XP partition on Win7 question

dakster79

dakster79

Member
Hi,
I recently performed a clean install of Win 7 Home Premium over a Vista Home Premium install. I now realise that i should have installed Win 7 as a dual-boot with Vista but that is now impossible as I don't have the Vista disk.
Anyway I can't play some of my games on Win 7 and as i do have a genuine XP disk I was wondering if it was possible to install XP on a new partition and have a dual-boot system.

I realise that the problem would be the XP install over-writing the Win 7 MBR. Any advice on how I could perform this procedure using BCD would be most welcome, if it is possible at all.
Not a huge problem but rather annoying and even more so when it's one of my own making.

many thanks in advance for any help
 
Sure, its possible. After XP install either use EasyBCD > Bootloader Management > Re-install Vista/7 bootmanager -> Write MBR or boot from your Windows 7 DVD following these instructions. Add a new entry for XP once Windows 7 is booting again using Add/Remove Entries and let EasyBCD autoconfigure XP's boot files when prompted.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
OK, many thanks for that. Should I use EasyBCD v2.0 beta or the earlier stable version for doing this. And would i be ok using either the bootable recovery disk for Win 7 I've downloaded from this site or the Win 7 RC disk if i have to follow the second option in the above reply. I don't have the Win 7 installation disk as I downloaded the install via Microsofts cheap software for students offer.

Thanks

Phil
 
Use EasyBCD 2.0. It will automatically configure the XP boot.
If you use 1.7, you'll be reponsible for copying the XP boot files to the correct location and finding the correct information to edit into boot.ini. 2.0 does it all for you.
You can fix the BCD from a working XP (as long as it has NET 2.0 framework pre-installed) using EasyBCD as decribed by Jus.
If you have problems with XP and can't run EasyBCD, you can use our ISO download to repair the W7 boot, then run Easy from W7 to add an XP entry.
It's all described in points 4 and 5 of the sticky.
 
If you have 7 installed already - you can create a recovery disc - no need to download one.

Type create in start search box .

Do you still have the installation files you got from digital river ? If you do , you can easily make a bootable .iso for future use :

Bootable ISO - Create from Installation Files

Otherwise, I understand you can now get the installation .iso from Digital River:

Windows 7 student edition - Gizmodo


dakster79 said:
OK, many thanks for that. Should I use EasyBCD v2.0 beta or the earlier stable version for doing this. And would i be ok using either the bootable recovery disk for Win 7 I've downloaded from this site or the Win 7 RC disk if i have to follow the second option in the above reply. I don't have the Win 7 installation disk as I downloaded the install via Microsofts cheap software for students offer.

Thanks

Phil
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