved right now i have dual boot system very very thanks Canifrou:Great! Thanx to all who helped. To get dualboot out of my new Toshiba laptop w/ VistaHP. I follow the steps of the article (http://apcmag.com/5485/dualbooting_vista_and_xp?page=1) and the downloads (EasyBCD). I got the Vista dualboot screen, Vista loaded ok, XP came with a error code re: NTLDR. I used EzBCD redirected XP to C drive and PRESTO! Thank you all. CHAU! Kevin:I would just like to thank you for that wonderful bit of information. I have been searching all over the web for over 5 hours trying to sort my dual boot system out, and eventually i come across your post about copying the files from the xp disc onto the harddrive and now all is well. YIPPPEEE im so happy now im off to bed. Cheers once again. Heath:Top Tip, running OEM Vista Business with an asus recovery disc, only thing I had to do different was install .net framework 3.0…2.0 didnt work??? after that install easy BCD into XP repair MBR jump back into Vista install easy bcd there too and use as described…BEST TIP EVER!!! RickD43:Thank you, you are a lifesaver. Need XP as can’t get SQL Server running on bloody F%*ing Vista for some reason. ThomasLHS:Thank you very much, Skippy! You’ve saved me a lot of trouble. Just spent the past 8 hours re-installing all my programs on XP only to discover I couldn’t boot into Vista! dicko:Or you could just install MS Virtual Workstation 2007 which seems to run ok under Vista and is free. Mayclone:According to the MS website, virtual PC will not run with Vista Home Premium or Basic as host! Callak:This is incorrect. I’m running a 64 bit version of microsoft virtual machine on windows vista ultimate 64 bit, but that doesn’t help me with my issue since I don’t reccomend using a virtual machine to run 3d graphics intensive programs. Nemo:I unsuccessfully tried to dual boot with my HP Pavillion Notebook which came with pre-installed Vista Ultimate. I desparately needed to have XP on my machine as I wanted to connect to my work via VPN. Nothing worked … then came trying this with MS Virtual PC 2007… gave me exacly what I was looking for. I can now run Visa as the Host OS and XP as Guest OS. Enjoying best of both worlds.. Jazza:I do same on hp dv6589us and works okay but on vpc 2007 cannot use actual video driver, e.g., on a desktop with samsung 22″ monitor. Luis:I installed MS Virtual PC 2007 and it is working fine with guess XP Pro, I have Windows Vista Business with 2 Gigas of Ram, and 256 of video ram, but virtual xp only reconize 4 megas !!, but i need more, since i run programas like photohop and corel draw..do you know a way to solve this problem. thank you in advance. Amit:Hi, My Laptop is preinstalled with Windows Vista Business. Now, I badly need to have XP on my laptop so that I can install a specific software that does not work with vista. Kindly guide me with detailed steps of how can I have Vista as the Host OS and XP as Guest OS using the MS Virtual PC 2007? Appreciate your immediate reply. rikis:hello, I have (finally) successfully installed (triboot) Ubuntu “Gutsy”, Vista “Home Basic” and XP in my Compaq Presario C700. The key here is that Hp does not ship the vista cd’s and instead uses a “Recovery partition” so once you install Xp (needles to say that the box came with Vista installed) there was no way to boot back into Vista. At this point there are two options: 1.- Boot into Xp, download and install Easy BCD and fix the Vista Bootloader with the option under the “Diagnostics Center” tab. Or 2.- Dowload and Burn a “Vista recovery CD iso image” and use it instead of the Vista DVD (the one that actually installs the operating system). I had some problem with the first option so I had to use the second… In case you guys are willing to try here is a link http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Repairing+the+Windows+Vista+Bootloader Regars, wilkie:i don’t get why you need to boot with vista disc just to shrink the drive. can’t you just do it within vista’s disk management as detailed below? http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial133.html#shrink James Bannan:You can use the embedded tool or the DVD – there’s no actual requirement to do it either way. I was just demonstrating the DVD method because it uses DISKPART from within Windows PE 2.0 and is just rather nifty. You could certainly use the GUI or DISKPART from within the OS. Baggy52:One question, how can I use the repair option without a disk? I have a laptop that came with the OS installed, and I am wondering how to get the the boot repaired without a disk. Frank vd Horst:You don’t need the DVD, and you don’t need to reboot. Wes:I think this is a good step by step guide but I cannot understand why there would be a need to dual boot Vista with XP. If you have installed Vista and for some reason you need XP then you can have that XP install in a virtual environment instead without going the dual boot way. Hagar:Virtual environments have come a long, long way, but the more you work with them, you realize there are some things you just can’t expect to do. Especially for a gamer like myself – there’s no way you can run a game that won’t run under Vista (and there’s a bunch at this point) – in a virtual environment. Dual-booting gives you full native access to either O/S with no simulation layers and problems to get in the way. I’ve been doing it this way since Windows 95 and NT 3.51 – and there’s no better way to go! JimmyConga:Gaming under Vista is pretty bad at the moment. That is one excellent reason to keep a native partition of XP on hand…
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