dual boot xp pro, media center

toozombi - Welcome to the Board

It is quite possible to set up a dual boot system with XP Pro and Media Centre, but you will need another copy of XP Pro assuming that the copy you have is the one installed on your desktop.

You are only allowed to install your copy of XP onto one computer - you agreed to that in the EULA.

Although your copy will install quite happily on any other computer you will be unable to activate it.

 

OK, if that's the case the procedure is quite straightforward.

You need to create a separate partition for the install of XP Pro - installing it to the same partition as Media Centre will create problems - and you will need third party software such as Partition Magic to do this. It cannot be done from within your existing install of Media Centre.

When the partition is created boot from the Pro CD and select to install it to the new partition. If the Media Centre partition is formatted NTFS format the new partition NTFS and proceed with the installation.

When you boot up after the installation you will get a text screen asking you which OS you want to boot.

Note that you will need to install any programs that you want to use with XP Pro to that partition - even though they are installed to the Media Centre Partition.