That's the best way to do it.

Thanks Jmwills

Forgot to add that it has XP already working on the drive and so it wont be a clean install of both ops. I just want to partition off, if that makes sense, enough space for me to install Vista. I've never tried this before and dont actually know how to make the machine dual boot when done.

 

cheers

Many thanks

 

Hadn't done it before and just wanted to make sure.

I fully understand what you are doing.  Just partition off some space, say 40 gigs, and place the Vista DVD in the tray and reboot.  Install to the newly created partition.

Post back if you get stuck becasue Vista will want to become the default OS.

Its built into the Boot.ini file or whatever the new name is.  Run msconfig

You can use VistaBootPro to change the default OS, delay time, etc.  It also comes in handy when you decide to remove the Vista partition.

 

Dave

Thanks everyone.

I was going to try this last night but couldn't download Vista RC1 at home for whatever reason. I have now downloaded at work (naughty me)  and copied the iso file to a dvd (strangely enough it cut it as a ISO file). Got hold of Partition Magic now and will partition off 40 gig and install Vista on there.

The only worry now is what was mentioned about it trying to be the main op system. Wouldn't it ask me at every bootup which one I want to use?

Yes, but go to Properties of Computer (Formerly My Computer), Advanced Tab, Startup & Recovery, Settings and you can chnage all the defaults from within there.