dual boot vistas

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flyboy43

Member
Hi all, new member

I have a HP Pavilion dv9700 running vista. As with windows the current build is going toast so rather than install new drive I am looking to setup second boot partition that I can rebuild. Drive space will not be an issue. I have MANY programs on old vista that I will need access to while I rebuild. Rather than swapping drive I figure if I can dual boot to a second copy to new vista when I have time to work on rebuild. I would like to use the HP recovery disks to build new vista. After I get the new vista to where I want it I would like to remove the old vista partition. I am hoping both partitions will be C:. I would not expect to see the other OS while in the other. If I can boot to a third I may try other OSs later.

I'm I expecting too much? I do not want to add windows 7 as I am happy with vista. There is no benefit for me to switch. What gotchas will there be to look out for? Do I need to start with a new drive for the multi boot then restore the old vista to build the configuration?

Thanks for all comments
 
Are you expecting to Install a new copy of Vista and use your previously installed apps from their old location on the new system ?
That won't be possible unless the apps are so old that they don't use the registry.
 
Terry60 said:
Are you expecting to Install a new copy of Vista and use your previously installed apps from their old location on the new system ?
That won't be possible unless the apps are so old that they don't use the registry.
Click to expand...

My intentions are to install the original vista from the recovery disks. Then I would be installing the apps from my current installs and yes many of them are current that use the registry.

Question - If the two partitions are unable to see each other would that be an issue. I am hoping that both partitions would end up being c: and not seen from each other. This way when it becomes time to remove the old vista it should be business as usual. That is my plan/hopes anyway.

Thanks for the reply
 
I'm not sure that the OEM recovery discs will be capable of installing a second copy, but that's something to research with them.
My OSs are self installed on a home-built PC, so I can target whatever site I want with the retail media, but my limited experience with helping sort out other people's broken OEM PCs is that the recovery media will do a upgrade in place on the C disk or a full factory reset of the entire PC, but not much else.
A "normal" install of a second Vista/7 will detect the existing OS and add a dual-boot entry to the BCD of the existing OS.
Windows installations can all see each other unless you hack the registry to "offline" one from the other.
Windows boot managers (of any vintage) cannot set the MBR "hide" bit, but if set by a third party boot manager (like grub), the running OS respects it.
If you install Windows from another running copy of Windows, then they cannot share a disk letter. The newly installed OS must be different from the running OS. If you install from a booted retail DVD, the disk letters can be the same.
If you set the empty partition "active" before installing Vista in it, then the second installation will be totally independent of the first, each with their own boot files, and neither aware of the other whilst booting, although able to access each other
when running.
 
OEM versions of Windows can only be installed once on a PC. It is right in the EULA of Windows that shows up when it boots for the first time. So technically you cant install a 2nd copy of Windows using the Recovery Media without having both installs not be validated anymore.
 
Mak 2.0 said:
OEM versions of Windows can only be installed once on a PC. It is right in the EULA of Windows that shows up when it boots for the first time. So technically you cant install a 2nd copy of Windows using the Recovery Media without having both installs not be validated anymore.
Click to expand...

I ended up testing on a new drive. I started the rebuild on this drive and swap back and forth with the old drive as required. Major Pain.

Thanks for the comments.
 
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