Should I reinstall XP?

YSbird

YSbird

Distinguished Member
My situation:

have desktop which had Vista Home Basic installed. Did a clean install with Basic, then upgraded to Home Premium. So far so good, everything seemed to be working fine.

Then created D:\ drive and tried to install XP, that's when the problems started. However, I was able to resolve and finally installed XP. All this was done following inst. found on the net. However I've since realized that those instructions were either incomplete or inaccurate.

I originally installed VistaBootPro and tried using it to set up a dual boot. but it wouldn't work. Uninstalled it, reinstalled it and tried again, this time I kept getting error messages so uninstalled again. Then found EasyBCD, and some guides and instructions, so this is where I'm at right now.

What I'm left with is only being able to boot into Vista. I installed EasyBCD on Vista and fixed the bootloader, even though not sure if that is part of my problem.

Now I find out I should have loaded drivers on my SATA drive by hitting F6 before installing XP on my D drive.

So back to the title of the thread, should I reinstall XP? If not, what should I do?

Also 2 more questions,

I have Net Framework 3.5 on Vista, but instructions seem to indicate I should be using version 2, which is the correct version I should use?

Also to set up the dual boot, which version of Windows should I use XP or Vista?

I apologise if this has been asked before, but I couldn't find anything similar in my search before asking.

Thx.
 
You dont have to reinstall XP. If you isntalled it and it works then you are half way there. From here you need to use the Vista DVD to restore the Vista boot loader. From there go back into Vista and use EasyBCD to add a XP entry to the BCD. Since the XP boot loader can not boot Vista.

If when you restart you get errors they are all laid out in our Wiki as to how to fix them.

http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Troubleshooting+Windows+XP

If you still have trouble just post back and we will help you get the dual boot working.

Welcome to NST!
 
If EasyBCD runs at all then the NET framework you've got is fine.
The instructions warn you you need 2.0 because that's the minimum level needed and it isn't bundled with XP. If you clean install XP, then try to run EasyBCD, it will fail because of the absence of NET 2.
The default Vista doesn't need any prerequisite, Easy will run fine with Vista straight out of the box.
 
Thx for the responses.

Just one more question before I start

Do I need to install Net Framework and EasyBCD on XP? or is that not required because they are installed on Vista?

Sorry that was 2 questions :tongueout:
 
You need to install .net framework 2.0 in XP if you want to install/run EasyBCD in XP. EasyBCD doesn't need .net for Vista. It can run on its own.

To CG: How about bundling .net with EasyBCD's installer? I know it isn't needed for Vista, but there are still a lot here using EasyBCD with XP....
 
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you

Did I say thank you? :tongueout:

THX for the responses. I'm now a happy camper, everything is working as it should.

Took a few tries to get it working, but working like a charm.

Think I'm going to start hanging out around this forum from time to time.

You've been very helpful.
 
It would make the installer that much larger to include the .NET 2 package for XP.

That would be a 23MB extra for the download. Not to mention having to get the rights to include that in the download, and not to mention having 2 different installers. 1 for XP and 1 for Vista. Since they one for Vista doesnt need teh .NET 2.0 part.

There is no sense of having it included. At all. EasyBCD is meant to control the BCD which should be done from Vista. If you try to do it from XP you could end up messing up your boot more than helping it. Which is why we go thru the measures to make sure that people repair the Vista bootlaoder first. Then work with EasyBCD.
 
Visual Studio allows you to build installers for your applications that include the .Net Framework and well install it automatically on the user's machine if needed if it is not already installed, but ultimately that is up to CG and I support his decision either way.
 
I understand that. But it would defeat the purpose to have 1 installer as you dont need it on Vista where this should be run most of the time. :wink:
 
I'm back again. :frowning:

Don't know if this is the right place to ask this, so if not can you tell me where to post.

It is somewhat related to my dual boot. Which BTW is working beautifully.

My problem is this.

Originally my old desktop with XP was the only pc I had and it was directly connected to the internet through a modem. Then my son moved back home with 2 pc's so got a D-Link router and setup everything with the desktop as the host pc. Then I purchased my new desktop with Vista Home Basic and it automatically detected the network so I didn't have to set up anything. Then when did a clean install and upgrade, the same thing happened and it automatically detected the network.

