Copy XP install to Vista partition?

E

Eplanet

Member
i have xp & vista installed on 2 separate partitions. vista's shrink volume is stuck because of system files (and ya, ive tried boot defraggin, they put even more at back). i only have 1.38G for xp; enuf for basic install, but no updates, etc. So without using a partition manager (logic,magic,qtpart,etc.), can i just copy all files, system & hidden included, and paste them into a directory on my vista partition?

first will this work with how EasyBCD does its thing? if you can just click a .bat file in windows to reboot zipslack, it must be able to be doable with a program that could handle/was designed for that, right?

second, any easily potential problems? they have their own copies of registy,system .dlls, etc. Programs/processes call/access files often without going through the shell?

thx.
 
Hi Eplanet, welcome to NST.

I'm afraid I haven't a clue what is you're hoping to accomplish by copying the XP partition to a folder on the Vista drive. What's your goal in all this? At the end of the day, you'd like to use EasyBCD to _____________?
 
well, i simply can't use it to pick up chicks (or can i?).

so ill have to go with using it to either boot vista or xp from the same partition (with vista setup as the primary/main/first installed OS, and xp from a folder, like c:\winXP, alot like a zipslack setup, but xp, not zipslack.)
 
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Ah, I see what you mean.

I'm afraid you can't use EasyBCD to do that. EasyBCD can boot into any OS from its own partition, or WinPE (1.0 or 2.0) from any partition or any folder. But it can't boot into XP from a folder because XP doesn't support booting from anything other than a primary partition.

I'd recommend re-partitioning with a real partition editor like Acronis Disk Director or GParted, which have no problems with system files. Acronis is the best, but it's not free. GParted is free but you'll have to burn it to a live CD to use.
 
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