I have both WinXP x86 and Win7 x64 installed.
WinXP x86 -> Intel RAID Controller
Win7 x64 -> Marvel SATA controller

I can boot either OS by selecting the boot drive in BIOS.
I would like the Win7 Bootloader to successfully boot WinXP (so I wouldnt have to play with BIOS)

I used EasyBCD inside Win7 to add the WinXP to the bootloader.
If I select WinXP from the Win7 bootloader, I get the error:
Invalid boot.ini file
booting from C:\Windows\
NTDETECT failed

I uninstalled the old 7 and installed the RC. But the boot option screen showed 2 Win7 installs one of which would ask for the CD to reinstall it. The boot file for 7 showed an "unknown" installation but wouldn't let me mess with it. I could not for the life of me get rid of it. Even after I went back and wiped the Win7 partition and the MBR. It still was there. The XP ini file was normal. No additional stuff listed. It drove me so nuts I ended up having to wipe my XP installation and reinstalling that too. So some boot info is stashed somewhere inside of XP pertaining to the Win7 boot, but damned if I could find it unless it was on the actual MBR for the XP drive..

^Wow that really makes me not want to install the RC, but I'm gonna have to because my beta install got hit with a nasty worm; I don't feel like putting in the time to clean it all up. If I end up trying it out in the next few days I will post how the install went, hopefully I don't encounter the same problem.

I found that if you want to dual boot XP and 7 (x86), it's better to do the install through windows. Then the XP stays on C and 7 remains on the letter of the drive it installs on. If you are doing the boot install of 7 it's always gonna want to be the C drive when you boot to it. Kind of a pet peeve of mine lol. If you are dual booting XP and 7 (x64) the XP can't read the 64bit DVD so you have to do a boot install like normal. Or if you fresh install both do the XP install from the 64bit 7 installation. Consequently I ended up with the 7 wanting to be C thing anyway. It's an RC so it still has issues as do some of the drivers. Comparing my fps in Aquamark3 it took a big hit. XP runs it at 230.4fps and 7 does 157.9fps. Still I'm liking what I'm seeing. I was never able to get the Vista RC's set up to where I was in my comfort zone

I finally gave up on RivaTuner. I installed EVGA Precision 1.7.1 instead. I like it much better than Riva so I'm happy now. You don't need an EVGA card to run the program. I'm using a PNY card. I also got Daemon to install and am using it. It works fine but took some fiddling around with permissions and had to have it run in Vista mode no service pack. You might have to reboot and reinstall a few times till it finally loads a 64bit driver install package from somewhere. I didn't see a 64bit specific download on their site.

I'm going to install it permanently, how Would I got about deleting my XP partion and then expanding my Windows 7 partion? The same way that I installed it with Dual Boot??

Also, when it comes out (October 23rd??) How much would it be and what is the difference between each editions/versions. I like the features that come with the Ultimate RC, but I bet the features I like the best won't be in the Home or Pro, edition.

October 23rd is when the OS will be offered pre-installed on a system for sale. OEM's of just the OS probably will be a bit later. OEM's and RTM's are usually a few months apart though I would think they would be shooting for a pre Christmas release date. I personally haven't seen any price estimates yet. You'll need a partitioning program to expand that Win7 partition after deleting the XP partition. I personally like EASEUS Partition Master, but I don't know if I'd recommend doing that.

I've resolved the dual boot issue. Here's how I got it to work.

Used EasyBCD to add Windows XP to the Win7 bootloader. Pointed Windows XP to C:\

Copied the boot.ini, ntldr and ntdetect from the WindowsXP drive root into the root of the Win7 drive.

Modified the new boot.ini file on the Win7 drive root to change the entry from:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Pro SP2"
to
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Pro SP2"
** note this number ^

Viola!
XP now boots.


Note: My system has 3 drives, 1 for XP, 1 for Win7, 1 for data. You may need to adjust the rdisk() property depending on the drives in your system.
Modifying the boot.ini required opening notepad as Administrator first, dunno why.

Can't boot into Windows 7 at the moment. "required boot device was not found" AutoFix not fixing it!

You can repair a dual boot between Vista and Windows 7, just by booting from either a Windows 7 or a Vista install DVD and choosing the "repair option" for start up. I am nearly ready to ditch Vista altogether, and going with Windows 7 Ultimate RC until the retail version of Windows 7 is released. I can do everything I like in Windows 7 RC now... Which is a very good thing

hi, how about win 7? I don't like vista, want to try win 7.

