XP & Server 2008 Dual Boot

BlodiaInc · #1 August 13th, 2008, 02:13 AM

Hi everyone,

I am new to this whole dual booting thing. After doing some initial research, I need advice on how to install and dual boot XP Pro and Server 2008

I have a system with one drive that I will be doing a fresh dual boot installation. Please give me information on this process:

1) It seems better to install XP first? Should I install XP Pro first or Server 2008?
2) Should I partition the space beforehand or after the first installation? All the guides I have seen have been shrinking the partition. What should I do?
3) I read about the problem of restore points being erased by the other system. Does it matter what order I install if I want to avoid this problem using EasyBCD?

Thanks for your help.

kairozamorro · #2 August 13th, 2008, 04:11 PM

Hi BlodiaInc, welcome to NST.

There is no need to double post in multiple threads on the same issue. The problem has been addressed here:

1) Yes it does. Ideally XP should be installed first since it is older and the installation of Server 2008 should automatically iniate the dual-boot configuration for you without any other action.

2) I typically plan the layout of my hard drive on a clean system before the first installation. When you have decided how much you want to allocate for each OS/data partition, then you should go ahead and allocate the space for each OS then and there in the first install so the disk is already layed out for the rest of the installations. Make sure you only format the OS partition for the OS you are currently installing though, as other OSes may require other file systems and older versions of Windows other then Vista well immediatly go on after formatting to installing Windows on the partition you have formatted.

3) Regardless of order, older versions of Windows well still eat the young ones for lunch. It has to do with a newer format that the older versions of Windows doesn't recognize. It thinks it is corrupted, so therefore it just kindly deletes the restore points for you. You have two options to solve this problem once your OSes are installed:

a) Try the registry hack recommended by MS for XP. This well leave Vista's partition unaccessible from XP, but if done correctly, well hide Vista's restore points. It can be found here.

b) Use NeoSmart's Vista HnS to do all of the work for you, found here.

Note to Mak or CG to close/delete this thread at http://neosmart.net/forums/showthrea...2724#post22724 since it is a double-post of the above problem.

Computer Guru · #3 August 13th, 2008, 04:31 PM

I was under the impression Server 2008 didn't have system restore in the first place - is that not the case?

kairozamorro · #4 August 13th, 2008, 04:41 PM

It doesn't? I have a copy of server 2008 myself, but haven't used it yet.

Makaveli213 · #5 August 13th, 2008, 05:39 PM

Mahmoud is right. Server 08 doesnt use Restore points. I have it installed and i have tested this out. They do not use Restore Points. Remeber it is a Server based OS not a desktop OS. Things are not the same. Servers are made to run certain functions. They are not made for error recovery from a applicaiton install that corrupts another. Which the Restore feature is mainly used for.

Servers are designed with a set set of applicaitons it will use. Most of which have already been tested to work together.

Cheers,
Mak

BlodiaInc · #6 August 13th, 2008, 07:26 PM

Originally Posted by Makaveli213

Mahmoud is right. Server 08 doesnt use Restore points. I have it installed and i have tested this out. They do not use Restore Points. Remeber it is a Server based OS not a desktop OS. Things are not the same. Servers are made to run certain functions. They are not made for error recovery from a applicaiton install that corrupts another. Which the Restore feature is mainly used for.

Servers are designed with a set set of applicaitons it will use. Most of which have already been tested to work together.

Cheers,
Mak

No restore points are available when you use Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 in a dual-boot configuration together with an earlier Windows operating system Microsoft mentions Server 2008 as well... stupid Microsoft...

I heard that the opposite happens as well with XP when you run Vista/Server 2008... should I be concerned of protecting XP restore points when booting up Server 2008?

Terry60 · #7 August 14th, 2008, 12:24 AM

Vista doesn't touch XP's restore points, just the other way round.
Vista changed the format, but is backward compatible, XP sees the new format as corruption, and resets to the old.
If Server 2008 doesn't use them, it should have no reason even to look at XP's restore points.

Computer Guru · #8 August 14th, 2008, 10:31 AM

But if the Microsoft Knowledgebase issue acknowledges Server 2008 as a susceptible OS to this problem... doesn't that mean that System Restore can be enabled there?

Terry60 · #9 August 14th, 2008, 11:43 AM

Quote from MS
"Although Windows Server 2008 does not include the System Restore feature, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 use shadow copies for other purposes, such as for backups. Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 also delete shadow copies that are created by earlier versions of Windows. Therefore, after you use the earlier version of Windows to start the computer in a dual-boot environment, no restore points are available to the System Restore feature when you next start Windows Vista."
So dual-booting Server 2008 with XP won't lose any restore points, but it will destroy any Server shadow copies. Vista's restore points are a "special case" shadow copy.

Computer Guru · #10 August 14th, 2008, 05:57 PM

Ouch.... Shadow Copies are really important for a Windows server... I wonder if dual-booting Server 2008 and Server 2003 (since 2003 also has the shadow copy service) will corrupt the restore points?

Makaveli213 · #11 August 14th, 2008, 06:12 PM

that is a good question. Something to try in VMWare i would think.

Terry60 · #12 August 14th, 2008, 09:21 PM

Another quote from the same KB article
"You use Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 in a dual-boot configuration with Windows XP or with Windows Server 2003. In this scenario, any restore points that have been created in Windows Vista are lost when the computer is started in an earlier Windows operating system. Additionally, shadow copies that were created in Windows Server 2003 are lost when the computer is started in Windows Vista or in Windows Server 2008.

This problem occurs because the volume snapshot driver that is included with Windows Vista and with Windows Server 2008 uses disk structures that are incompatible with earlier versions of Windows. Therefore, the earlier operating system deletes Windows Vista shadow copies or Windows Server 2008 shadow copies together with the associated restore points. This behavior occurs because the earlier Windows operating systems do not recognize the new disk structures".
So the answer is yes CG, but worse than XP and Vista, the deletion happens both ways.

Computer Guru · #13 August 14th, 2008, 09:41 PM

Interesting. HnS would be useless in such a case. Actually, not really - you'd just have to add an "find --hide xxx" line before the entry to boot into Longhorn Server to hide the 2003 partition from 2008. Now that I think of it, the only thing that HnS cannot reliably do is hide on LH-based OS from another.

As a sidenote, I really should start reading TFA instead of asking...

kairozamorro · #14 August 15th, 2008, 06:16 AM

I think the restore problem exists in not just XP, but any prior version of Windows, so server 2000 in a dual-boot with server 2008 would also be a problem.