Re: Can't load Win XP Pro over Vista

Thanks Curt and Pegasus.
Yes I did realize that I can't load XP from within Vista :( The problem when
trying to boot from CD is really weird. The system accepts the keystroke when
it says"press any key to boot from CD" and kinda takes him into BIOS type
menu where it has options like: F8 for advance settings, select the OS to
boot (which only has Vista), Start in Safe mode, etc.
Unfortunately the drive does not have a separate partition that we could use
for XP. Hence I thought the best bet would be to boot from CD and when it
took us to the installation steps, we can specify to format C:\,
unfortunately we don't get to that point.
As you would have already guessed, my brother is not very technical so I'm
trying to suggest the easiest options. Would it help if he loaded Vista and
then started the command prompt and typed "format c:" would that erase the OS
and then we can restart with the XP CD in the drive, or is that posing too
much of a risk.
Thanks once again guys, really appreciate your help.


"Pegasus (MVP)" wrote:


"hasan" <hasan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:818FB8AB-06C9-4C6C-BBE9-C65046BB3F31@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi,
I have read a couple other forums with a similar problem but mine maybe a
little bit different, hence I thought it would be best to post here. First
of
all I'm trying to help my brother over the phone for this. He recently
bought
a new computer which came with Vista Home Premium but his printer and
other
programs don't work with it, so we decided to install XP pro on it. Now
when
he inserts the XP CD, it runs the setup file and pops the installation
Window
but the option to "Install Windows XP" is greyed out. We tried the other
options but none of them allow him to install XP.

The second thing we tried was to try and boot from the XP CD, even then it
somehow loads Vista.... although we select the "press any key to boot from
CD" option when the computer is starting up it still does not load XP or
take
us to the installation steps..???
His PC config is:
- Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo processor E6600 (2.4GHz)
- 2GB DDR2-667MHz dual channel SDRAM (2x1024)
- 320GB 7200 rpm SATA hard drive
- LightScribe 16X DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive
- 16x max. DVD-ROM
- 15-in-1 memory card reader, 3 USB, 1394, audio
- 3.5 in. 1.44MB Floppy Drive
- 802.11 b/g Wireless LAN and 56K data/fax modem
- 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 7500LE
- Integrated 7.1 channel sound w/front audio ports


Please please help!!!
Thanks


As you found out, you cannot load Windows XP from within Vista.
You MUST boot the machine with your WinXP CD.

When you boot the machine from your WinXP CD then you
get a prompt about using the CD as the boot device. At this
point you MUST press a key such as the Enter key in order
to start the WinXP installation process. Note that if you have
a USB keyboard then it may not yet be active. Use an ordinary
keyboard.

Note also that you must have a second partition as a target
for WinXP. Installing WinXP on the same partition as Vista
is a bad idea.



.

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