Dual Boot question

[5aq1b]

Hi.

My PC right now is setup for dual boot. I have 2 instances of Windows XP installed. One is for general use and the other is for my Music production work. The music production one boots up in seconds even after a couple of years of usage as I have net connection disabled, and barely install any apps on there however the general use XP is now at a crawl!

I was wondering if it's possible to overwrite the general XP with an installation of Windows 7 and still keep the dual boot active , so upon bootup, i get the choice of booting into 1) Windows 7 and 2) Windows XP (Music Production)

Any help would be greatful.

 

[superty12]

Your flaw

7 isn't available for download anymore. Try reinstalling XP.

 

[5aq1b]

7 isn't available for download anymore. Try reinstalling XP.

But is it possible when it gets released

 

[superty12]

Yes

But is it possible when it gets released

Yes, just select your partition on install.

 

[5aq1b]

Yes, just select your partition on install.

simple as that? Thanks

 

[BlasterLP]

Thanks for the tip

 

[5aq1b]

I've just installed Windows 7 on a partition, but how do i now get that menu back which i was getting when i was booting up the PC. The one where I can choose which OS to boot. As far as i know, there is no boot.ini in Windows 7 so how do i get the menu?

 

[gbhall]

You did things before properly researching what you were doing. You should have taken the 'advanced install' option, allowing you to create a new partition for Win7, whereupon Win7 would have automatically installed the multiple boot for you, with both your XP copies as well as Win7.

What you apparently did was overwrite one of the two XP versions with Win7. Win7 (thanks to MS general incompetence) no longer looked for any other versions of XP, and simply assumed all you wanted left was Win7.

You should be able to use the new boot manager for Win7 to add the surviving XP copy, but you should first use whatever partition viewer you can run in Win7 to see what the exact status, names etc of the partitions you have left.

I think it is farely easy to add another boot option, I just dont have the instructions to hand. You use bcdedit (research that), http://www.kombitz.com/2009/01/13/how-to-add-windows-xp-to-windows-7-boot-manager/ but there may be an even easier way, hopefully someone will jump in with it.

You may find you have also destroyed boot.ini and ntldr for XP, with the result XP appears as an option, but will not load. Again there are solutions for this, involving running the XP install CD to 'fixboot'

On an associated topic, perhaps you now see the wisdom of acquiring a drive image solution, like Acronis, Norton ghost?

 

[5aq1b]

edited.......

 

[5aq1b]

Ok i tried this and I got the menu appearing successfully however when i Choose to boot to my XP OS, it just reboots and appears at the menu again. Any advice?

You may find you have also destroyed boot.ini and ntldr for XP, with the result XP appears as an option, but will not load. Again there are solutions for this, involving running the XP install CD to 'fixboot'

On an associated topic, perhaps you now see the wisdom of acquiring a drive image solution, like Acronis, Norton ghost?

Sorry i'll research the bit in bold

And also, how would Acronis be useful in this situation? I have it installed but I use it to take an image of a fresh install with all necessary apps installed jus incase i ever need to re-image the drive

 

[gbhall]

Acronis etc are the ultimate backup. Before making a big change like adding an OS, you would image the existing setup. Then, when things go wrong, and you get told (like here) 'you didn't ought to have done that', then you simply restore the image(s) and start again.

Also, remember every month MS makes you install more and more updates (aka bug fixes). It is very good practice to take a new image just before patch Tuesday, in case the MS update trashes your system - and oh, yes it has happened.......more than once.

If your Acronis image takes a long time - to multiple CD's for instance - then get a USB drive. Nothing is more valuable than a working system.

 

[5aq1b]

Acronis etc are the ultimate backup. Before making a big change like adding an OS, you would image the existing setup. Then, when things go wrong, and you get told (like here) 'you didn't ought to have done that', then you simply restore the image(s) and start again.

Also, remember every month MS makes you install more and more updates (aka bug fixes). It is very good practice to take a new image just before patch Tuesday, in case the MS update trashes your system - and oh, yes it has happened.......more than once.

If your Acronis image takes a long time - to multiple CD's for instance - then get a USB drive. Nothing is more valuable than a working system.

ahh i get ya, i'm pretty sure i have a recent Acronis image on my NAS drive. I take regular backups as well as i'm very conscious about my data! I'll let u know if the fixboot fixes my xp

 

[5aq1b]

i have installed windows 7 and it is running perfectly fine. I have also managed to get the menu to appear upon bootup where it gives me the option to boot to windows 7 or xp. When i choose xp, it just reboots itself an appears at the menu again. I am going to try and run bootfix (maybe fixboot?) but i cant seem to boot from the xp cd. All i get is a blank screen with a flashing curosr however to let you all know, i have no hardware issues whatsoever. For some reason it wont boot from cd. any help?

 

[WinXPert]

however the general use XP is now at a crawl!

I was wondering if it's possible to overwrite the general XP with an installation of Windows 7 and still keep the dual boot active , so upon bootup, i get the choice of booting into 1) Windows 7 and 2) Windows XP (Music Production)

Any help would be greatful.

Instead of re-installing try some spring cleaning first.

1. Install Revo Uninstaller, CCleaner and Free Regisry Defrag
2. Boot on Safe Mode
3. Launch CCleaner and Run Cleaner make sure Old Prefetch data is ticked. Then Scan for Issues Fix and repeat until there are no more errors.
4. Uninstall all programs you no longer use with Revo.
5. Run CCleaner again.
6. Create a System Restore Point. Delete all System Restore Points. Drive: | Properties | Disk Cleanup | More Options | System Restore | Clean up...
7. Launch Registry Defrag.
8. Reboot and defrag your drive.

 

[superty12]

Wait

i have installed windows 7 and it is running perfectly fine. I have also managed to get the menu to appear upon bootup where it gives me the option to boot to windows 7 or xp. When i choose xp, it just reboots itself an appears at the menu again. I am going to try and run bootfix (maybe fixboot?) but i cant seem to boot from the xp cd. All i get is a blank screen with a flashing curosr however to let you all know, i have no hardware issues whatsoever. For some reason it wont boot from cd. any help?

Wait. It might take a while. If it boots into 7, change BIOS settings. Post if you need help getting into BIOS, if it boots into 7.