Dual boot XP with Windows 7

J

jaw69

New Member
I am running XP Home Edition 32-bit. At Tech net(Microsoft) THEY told me I could install Windows 7 32-bit integrated within my XP 32-bit--without a problem---NOT true. I even used a recommended program "Windows Easy Transfer"... IT won't work for me. It takes too much space up and ALL 3 choices are not feasible--period. And, they said I could install the 64-bit version into a formated partitioned drive, and it would run without any problems---WRONG. After I install Windows 7, it states on re-boot(Dos screen) that a file "Winload.exe can't be found. WELL--that's a VISTA file...gee.
NOW--there must be a "work-around" for this, and MICROSOFT surely doesn't have a clue. At least not yet.
I would most appreciate some thing that would help me, so I could see this new OS...
PLEASE---REPLY,A.S.A.P,
Sincerely,
Ole' Joe
 
Hi Joe, welcome to NST.
I've moved your post to its own thread since it bears no relation to the subject of the one you put it in (customizing HnS).
Winload.exe is the name of the boot loader program for Vista and Windows 7, so no surprise seeing it in this context.
There is no way XP's NTLDR can ever be made to boot Vista or W7. It's just not forward compatible.
To dual boot your old XP with W7 installed on a separate HDD, you must put the W7 drive top of the boot sequence in your BIOS.
Then, if the W7 install completed sucessfully you should boot directly into W7 and any problem (minor and easily fixed) will be in making XP an option in the W7 boot menu.
I need more specific information on exactly what you've done, what's where, etc to be any more help.
Please read the sticky thread and follow the links for background reading on how dual booting works and 99% of all the problems you're likely to encounter.
For the purposes of this thread you can read W7 for Vista whenever it occurs. They're architecturally identical.
 
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