Windows Vista came pre-installed on your new computer and now you want to create a dual boot with Windows XP for reasons of your own. Perhaps you have some older hardware that is not supported, or a program or game that won't run in Windows Vista.

NOTE: Check that Windows XP drivers for your system are available from the manufacturer of your system or from the motherboard manufacturer before attempting to install Windows XP. In particular, if you are using an SATA drive, make sure that you have Windows XP SATA Controller drivers available as they may be necessary for Windows XP setup to be able to "see" the partition on which you intend to install it. This is an important step especially with new Laptop and Notebook systems as well as OEM Desktop systems from manufacturers like Dell, HP and Gateway.

The fact that you do not have a bootable Windows Vista DVD with such systems, may also limit the ability to successfully create a dual boot with Windows XP.



USER BEWARE: CHECK WITH YOUR SYSTEM MANUFACTURER WHETHER OR NOT YOUR WARRANTY IS VOIDED IF YOU INSTALL AND DUAL BOOT WITH WINDOWS XP. MANY OF THE NEWER SYSTEMS ARE DESIGNED AND CONFIGURED TO ONLY RUN WINDOWS VISTA. HARDWARE ON YOUR SYSTEM MAY NOT BE DESIGNED TO RUN WINDOWS XP.


Preparation

The first thing one needs to do is to create a new partition on which to install Windows XP. This you can do by going to Computer>Right click>Manage>Disk Management.

Now right click on the blue primary hard drive at the bottom section of Disk Management and select "Shrink Volume". You can then choose how big the new partition that you want for Windows XP should be. It's suggested that you take into account that you may want to install programs and save data there, but also that you do not limit the amount of space available to Windows Vista unreasonably. Your total hard drive size will be your ultimate guide in selecting the amount of space you allocate to each operating system.

Shrink your Vista Partition---Unallocated Space
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After the primary partition has been shrunk you will have Unallocated space visible in black. At this point it is recommended that you change the drive letter of your DVD drive by inserting a DVD or CD into your DVD drive and close Autoplay when that dialog box appears, right click the blue area of your DVD drive in Disk Management and select "Change drive letter and paths..." and click Change. From the drop down menu on the right of the dialog box that appears, select E and click OK, and then click Yes when you asked to confirm your action. Now remove the CD or DVD from your drive.

Change your drive letters


Changing the drive letters as above leaves your drive/partition structure in a less confusing form than having your hard drive partitions irregularly lettered and does not interfere with the functioning of your DVD drive in any way. You will now have drive letter D: available to use for the partition you will create for Windows XP.

It is now time to create your Windows XP partition from the unallocated space by right clicking the unallocated space and selecting "New simple volume". Follow the "New simple volume Wizard" and accept the defaults until you get to the point where you can insert "Volume label" and type XP there to make identification of your XP installation drive easy. At this point select "Quick Format" to speed the process and continue with the wizard to completion of this action.

Create a new partition


NB. At this point it is critical that you close Disk Management and restart your computer so that your changed disk/drive structure is taken fully into the Windows Vista configuration settings. After your system has restarted, you will again need to restart your system to finalize the setting up of your new partition.

Reboot twice to set
your drive configuration



Install Windows XP

Once you have completed the preparation, you can now insert your Windows XP setup disc and restart your system again to boot from your XP CD and install Windows XP in the normal manner.


Create a Vista Dual Boot Menu

At this point you will have lost your ability to boot into Windows Vista for the time being and the next stage of this excercise is devoted restoring a dual boot to both Windows Vista and Windows XP.

Once you have your XP installation and drivers all installed, download and install VistaBootPRO. Make sure you follow the prompt to install .Net Framework 2.00 as VistaBootPRO will not run without it.

Open VistaBootPRO, ignore the prompt to backup your BCD. Go to the System Bootloader tab, select "Windows Vista Bootloader" in the first section and "All Drives" in the second section and then click Install Bootloader . Next, go to the Diagnostics item on the menu bar and select "Run Diagnostics". VistaBootPRO will default back to the Manage OS Entries page and you will see that you now have entries there for "Earlier versions of Windows" as well as "Microsoft Windows Vista".

Install the Vista bootloader


Restart your system and select the operating system you would like to boot to.

The Vista dual-boot menu

Recently I set about a reinstall of Windows XP which is on the system drive, drive C. Windows Vista is installed on drive D and all the boot system files for both XP and Vista are on the XP installation drive. One can make sure which is the System drive by going to My Computer>Right click>Manage>Disk Management and look for the drive/partition tagged "System".

The problem here is that when formatting the XP drive, if XP is installed on the System drive, one will lose the ability to boot to Windows Vista. If the steps below are taken, then one can easily restore the ability to boot to either Vista or XP after the reformat and clean install of Windows XP is complete.



Preparation

I did not want to disturb my Windows Vista installation, so this is the process I followed:

Copy and paste the folder Boot to the drive on which Vista is installed
Copy and paste the file bootmgr to the drive on which Vista is installed
As a precaution, create a backup of the BCD Store with VistaBootPRO and select the drive on which Vista is installed as the save location.
Uninstall the Vista bootloader using VistaBootPRO, from the Bootloader page.
Delete ALL entries from the Manage OS Entries page of VistaBootPRO

Once this was done, I rebooted to the Windows XP CD and reformatted and reinstalled Windows XP.