Now for the problem. I've set up the dual boot with Vista and XP on the host desktop. With Vista I can see my network, but can't see the network with XP. Also the other pc's can't see XP when I'm in XP. However, I can see XP when in Vista, but naturally can't access it since it is shut down. (although just wondering if it is showing only because it is on the same hard drive)

I've tried just about everything I can think of, including setting up a static IP on XP. The only thing I haven't tried is installing D-Link on XP. And I'm hesitant to do that since I'm afraid it will mess everything up.

Any thoughts or ideas?
 
Your router should have had an installation disk with an option something like "add new PC to the network" which should automatically configure your XP when you run it there.
 
Tried that, but it is for wireless PCs. The desktop isn't wireless, it is hardwired (cable attached) to the router.

Thx though
 
I'm on Orange broadband through their router, which is hardwired to this dual-boot PC (Vista/XP), and wirelessly to my backup (XP) PC.
I still had to run the setup disk on all 3 OSs.
 
Have you created a home network with the XP machine for it to be seen by the rest of the machines?
 
Okay just deleting everything I previously posted

I feel so stupid DUH.......

Finally decided to check my firewall. Turned it off, and viola, there was my network showing.

This firewall is the same one I'm using in Vista, so never occurred to me until today to check to see if that was the problem. Since couldn't find what entry was causing the problem, I just uninstalled and reinstalled the firewall and everything is working fine.

Sorry about that.
 
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I had your deleted post up on the screen (it had been there a while, as I was doing something completely different), and was just about to reply that validation wouldn't make any difference, when I thought to hit "refresh" to check that you hadn't already had a reply.
Glad to see your problem is resolved. Don't beat yourself up about it, we all have the occasional "duh" moment.
Now that you're an expert, perhaps you can get my W98 Thinkpad to connect wirelessly...........
 
Actually I might be able to help you with that not 100% sure though. Already helped a friend connect WIN98SE but it was hardwired to the router.

But will have to get back to you later, have to go out shortly for a bit.

In the meantime a quick question

do you have a wireless adapter for the Think Pad, or is it already set up for wireless connectivity?
 
I bought 3 matching MSI wireless adapters, (2 PCI cards and 1 USB stick), when I signed up with Orange.
Their blurb only mentioned that the router (Inventel Livebox) was wireless, so I assumed I'd need the 3 for this system, my backup PC, and my wife's Thinkpad.
When it arrived, I found it had 2 ethernet ports too, so though I have a wireless card in this PC, it's doing nothing at the moment, as I have a hardwired connection to the router. This PC (VIsta/XP) uses the wired connection, the backup (XP) connected wirelessly with ease using the Orange setup CD, but the Thinkpad proved to be more problematic. Being W98, the Orange setup just says "b*gg*r off - unsupported OS".
The Orange KB has a section on connecting W98 which begins "start by making a wired connection to the ethernet port", which would be a easy if it had one. Needless to say, it doesn't.
I contacted Orange support, asking if I really had to buy an ethernet card for the PC, just to get the wireless setup working, only to throw it away as soon as the setup completed.
Their less than helpful reply was "Only Vista and XP are supported. We will not respond to questions about any other OS"
Unfortunately my 20 years in Technical Support was in an era where the 200 users on a 7Mips $5,000,000 mainframe were connected in a building 1/4 mile away by 50 miles of coax cable, so I have absolutely no experience of wireless networking, and trawling the net for useful information has so far proved fruitless.
The adapter software installed easily enough on the Thinkpad, but no amount of tinkering with the networking parameters ever produced a connection.
 
Can't you just connect to your router as long as you have the drivers installled for the wireless card? Or does the driver get installed by the installation media using an existing internet connection?
 
Don't know if this will help or not, but it might be worth giving it a shot.

Network Map in Windows Vista does not display computers that are running Windows XP

The download is a bit further down the page.

It is the page for the Link Layer Topology to enable XP to be seen on a network with Vista. I'd suggest installing in on Win98.

I know it doesn't say anything about Win98 but you never know with MS. I used it on my XP to get it set up on my Network, and also did it for a friend. (This was before SP3 for XP, which now includes it)

And an interesting side note. My friend had called MS (prior to my setting up her network) and she was told by MS (not in their exact words) that there was no way in h*ll that she would be able to see XP on her network if she had Vista and that any patches found on the net wouldn't work. And this was told to her long after I'd installed it and got my network seeing everything, and it is MS own patch. They told her she would have to upgrade her XP to Vista (Veryyyyyy interesting)
 
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