How to Double-start Windows XP and Vista

If you think it's not enough to install a Windows operating system, or if you're feeling a lot of trouble in your life, install Windows XP and Windows Vista systems at the same time.

Why not? Frankly, I don't know why anyone would want to do that. As mentioned in the previous blog post, Windows Vista dominates the MBR (Master boot record), making the processor very exclusive. Once Vista is installed on the computer, the user must follow the rules set by Vista to operate the computer.

Hard disk Partitioning

Dual operating systems are actually not difficult to implement. Installing Vista on a Windows XP-based operating system requires only a hard drive with enough space to support vista installation, or another hard drive partition to install Vista.

If there is only one physical drive, then the user must partition the Vista on the disk. But if the user's XP system has only one partition, then it is necessary to repartition the partition. However, the XP system does not have such a partitioning tool. However, if the user has a partition tool like Acronis, things are going to be much better. If the user does not have such a partitioning tool and does not want to buy, we have other ways.

Windows Vista can repartition partitions, but this feature is not available at the default installation. However, if the user has Windows PE 2.0 on hand, the partitioning problem can be resolved.

Enter the PE program and open the Dispart program under the X:windowssystem32 directory. The program is in Vista, so you can use the Shrink option. First select the appropriate volume label (usually select the volume labeled 0), in the input shrink (compression). Because this is run through the Vista GUI's Disk Management program, it is not a setup process. Shrink only sees and adjusts the space it can manipulate. Installing XP, 20GB size NTFS partitions, compressed to reduce the partition size to 10GB, so that you can meet the minimum Vista installation requirements. Running Disk Defragmenter within a partition can be a great help for the compression process.

If the user does not have Windows PE2.0, there is a very powerful tool-gparted (Gnome Partition editor,gnome partition Editor). This is a Linux-based graphical interface partitioning tool that can resize NTFS file partitions.

Get the downloadable LiveCD, burn it in ISO image format to bootable CD, and use it to start the computer. The runtime accepts all default settings, and the computer works fine unless the user is using VMware. In this case, you can manually load the graphics module, select VESA, otherwise the screen will display a black screen. Right click on the partition icon, select repartition/Move (Resize/move), drag the partition button, select the desired partition size, select OK, apply the selected settings. So the hard disk partition is ready. Restart your computer, and then select Install Vista system in the new partition.

Start management

After Vista is installed, the Windows startup manager runs, where you can select Microsoft Windows Vista (Microsoft Windows Vista) or Earlier Version of Windows ( Earlier versions of Windows).

It's a bit annoying, and unfortunately, in Vista, you can't modify the startup manager as easily as Windows did before. Users can still open the Startup Information option in System Properties (right-click My Computer--advanced startup and recovery settings, properties, and so on), where the user can select an operating system as the default boot system and choose the no time interval option. In order to change all startup items, the user must use the new Bcdedit tool at the command prompt. However, this tool is not so useful. Although the tools are very comprehensive and powerful, they are difficult to use.

At this moment, came to rescue is from NeoSmart's EASYBCD. It provides a graphical interface for bcdedit, so the operation is simple. There are many options in the program that depend on the user's needs. At this point, just select "Startup Settings" and change the Windows Installer name "Windows XP" and click "Save Settings". Restart the system, and the user will see that the modified information has been stored in the Startup manager program.

In the Add/Remove Portal option, users can choose to move the current entry up or down, or add a new entry program. In theory, users can start xp,vista,linux,osx in a Vista environment. However, unless the user has great courage, or the user is a technical expert, we do not recommend that users do so.

If you are sure that dual booting does not work for you, and you want to resume using XP, you also need to use Vista MBR. Fortunately, Easybcdy is also able to help. In Startup item management, select Uninstall Vista startup, and click Write MBR. After restarting the computer, the Vista startup item disappears---so that the system can go directly to Windows XP. In the XP environment, the Vista system is divided into the second partition-D partition, it can be safely erased.