Reinstating the Windows Vista Dual Boot

After I had installed all drivers and some of the programs I use to Windows XP it was time to get my dual boot with Vista working again. Here is the process to follow to resinstate the dual boot:

Downloaded and install VistaBootPRO.
Cut and paste the folder Boot from the Vista installation drive back to the XP installation drive
Cut and paste the file bootmgr from the Vista installation drive back to the XP installation drive
Go to the Bootloader page of VistaBootPRO, select "Reinstall the Vista bootloader" and Apply

Reboot and you will find that the dual boot menu to both Windows XP and Windows Vista has been restored.

Using Nero Burning Rom


Fully functional trial versions of either Nero 6 or Nero 7 Premium may be downloaded directly from Nero (it is recommended that you uncheck the Yahoo toolbar selection box).


Step 1.

Nero 6

Once you have ISO file downloaded from Microsoft, open Windows Explorer and browse to the folder you saved it to. Right click the file and select "Open With…" from the menu. Ignore "Recommended Programs" in the dialog window that opens and select "Browse…". From the "Program Files" folder that opens, select "Ahead", double click that folder and select and double click the "Nero" folder. Now select "nero.exe" and press "Open".

Nero 7

Once you have ISO file downloaded from Microsoft, open Windows Explorer and browse to the folder you saved it to. Right click the file and select "Open With…" from the menu. Ignore "Recommended Programs" in the dialog window that opens and select "Browse…". From the "Program Files" folder that opens, select "Nero", double click that folder and select and double click the "Nero 7" folder and then double click the "Core" folder. Now select "nero.exe" and press "Open".


Nero 7

Once you have ISO file downloaded from Microsoft, open Windows Explorer and browse to the folder you saved it to. Right click the file and select "Open With…" from the menu. Ignore "Recommended Programs" in the dialog window that opens and select "Browse…". From the "Program Files" folder that opens, select "Nero", double click that folder and select and double click the "Nero 7" folder and then double click the "Core" folder. Now select "nero.exe" and press "Open".


Step 2.

Nero 6 and Nero 7

The "Open With" dialog box will again appear and one is now able to select "Nero Burning Rom" and then press "OK".




In the Nero Burning Rom "Burn Compilation" window that opens, be sure to check "Finalize DVD" and then press "Burn".




Step 3.

Nero 6 and Nero 7

When the "Waiting for Disc" Nero dialog box opens, insert your blank DVD and the burn process will commence automatically.





Using Roxio Disc Copier


A fully functional trial version of Roxio Easy Media Creator is available from Roxio (Note: This is a direct download link).


Step 1.(a)

Open Windows Explorer and browse to the folder you saved the downloaded ISO file to. Right click the ISO file and select "Open With…" from the menu. Select "Disc Copier 7".


Step 1.(b)

Should you not find "Disc Copier 7" on the "Open With..." menu, ignore "Recommended Programs" in the dialog window that opens and select "Browse…".

From the "Program Files" folder that opens, select and double click the "Roxio" folder, select and double click the "Easy Media Creator 7" folder, select and double click the "Disc Copier" folder and then select "DiscCopier7.exe" and press "Open".


Step 2.

The "Open With" dialog box will appear and one is now able to select "Disk Copier 7" and then press "OK".




Step 3.

Once the program has opened, insert your blank DVD and the burn process will commence automatically.

So…you unplugged your Windows XP hard drive before Windows Vista setup, so that you didn’t fubar your XP installation. Both XP and Vista boot fine when you change the boot drive order in the BIOS, effectively changing the Windows system drive each time, but that gets a bit tiresome.

Windows XP needs the following files to be on the system drive for it to be able to boot;

boot.ini
NTDETECT.COM
ntldr

and Windows Vista needs these files to be on the system drive for it to be able to boot;

Boot (folder and contents, most importantly the BCD store)
bootmgr

To sort this out, follow the steps below:



1. Plug both drives in and set the Windows XP drive to be the boot drive in the BIOS. This will make it the system drive and although it doesn’t really matter whether the XP or Vista drive is the system drive, it tends to be easier to manage and control booting, from Windows XP.

2. Open Disk Management (right click My Computer>Manage) and go to Disk Management to check that your XP drive is your system drive, although the fact that you were able to boot to XP should already confirm that.

3. Open Windows Explorer and make sure you set Folder Options in Control Panel to be able to see hidden files and files and unhide protected operating system files. You’ll find folder options in the same place in Vista if you select Classic View for Control Panel.

4. Copy the folder Boot and the file bootmgr from your Vista installation drive and paste it to your XP installation drive.

Disk Management
Files to be copied…………………………...Files copied




5. Download and install VistaBootPRO and then open it to the Bootloader tab. Select “Reinstall the Vista bootloader” and press Apply.

Reinstall the Vista booloader




6. Now go to the Manage OS Entries tab and select “Add new operating system entry”and make sure you select “Windows Legacy”, give the entry a name like “Windows XP”, select the drive letter you have ntldr on as the drive letter and press Apply (This drive letter must also be your system drive which is set to boot in the BIOS). You can now choose which entry you want to be the default to which the system will boot by default.

Add new XP entry




Reboot and choose which Operating System you want to boot to. QED

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