Windows 7 64bit & Windows Xp 32 bit dual boot

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chewvalleyman

Member
Hi Everyone!
Just got a new base unit with Windows 7 Pro - 64 bit pre-installed. I want to partition the 1.5GB hard drive and install Windows XP Pro 32 bit. Is this possible? If so which version of Easy BCD should I use?
I am a silver surfer and hope that instructions will come in plain English. I used Easy BCD on my previous computer to triple boot XP, Vista and Windows 7 beta. It all worked fine.
I would appreciate someone's kind assistance.
bye for now.
 
> Yes

Get the latest build of EasyBCD and recover the Vista/W7 bootloader from XP after install. Add a new entry for XP once back in W7 and let it autoconfigure.
 
I've seen plenty of help to get Win-7 & XP dual-booting wEsayBCD if they're on the same disk, but I have a complete running XP system and Win-7 on different physical drives, and I can't get it to dual boot.
When I start the machine, I get the dual-boot menu (from the Win-7 boot drive), but when I choose the XP selection, my machine just restarts.
Any advice? It may be important to note that I had previously installed EasyBCD also on the XP drive and even placed a BCD entry for Win-7 in it, then removed it. When I alter my BIOS, the system will boot fine on its own to the XP drive. I hope that installing EasyBCD on the XP drive didn't screw something up!
Thanks for any advice or help,
Scott
 
Thanks Terry -
I had previously tried that with no luck (should've mentioned it, sorry). BUT - I deleted the entry and re-added it, let it auto configure (again), and for some reason this time it worked! Happy now.
Thanks again. A donation is forthcoming.
 
Hi Justin,
Many thanks for your input. Sadly, I am not up to your standard of ability using BCD and I don't honestly understand what you are suggesting I do. How do I recover Vista/W7 bootloader from XP after install? Where do I add a new entry for XP once back in W7?
I really would appreciate a step by step tutorial.
Thanks again for your guidance.
 
Quick summary.

Install XP
EasyBCD > Bootloader Management > Re-install Vista/7 bootloader > Write MBR
Reboot system into Windows 7
EasyBCD > Add/Remove Entries > Select the entry type with XP in its description and give it a name > Add Entry

Let EasyBCD autoconfigure. Reboot and confirm a dual-boot between the two OSes.
 
If your BIOS is like mine, you can't do this. I have to have all my OS's on the same physical hard drive. In the BIOS I have to choose what HDD to boot to and that's the only one it will allow me to boot to. So I made a partition for 7 (already had XP) then installed 7 on it. If I remember right, I didn't need to do anything after that as Windows 7 made a dual boot menue on it's own.
 
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What make of PC has such a primitive BIOS ? (are you sure that's not just the top level, with a sub menu for the order within the HDDs (as on the Pheonix BIOS on my ASUS mobo))
 
Terry60 said:
What make of PC has such a primitive BIOS ? (are you sure that's not just the top level, with a sub menu for the order within the HDDs (as on the Pheonix BIOS on my ASUS mobo))
Click to expand...
This is not primitive. I repair computers and see this in many BIOS. Myself, both my PC's have this. One is my Asus P5LD2 and the other is a GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L. My Asus might not still be available but the Gigabyte is still a very popular board (here).

In the BIOS you choose what HDD to boot from. It's been a while but I remember trying to boot to a different drive than the one set to boot from and it don't work.

Then again, maybe I'm wrong, It's been a while. Maybe I can choose to boot to a different HDD. Maybe just the boot info has to be on the HDD you choose in the BIOS. I'll have to do some experimenting but I thought I tried it before and it didn't work.
 
I think we're at crossed purposes.
I thought you were saying you couldn't choose which HDD to put first in the BIOS boot sequence, but you appear to be saying that all the OSs have to be on the same HDD.
The MS design for dual-booting multiple Windows, requires that all the boot files are in the "system" partition (i.e all on one HDD), but the OSs themselves can be spread around as many HDDs as you like.
(this applies to MS boot managers, but you can (like me) use a 3rd party manager (grub4dos for me) and leave all the MS boot files with their respective OSs)
The first link in the sticky thread will take you to a site which contains comprehensive illustrated detail in a very nice exposition on multi-booting.
 
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Like I said, I would have to try it again, but I thought I tried to have an OS on a different physical HDD than the one the boot info was on and it didn't work. That's why all my OS's are on the same HDD just different partitions.

The reason I tried that is I like to have the OS on the beginning of the disk for speed and it just didn't work. I've had different BIOS where it did work, on older PC's but the newer ones wouldn't let me.

Now, because of this thread, I'm going to have to try it again to see if I'm right.....
 
kairozamorro said:
Quick summary.

Install XP
EasyBCD > Bootloader Management > Re-install Vista/7 bootloader > Write MBR
Reboot system into Windows 7
EasyBCD > Add/Remove Entries > Select the entry type with XP in its description and give it a name > Add Entry

Let EasyBCD autoconfigure. Reboot and confirm a dual-boot between the two OSes.
Click to expand...

Hi kairozamorro,
Thank you for your response. I am much obliged for your help.
bye for now.
 
Bryan,
The "two drives" solution is precisely how I built my Windows 7 machines (probably because I didn't know they "had to be on the same drive"). I installed a new blank disk, put the Windows 7 DVD in, and had it install Windows 7 on the empty disk. My surprise was that when Windows 7 booted, it identified itself as being on Drive C:, giving the original C: drive (where XP was installed) a different drive letter (a Windows "Feature"). I then installed EasyBCD (only on the Windows 7 system!), used it to rename "Other Versions of Windows" to "Windows XP", and left it alone.

On two machines, I installed beta-test versions of Windows 7. When the "real" version came out, I used EasyBCD to "uninstall the Vista Bootloader" (which got me right back to XP, as though I'd never installed Windows 7). I then cleaned up the "test" Windows 7 disk, did a reinstallation of my licensed copy, reinstalled EasyBCD, and that's how my systems have run ever since. Mostly I let Windows 7 boot, but when I need to go back to XP, it's a simple reboot option.

BS
 
Hello boys!
I'm Italian, excuse me for my incorrect english.
I've got a partition C:\ with Win7 64bit, and a J:\ partition with XP Pro SP3 x86. With EasyBCD 2.0.78 I added entries for WinXp automatically, but the program, when I enter entries, not responding...!! (I run that as Administrator)
When I reboot the system, Seven start, but XP no....And i can't see ntdlr NTDETECT.COM and boot.ini in the XP partition...But if I re-Open EasyBCD, the entries for XP is present....Can You Help me??
Thanks you very Much, is very important for me.

Simone
 
BS
Multiple Windows OSs don't need to be on the same drive, just their boot files (if you're using a MS boot manager, not otherwise)
RockNet
Please post Disk Management and "display settings" information, as detailed at the end of the sticky thread.
 
Yes, Yesterday I had no time....
These are my screenshots:








Boot.in location...is correct?



Thanks you!

P.S: on startup, i can't acces on WinXP because it can't find NTLDR...

\NTLDR

error code: 0xc0000225
 
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