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Dual Booting two versions of windows xp

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by smokeydumdum, 2009/01/15.

  1. 2009/01/15
    smokeydumdum

    smokeydumdum Inactive Thread Starter

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    hi people, this is my first post on these forums but i have been lurking for a long time . Ive gotten numerous tips from you guys over ther years.

    Anyways I currently have windows xp sp3 installed but now its tending to get a little slow after installing,unstalling alot of programs/codecs/drivers over the years. I really need a fresh install but i have a lot of stuff i wanna back up before i do that. Its not really possible at the moment till i buy a new hd

    I was wondering if it is possible to create another partition on my hd and just install another xp on that 1 while keeping the os i currently have for the meantime, just to see if everything works ok and its not a hardware problem?

    If its possible, how would i go about doing this.I have 42 gb of free space on my pc.
     
    smokeydumdum,
    #1
  2. 2009/01/15
    raghukalyan

    raghukalyan Inactive

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    Hi,

    I am not sure about having two win xp OS on the same system. Earlier I have used two windows os like win xp, vista; win 98 and win xp. Two win xp might work. First let us see few other questions:

    - You said 42GB of free space. What is the total capacity of your hard drive?
    - Did you create any partitions on your HDD? What are the current partitions on your HDD?
     
    raghukalyan,
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  4. 2009/01/15
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    I don't see a problem in running two versions of XP in a dual boot situation, but there are some provisos .....

    To create a new partition you will require third party disk partitioning software.

    Before modifying the partition structure of the drive you should back up all your important data - snag ....
    If you have 2 copies of XP you are legal - you are only permitted to install XP from a specific CD on one computer - if you made a second install on the same computer I do not know if you would be able to activate it

    However MS do give a method of making a Parallell install of XP - Method 4 here ....

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316941
     
    PeteC,
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  5. 2009/01/15
    smokeydumdum

    smokeydumdum Inactive Thread Starter

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    raghukalyan:the total is 80 i think.i have a 2nd 40gb hd thats being used but is almost full at the moment.im thinking about just moving most of the 2nd hd's contents to my primary,that way i can install the 2nd xp on that hd and be on the safe side.

    what do you guys think is the safest route?

    PeteC: i have another legal copy so thats not a prob.Just trying to figure out the safest way to do this without losing everything.
     
    smokeydumdum,
    #4
  6. 2009/01/15
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    Safest and easiest route is to install on your second hard drive as a dual boot - just remember not to format unless you can clear all the data off - temporarily at least.
     
    PeteC,
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  7. 2009/01/15
    smokeydumdum

    smokeydumdum Inactive Thread Starter

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    so all i have to do is install second xp to a seperate partition.Will it automatically let me choose everytime which os to run at startup?
     
    smokeydumdum,
    #6
  8. 2009/01/15
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    Yes - you should see a boot menu on boot up with both OS's listed. Click on the one you want to load.
     
    PeteC,
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  9. 2009/01/17
    raghukalyan

    raghukalyan Inactive

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    Yes, it should work as pete described.

    Additional Notes:
    1. since you are clearing completely the data in 2nd HDD. Better to reboot the system to ensure everything is proper and proceed installation of win xp in ur 2nd HDD.

    2. Further if you wish to add any more OS say vista, or any newer windows version, just proceed. That should work well whether (new windows os) irrespective of hard drives (1st or 2nd) you have installed. But do data backup before this :)
     
    raghukalyan,
    #8

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