Quick question and obviously it will boil down to personal choice ...... Which is better Vista or Windows 7?

I have Vista Home Premium on my laptop, and found a lot of my app's I use on my current OS Win2k, would not work on Vista.

I have heard rumours that Windows 7 is more likely to run app's that are similar to XP, which in turn is closer to my current OS.

I really don't want to have to fork out the hundreds of dollars required for the new OS, only to have to fork out several more hundreds of dollars to get all of the app's I use.

Also, does anyone have a URL, that shows a compatibility list of hardware for Windows 7?

I have checked the vista site and at this stage, I am going to need a new keyboard, (i like my letterless keyboard, it's only 10 years old!!!), on a more serious note my main concern is my monitor, it is an LG Flatron L1717S, I purchased it new a couple of years ago, and I cannot find drivers for it for anything above XP.

If your hardware runs Vista, you won't have any trouble running Windows 7 Ultimate RC... I have been running Vista and windows 7 side by side. It is my opinion at this point, that Windows 7 is and will be easier to adapt to hardware and run faster and much smoother than Vista ever did. Windows 7 is still in pre-release so I can imagine it will only get better.

"Also, does anyone have a URL, that shows a compatibility list of hardware for Windows 7?"... Try a Google search

Still haven't given the RC a shot, may install it next week... any significant improvements over the Beta? I hope I have an easier time installing video drivers and getting CF to run.

Was having a problem with Win7 x64 and Firefox 3.0.1. Firefox was taking about 30 seconds to load/reload and being very sluggish overall. I thought it was maybe a problem with java after reading julio's article and fixes. Tried that, no go. Chrome was performing fast as usual. Don't know about IE8. Haven't bothered with that. I then started systematically disable all the add ons and boiled it down to sxipper. I uninstalled it and re-enabled all the other dozen or so and FF is back to loading about 5 seconds and running like it's usual self. i don't know if it's caused by a program update from sxipper or this version of FF, but I did notice similar issues in XP although not to the extreme I saw in Win7.

While I was on suns site, I stumbled onto a JavaRE x64 download. Apparently if you use the 64 bit version of IE you need this runtime for full java functionality. If you look in control panel it will just say Java if you have both the 32 and 64 bit versions installed. If you don't have the 64 bit installed it will say Java (32bit). i had to hunt for it to find it. Don't know if it's easier to find if you do the search from within the 64 bit IE8.

Another thing I'm noticing is the Java quick start is grayed out in the Java control panel. Don't know if it's not compatible with the 64 or not.

And once or twice a week I'm getting BSOD's with an 0x124 bug check code. Don't know what the heck that's about unless it's a dram voltage thing or buggy driver. None of the boards I've used will run this ram at advertised stock voltage.

^Ugh, that kinda sounds like a mess imo. I was actually quite pleased as to how good the beta build ran on my system so I'll be a little upset if I run into more problems with the RC. I realize the OS is still under heavy development but an RC that is more unstable than a beta is unacceptable. Hopefully I don't run into any severe problems... because I don't remember a single BSOD while running the beta.

Currently experiencing a slow internet speed... its dropped from 1.1mbs to 0.65mbs. Any solution, as it is only in windows 7

EXCellR8 and Habylab,
You may have to update your motherboards chipset drivers if you are using an on-board NIC. Also, make sure that you run Windows Update, and pay attention to the "system problems" icon that may appear in the right side of the taskbar

Tmagic650, I install all updates, so I don't miss anything like this. I have the latest chipset driver, but just to double check, where would you point me to, to update, to make sure I got it right!

Also, it use to be faster on windows 7, but is now slower, just to point out.

You didn't say what motherboard you use... Is it an Intel chipset ICH9, or ICH10? Make sure you select "check for new updates" and not just open Windows Update to see what is there. Have you ever seen the "system problems" icon in the taskbar? I did have a Gigabyte Intel ICH10 motherboard under Windows 7 that I was asked to use an older ICH10 driver, instead of the lastest... I now use an Abit IP35 Pro ICH9 motherboard. It is a bit more solid and stable than the newer ICH10 Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3L was

I believe my board uses an Intel ICH9 chipset; I don't remember installing any drivers for it under Windows 7.