Vista/XP dual boot

M

maxou87fr

Guest
:scared: Hello !
I've read most of the articles on the present forum, and I feel pretty confused about the right procedure to install a dual boot Vista/XP !

I've got a brand new Dell Inspiron with a 100Gb HDD factory installed as follows :
- C: OS (Vista Home Premium) 81Gb
- D: RECOVERY (w/ full image to restore as factory installed) 10Gb ... and backup'd by myself on DVD

Using Vista's partition tool, I've reduced C: down by 22Gb (the maximum allowed by Vista) thus, giving me a 22Gb unallocated space.

So, please, would you be kind enough to tell me if the following step-by-step procedure is right or wrong :
1) Install EasyBCD on Vista, and backup MBR and BCD
2) ReBoot for Installing XP from CD on the unallocated space and assign it to F:
3) Install EasyBCD on XP, and -> BootLoader management -> ReInstall Vista BootLoader
4) ReBoot into Vista, then -> Add/Remove Entries -> Windows XP -> Add

I'm really waiting reading from you, for obvious safety reasons, because I really need URGENTLY to use a software which can't run under Vista.
By advance, lot of thanks !
Regards.
 
Yep, that's correct.

But MAKE SURE that Vista is the primary active partition on that drive. And there is no need for step one.

You can merge steps 3 and 4 together.
so it becomes:

1) Ensure Vista is the primary partition
2) Install XP
3) Install EasyBCD on XP -> Bootloader Management -> Reinstall Vista Bootloader
4) Add/Remove Entries -> Windows -> XP

All done.
 
Hello !
I MUST have to say that my suggestion was right !
You DON'T have to merge step 3 & 4 ... they MUST be separate !
More, after installing XP, make sure to make a backup of \ntldr because EasyBCD seems to scrap this file in the case of adding entries under XP !
Finally, everything looks working fine :happy:
Have a good day !
Regards.
 
Hey max, i'm glad it worked it for you - but please clear something up for me.
Did you try adding an XP entry from XP to EasyBCD? Did that totally fail? Any error messages?

So it MUST BE a boot into Vista first, THEN add the entry kind of thing?

Thanks for your patience.
 
Hi, Guru !
YES I've tried to add an XP boot entry via EasyBCD under XP ... It didn't worked !
More it erased my ntldr file in the XP root !
Finally, rebooting under Vista I did add the XP boot entry via EasyBCD and now it works fine !
So, Check up my 1st message ... this is the right way to heaven !
Regards !
 
That's weird, must have been a glitch in the operating system or something, because nowhere in the EasyBCD code does EBCD attempt to locate, move, create, copy, remove, or delete ntldr.

Anyway, I'm just happy you got it working.

Cheers!
 
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