Triple Boot with XP x64 and Vista 32 & Vista 64

L

laribus

Member
I have Vista Ultimate 64 installed on my system and have had nothing but problems with it. At one point, the Microsoft support engineer suggested I install the 32 bit system. That's even worse! So that's how I ended up with the two versions of Vista Ultimate, one 32 bit and one 64 bit. Neither are working properly and I kind of wish for the minor problems I had with XP. That's why I tried the dual booting instructions provided here and in Windows Secrets.
The problem I face, is that when Windows XP X64 is looking for available drives (I have 6 internal drives, one for each system, two for my other work and business, and two that are free and available; in addition I have two external drives for backup), it only finds the two external drives. It doesn't see the two free drives I made available to install the system on. So I'm stuck. I cannot uninstall either of the Vista's because I'm knee deep with the escalation team on fixing the problems. Anyone know how to solve this problem?
HELP!
 
Last edited:
Hi Laribus, welcome to NST.

What is it exactly that you would like our help in?
XP's drivers? x64 problems?

It'd help if you could be a bit more specific :smile:

EDIT:
Re-reading your post, and I'm now under the impression that you haven't yet installed XP because its setup routine doesn't see the drive you want to install it to? Is that what you'd like to fix?
 
XPX64 Triple Boot with Vista 32 & 64

Yes that's it exactly. I want to install Windows XP X64, but when I try to install from the CD, it only sees the external drives and not the empty drives that I had prepared for the installation. I followed the instructions for Dual Boot, but those didn't work in this situation.
So, I'd like for the XP X64 installation to be able to recognize the empty disk available for its installation, install XP, and then I can use EasyBCD to configure the booting processes.
Is that clearer?
Thanks for answering.
 
Are the drives SATA? It sounds as if the XP x64 disk doesnt have the drivers to find the internal hard drives. Would have to put them on a floppy and use the F6 to isntall 3rd party driver method to get the drives recognized.
 
Yes all the drives are SATA. After that question you lost me! But I sincerely appreciate your response and hope that you might be able to walk me through a solution.
Laribus
 
Okay SATA Drives are like IDE Drives as they need drivers for them to be recognized just like IDE Drives do. But the thing is that SATA controllers are newer than most of the XP discs out there. Depending on when you got you disc you most likely do not have the drivers for the SATA Drivers on the XP Disc you are trying to use to install.

So you have to find the manufacturer of your mother board. Go to their website and find the appropiate drivers needed. From there on most XP installs you have to put these drivers on a floppy disc and right when you "Hit any Key to continue" the XP install you will see right away that it says Hit F6 to install 3rd party drivers.

That is what you will have to do. That will be how you can get your XP install to recognize the hard drives to install onto them.
 
Thanks for the play by play. I'll be following your instructions and will let you know how things turn out. I sincerely thank you for your help.
 
Back
Top