BSOD when trying to install XP

crazy933

Active Member
I have a laptop that came preinstalled with Vist home premuim, I had a copy of XP that i wanted to install and dual boot but when I try to install xp i get a BSOD the errors pop up so fast that i can't read them. I have since installed windows 7 and still cannot install xp. I have successfully dual booted by desktop with windows 7 and xp.

any ideas?
 
Is your copy of XP pre SP2 ?
If so it will have no SATA drivers.
It will successfully install in a PC with IDE drives, but not a more modern one.
 
You well need to switch to sata/ide disk mode instead of ahci/raid in the BIOS. You should than be able to install XP, but you'll need to either

a. Get drivers for XP that allow it to function normally in ahci/raid operation. Switch modes again so your already installed Windows systems well boot.
b. Re-install all the other systems as well leaving it in sata/ide mode.
 
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terry, I tried to install by booting from the Cd (the same as i did for my desktop)

kairo, I saw nothing in the bios about switching to sata/ide.
 
Is it a genuine Microsoft XP CD ? (It will say on it, and also tell you if it's SP1, SP2 etc)
If it's the OEM CD from the desktop, then it will fail because it's not complete.
MS CDs contain drivers for all known device types (at the time of release) and are designed to install on any heap of hardware you throw together. The OEM version of XP they provide with a new PC only contains the specific drivers for the hardware in the box. It won't recognize other pieces of kit.
Even if you could install it (similar hardware), it would not be activated by MS, because the EULA links that copy of XP irrevocably with the PC it was supplied with.
The licence doesn't belong to you (like a full retail copy). It belongs to the hardware it was supplied with.
 
it is SP2, it is a genuin disk that came with an older laptop i pourchased. I was able to use this cd to install XP on my desktop when i built ir last year.
 
As Justin said, check your BIOS for IDE/AHCI options. That's the number one cause of BSODs during XP setup - I went through it myself!
 
If you're absolutely sure, then your only option is to either slipstream the drivers into the XP CD with nLite or install XP in a virtual machine.
 
I'd recommend a virtual machine at this point too. I'm about to convert my XP install to one since I hardly use it anymore. It is getting old...
 
o.k. thanks, i will check it out.

Addendum:

so far so good. thanks. a question do i have to install anti virus software on the virtual machine? also i like the way this works and would like to do this on my desktop system instead of the dual boot, can i somehow copy clone the existing hard dirve partition to the virtual machine so i don't have to reinstall all the software?
 
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The virtual machine when connected to the internet is just as vulnerable to attack as a physical installation on the hard drive. You can use Microsoft Security Essentials for free to protect against viruses/spyware. I'm not sure if Suns got a tool for converting a physical install. In that case VMWare is a similar solution and they do have a conversion tool. If it turns out that you like VirtualBox better in the end I believe you could than import a VMWare image of the install.
 
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