Vista/XP drive letter/confusion

I have followed the tutorial here:
http://apcmag.com/5485/dualbooting_vista_and_xp

Basically computer came with Vista preinstalled (OEM version). So I shrank the partition and created a 2nd partition. On this partition I installed XP, but like the article states XP's install sees vista and labels that drive c:. So XP is now installed on d:... I have used EasyBCD to get Vista and XP booting (THANKS!). But these drive letters still bug me. Is there any way to change it so xp sees xp's drive as c: and vista sees vista's drive as c: ? Here is my current configuration:
c: vista
d: xp
e: shared data
f: cdrom
h-k: card reader drives

This is the same in both vista and xp, but in xp I would like c and d flip flopped... thanks!

**edit** forgot to mention I am fine with reinstalling xp if there was a step I could have done prior to fix this situation.
 
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Hi xmcnuggetx, welcome to NeoSmart Technologies.

I'm afraid there is no way to do that without formatting.

In order to have them both see their drive as C:\, you would have to first install XP normally so that it sees itself as C:\, then boot from the Vista DVD and install Vista from there (as compared to installing Vista by inserting the DVD in Windows XP) and let it install.

BTW, this isn't strictly an EasyBCD-related support question: topic moved.
 
Sorry for the misplaced post, but I will post a follow up that there is a way! Actually ended up finding it in the comments of a post on a nother site. Basically if you have vista installed first you will use a program like GParted or vistas partition manager to shrink the drive and make an xp partition. BEFORE you boot from the xp cd to install xp you should make it's partition the active partition. This will effectively mean you cannot boot your machine from the hard drive... yet. When you boot from the XP CD it will place the active partition as C. Install XP as normal. Once you are in XP you can use the EasyBCD to get the computer booting properly.

Thanks for the product!
 
Don't worry about it - it wasn't that off-topic anyway :tongueout:

Thanks for letting us know what worked for you, I'll be sure to check re-read this when I'm in that situation again :smile:
 
Sorry for the misplaced post, but I will post a follow up that there is a way! Actually ended up finding it in the comments of a post on a nother site. Basically if you have vista installed first you will use a program like GParted or vistas partition manager to shrink the drive and make an xp partition. BEFORE you boot from the xp cd to install xp you should make it's partition the active partition. This will effectively mean you cannot boot your machine from the hard drive... yet. When you boot from the XP CD it will place the active partition as C. Install XP as normal. Once you are in XP you can use the EasyBCD to get the computer booting properly.

I'm in exactly the same situation. I was just wondering if these instructions have been confimed. I'm willing to odo it if necessary, but I'd hate to go through it and find it's not working.

Thanks,

John
 
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BEFORE you boot from the xp cd to install xp you should make it's partition the active partition. This will effectively mean you cannot boot your machine from the hard drive... yet. When you boot from the XP CD it will place the active partition as C. Install XP as normal. Once you are in XP you can use the EasyBCD to get the computer booting properly.

Also, when you say "make it's partition the active partition", how do you do that. I'm using GParted. would I just set the boot flag for that partition?

Thanks,

John
 
Yeah, it'll work :smile:

(welcome to NST, btw, John)

setting the boot flag and active partition are synonomous, so that should do the trick.
 
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