Re: Dual Boot VIsta Ultimate and XP Home

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Now I am thoroughly confused, Timothy!

In another post, you listed these links:

Here's an explanation of the problem:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931854
Here's the reference that explaines Vista's new partitioning
format: http://www.multibooters.co.uk/partitions.html
Here's just one How-To that uses VistaBootPro:
http://vistasupport.mvps.org/install_windows_xp_on_machine_running_vista.htm
Here's a How-To that uses Vista's own "bcdedit" command:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919529

The multibooters link states:

<quote>
If you only have Vista on your computer and don't mess with imaging or
cloning then you have nothing to worry about. However if you do image or
clone your drive or have a dual/multiboot configuration with OSes other
than Vista, then there are various serious problems that can arise. For
now the best solution is to not let Vista create partitions, but do it
with previous Windows OSes or with third-party tools.
</quote>

Okay. Since it's a very good idea to either image or clone one's hard
drive, it seems that using Vista to repartition the hard drive is not a
good idea.

Furthermore, it states:

<quote>
When installing Vista you should create the partition yourself
beforehand and point the Vista install to that partition. Vista is
perfectly happy to follow the standard conventions and I have not seen
any issues when everything has been done by the old rules using XP
compatible tools. Many current apps that worked with XP can be used with
Vista, however many might not install inside Vista but they can be used
from inside another OS or boot disk. When there have not been any Vista
created partitions on the drives I have successfully used several
non-Vista versions of partitioning and imaging/cloning tools.
</quote>

So, it appears that a tool like Gparted might fit the bill. However, you
state that doing so may result in other problems! Or perhaps the idea is
to let Gparted partition the drive from the get-go, and *then* install
the OSes (that is, not to have it do repartitoning after the fact that
Vista had already been installed). Am I correct?

In the John Barnett link, he advocates using VistaBootPro. But this
involves using Vista to repartition the hard drive. So, if the
multibooters link is correct, again, problems could arise when imaging
or cloning the hard drive!

So, is there anything definitive as to the best practices procedure?


"Timothy Daniels" <NoSpam@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23dFE50k%23IHA.3396@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Here's my reply to another posting in this NG on using
Gparted to create partitions for both Vista and other OSes::

On my Dell laptop with pre-installed Vista, I had good luck using
Gparted - a Linux partition manager which runs on a bare-bones
version of Linux (which disappears when you exit Gparted).
Gparted will shrink Vista's partition much further than will Vista's
Disk Management, and it's just as intuitive to use. You can
download a free .zip file to make a live USB stick (as I did) or you
can download a free .iso file to make a live CD. These free files are
are both available from http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php .
Here's some user documentation:
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/larry/livecd/livecd.htm
(For the live USB, I take all the defaults at startup, except that
I choose "1" - for the "Medium" level of expertise - and then I
tell it NOT to let the startup routine select the graphic driver auto-
matically, but then I accept its selection and the rest of the
defaults.)

Don't use Gparted to add or delete logical drives to/from a Vista-
created Extended partition, though. Vista uses a new 2,048-sector
offset from the beginning of its partitions, and the feature can cause
problems for other partition managers in Extended partitions.

*TimDaniels*


"GrahamH" <graham@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:u3avK7i%23IHA.3344@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi,
Could be that when you used vista to do the partitioning and
formatting XP didnt like it. There is i believe something different
in the structure of Vista`s partitioning and formating. It may not be
backward compatible, at least with 3rd party partitoning software.
Cant rememeber what the difference is but a search on the web will
find it.
I guess you installed XP on an extended partition/logical drive in
which case the mbr would have been overwritten by the o/s and also
system files.
This is the way i did it, as it then isolates each o/s from each
other.

I have installed XP home and Vista premium on same drive and the way
i did it was to create two Primary partitions and format ntfs using
paragon hard disk manager.
I installed XP on the second primary and Vista on the first.
Just make the partition you want to install O/S on active first.
I also created on the second primary an extended partition and
logical drive and installed XP again for testing software purposes.
So i can boot to Vista / Xp / and Xp test.
You need to use a boot manager like paragon that can select and make
active either partition depending on o/s selection at boot.

Good luck
Graham....



"john p murphy" <jm920@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:t8ip94l7ub6ach921ofse3qcv3rjfnd880@xxxxxxxxxx
Ok, so i am bored last weekend, i am presently running Vista
Ultimate,
and figured i would install XP HOme editon, i create a partition
using
vista disk management, format it, put some files on it, partiton was
just fine, so i put in the xp disk, reboot, does the standard XP
thing
copying windows files, now time to reboot, after reboot, i get this
message, missing operating system, well i tried to reinstall again
and
again, so i put in the vista dvd, boot, go to repair, repair fails
miserably, so i just figure, new vista install, so i do, get to the
part to partiton, etc, what i notice is now i have 3 partitions,
C,D,
and an unallocated space, small, so i remove all the partitions, and
just install vista, no problems, running fine now, what i am curious
about is what the hell just went on,????? years ago, i never had
problems doing dual boots, xp and 98 , its killing me not knowing
what
the hell was going on and what happened?? thanks for any help with
this, i am losing sleep on this one LOL





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