Yes, you can run a dual boot with XP and Vista.

 

I would suggest you make sure XP is installed first; then install Vista to a separate partition.

If you don't already have a way to split out your hard drive into partitions, you'll need to get a 3rd party software to do this. Acronis Disk Director 10 is compatible with Vista as well as XP and is a good choice. There are others out there too. Partition Magic 8 will only work in XP.

 

I have my setup like this on a 160GB drive:

C: XP MCE

D: Vista Business

E: Storage

 

Vista will overwrite the MBR and setup its own boot manager to allow you to switch between each OS. You will want to install VistaBootPro 3.1 on XP and Vista so you can easily manager your boot manager. I use it all the time and it works great.

http://www.vistabootpro.org/

 

Do you have XP already installed?

 

Do you have a Full or Upgrade version of Vista? This matters due to the "clean" install process.

If you have the Upgrade version, you'll want to follow these instructions:

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_upgrade_clean.asp

 

Do you have your hard drive split out into partitions?

 

Are you running a RAID 0 setup?

If so, you'll want to check the Web for issues with installing Vista with RAID 0. There are issues surrounding the "IASTOR" from the Intel Storage Matrix drivers. If you're running a RAID 1, you should not have any issues installing.

There are other ways also to have your Vista and XP WIthout having them interfere with each other. It does require a third party boot loader. This is what I'm using as I cannot stand the fact that some things in Vista will mess with XP and vice versa.

 

I have Vista on one partition, XP on another both are primary. When I boot to Vista the XP Partition is hidden, when I boot to XP the Vista Partition is hidden. Completely seperated and no interaction between the two.

 

I'm using System Commander Version 8.2 as a boot loader.

 

http://www.v-com.com/product/System_Commander_Home.html

 

pcgeek11

Not Knowing what you have as a system.?.

 

I have an XPS M2010 with dual HD and I have XP-MCE on drive 1 And Vista Ultimate 32-bit on drive 2 My System uses the BT350 stack It does require removing the KB and mouse whenever I change OS But the dell remoth works in either so I use it to remove the devices and to reinstall them so No external KB or Mouse is required.

 

Hope this Helps.

Keithg2 ....many thanks - I followed your instructions for my system and it worked flawlessly.  the only issue i had was the mcafee uninstaller was shown as needing an upgade in the Dell advisor, and it would connect to me the mcafee site, download a 42 meg file, install and reboot.  and then each time the tell advisor would try to verify the problem was fixed, it said it wasnt and started to downoad and install the same 42 meg file so i checked the ignore box and the rest was fine.  I should have said i have the Dimension 9200, but also with 2 add'l 500gig USB external drives. 

 

I now have VISTA and MCEXP in their own partitions on drive 0 and everything works fine.  Ive yet to install any boot loader as the basis MS one seems to do the trick.  I use XP for my usual apps and then flip to vista when i want to play with the os and start to get to familiar with it.  I can then start to migrate (reinstall) apps on vista to see what works well.  Only thing I have yet to address is that the dell advisor cd "temporarily" removed some drivers and when i booted from the upgrade cd to do the full install, i naturally wasnt asked to put back the dell cd as i was during the faulty upgrade process. 

 

I know in 30 days I need to take some action with the product key as i did a full install but only have the upgrade key, but wonderfully you can do an upgrade from the vista home premium to vista home premium (yes the same os) and then input the key and all is well.  Many thanks for all your help.

 

http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=vista&message.id=20171#M20171

Hi keithg2,

 

We have almost identical XPS400  machines except my drives are not configured for Raid. I have XP Pro on one drive and Vista on the other set up as dual boot but I did not get VistaBootPro 3.1 yet. It looks like it could be a little over my head to configure it properly. Reading the forum on their site relates some horror stories that so far have scared me off. I hope at some future time, to drop the XP Pro and am not sure how easy  that is to do either. Can you shed any light on these potential problems? Would appreciate your thoughts.

Hi skybob,

I haven't experienced any issues with VistaBootPro 3.1 nor have I read the forum on their site. So, I'm sorry I'm not in a position to talk about issues with that software. For me, it's pretty straight forward with installing it and using it. I've used it to change my default OS to boot, remove the Vista boot loader and re-enable the Vista boot loader. All without issues. Maybe you can explain some of the potential problems that you have concerns about. :)

Hi keithg2,

 

Thanks for the reply. My post was a bit short on details when I re-read it. That is probably because I don't understand enough of the details myself! All forums as you know bring out the problems and not the people, in most cases, that are not having any. Over on ProNetworks I was reading that "you must write a menu for VistaBootPro 3.1 very much like you did for boot.ini." That is fine except I have never done that for boot.ini. Never had any reason to, so that gives me pause as to what I might be getting myself in for.

 

My current setup started with XP Pro and then I added the second drive and clean installed a retail upgrade version of Vista Ultimate. This works well and gives me the standard dual boot menu as you know is kind of skimpy. Only thing I can't do is boot into Safe Mode using F8. I have no idea why but I found that out while trying to install a driver. I got the driver in anyway so no big deal.

 

The other issue that I noticed was that they had several people trying to back out of the dual boot scenario and it seemed that no one could do this without removing Vista. Since my intention is to remove XP Pro at some point and use that drive for backups that becomes important to me. Unless it is absolutely necessary, I don't want to have to clean install again once I get everything installed and working. :smileysad:That may take some time because at the moment I don't have any sound! I have one of the Sigmatel/Soundblaster Advanced MB Audio situations which means I have integrated sound that Creative wrote a software package for and sold it to Dell or so I am told. So far there is no solution in sight from either company. When Vista capable sound cards are available many of us will probably have to end up buying one to solve that issue.

 

Now you may understand what prompted me to write the very confusing post earlier. If you can make any sense out of any of this or provide your thoughts, I would appreciate it. If not thanks for reading this long winded post. :smileyhappy: