What it the Best Triple Boot procedure with Vista, XP and Windows 7?

[Pochrist]

I'm currently going to give Windows 7 beta a spin and really want to separate things. I currently have:

Vista 64bit on one physical Hard disk and XP pro on another Hard disk, I figured I'd like to add a 3rd Hard Disk and Put Windows 7 on that. I know that by copying the XP Boot files over to the Vista Boot partition and modifying them I can get Vista to find it. Should I do it like this.

Disconnect both Drives

Connect Windows 7 target drive and install

Reconnect all drives and Boot ( I assume Windows 7 will load) use EasyBCD to add Vista and Xp.

I'm fuzzy on if this is the way I sould proceed or should i leave all drives connected and install Windows 7.

Like I said I'm not sure what is the best way to do this.

I really want to keep everybody on there own Hard drive. Thanks

[JustinW]

Hi Pochrist, welcome to NST

Keep the two disks connected and attach the third one for Windows 7. Verify that you can still boot XP/Vista first with the third drive attached. Boot from Windows 7 DVD. As long as you select the third disk for Windows 7 during the installation you shouldn't have any problems.

[Coolname007]

Hi Pochrist, welcome to NST

Keep the two disks connected and attach the third one for Windows 7. Verify that you can still boot XP/Vista first with the third drive attached. Boot from Windows 7 DVD. As long as you select the third disk for Windows 7 during the installation you shouldn't have any problems.

Its seems like to me it would be safer for him to disconnect the two other drives, when installing Win 7, Justin... Why take the risks of accidentally installing to the wrong drive, or the boot files of Win 7 going to the wrong disk?

-Coolname007

[JustinW]

Because 7 will maintain his other entries and it and vista can use the same bootloader. Disconnecting the other two may complicate things.

[Coolname007]

Because 7 will maintain his other entries and it and vista can use the same bootloader. Disconnecting the other two may complicate things.

Complicate things in what way? He can use his Win 7 bootloader to boot all 3, if he puts his Win 7 drive first in the BIOS drive order, ya know...

-Coolname007

[JustinW]

Maybe, but there have been way too many users here that have experienced boot problems after adding/removing drives to the mix.

[Coolname007]

Maybe, but there have been way too many users here that have experienced boot problems after adding/removing drives to the mix.

Yes...but that would be if they removed the drive after getting their OSes installed, not before. If he installs Win 7 to a drive, with his other 2 drives disconnected, he will only need to add entries afterwards to boot the other two OSes from Win 7's bootloader with EasyBCD, and that would be a piece of cake (especially if his 3 XP boot files are already on his "system" partition).

-Coolname007

[Terry60]

Either way should work OK. I'd advise that whenever you're about to install a system to a new partition, you make sure that when you pre- format the partition you give it an unambiguous volume label like "Windows 7 System", then you don't run into the problem mentioned by Cool of sticking it in the wrong place and screwing your system when you point the setup at the space you want.
Jus's point about having the other systems visible so that W7 auto installs to the current environment, is a good one, though when I did that with the W7 install, intending that exact outcome, W7 actually installed perfectly to the pre-named partition (on a different HDD from Vista/XP), but totally ignored the existing OSs. It booted fine (and alone) with the DVD in the tray, but as soon as the boot reverted to Vista's BCD in control, W7 needed to be added as an option to the Vista BCD.
Having W7 with its own (unused) BCD, booting via the Vista BCD, did give me the option of doing a little HnS customization, and achieving a neat triple boot with both Vista and W7 restore points protected from XP's corrupting influence.
You can see how, if you're interested, in this thread.

[Pochrist]

Thanks kairozamorro - Worked flawlessly

Kudos to Terry60 - Last night I had already named the Partition in the new drive to "Windows7" to avoid the very thing that was suggested.

Windows 7 appears to install quicker and is more refined then Vista. This doesn't seem like a "New" OS more like "Vista SP2"

Thanks for all the help.

[JustinW]

Hey, thats great.

Yes, we're all very pleased with the way Windows 7 is going. Other than the lack of some common features the other OSes have that I'm used to having I'm happy to say this may not be such a disappointment like Vista was.

Cool, I'm not saying my method would have been any more valid than yours. Its just that way the user may have needed to modify boot.ini and I'd rather have them just fire up EasyBCD and add a new entry for Windows 7 like for you Terry if case need be. A lot easier than trying to tell someone how to format a boot.ini file without being present to look at thier system. Not to mention when the beta periods over the user would need to reverse the proccess.

[Coolname007]

Cool, I'm not saying my method would have been any more valid than yours. Its just that way the user may have needed to modify boot.ini and I'd rather have them just fire up EasyBCD and add a new entry for Windows 7 like for you Terry if case need be. A lot easier than trying to tell someone how to format a boot.ini file without being present to look at thier system. Not to mention when the beta periods over the user would need to reverse the proccess.

Good point. But then again, there wasn't any guarantee he wouldn't have had to edit boot.ini anyway... And that aspect is not really all that hard, and if he needed help with that, he could have simply posted, and we could have all helped him get his boot.ini configured correctly. That's what the forums are for. But regardless, I'm glad he got his problem fixed...despite having followed your method!

-Coolname007