Install 2 copies of XP......

Is it possible to install 2 copies of XP onto one hard drive.....

What I'd like to do is partition a 120gig into 2 60 gig drives (c & d) and install XP onto both. Is this possible??

And is there anything I would need to do to get the second installation to go on....

I tried it once but all XP wanted to do was repair etc... itself....

 

Yes, you can do that. I have done it before without incident. Reactivation was not required. The existing system will be detected and dual boot will be automatically set up. I never had any issues with it other than being forgetful of which OS I had done what to. You'll quickly tire of the maintenance demands of two systems.

That said, check this link for a nice outline of the process.

Parallel Install XP

 

I do it as well, mine are on 2 HD's.

Don't mind the upkeep, the benefits out weigh the effort. Aside from having a "backup ", running different security software is a plus and "auditioning" software is a definate plus.

Regards - Charles

 

PeteC,
Yes I do have 2 legit copies of XP and if needed re-activation is no problem.

surferdude2,
Thanks for the link for the parallel installation, it is a great help.

charlesvar,
I will not mind the upkeep of eithier setup because as you say I believe it has its advantages. The main reason I want to do this is because I want to be able to "test" software to see if it is useful, damaging etc.... before I put it into my working copy of XP.

Again, thanks alot guys...... its appreciated....

 

Another way to do this is with virtual machine software such as Virtual PC or VMWare. You can even netwrok between the real and virtual machines and can share drives. Good for messing around with other OSs as well.

DRD

 

Great link, SD2, but they confused me. Everything they said applied to XP Home but all the screenshots were XP Pro (pre SP2). Anyway, good info. I've been kicking around the idea of a parallel install during the next reinstall, which I judge to be less than a month away. It would be fun to have an area just to "play" in. I've been reading up on the drive imaging programs because the work I've been doing is getting too complicated for my old very simple back up routines. Two side by side XPs would be less risk for my working XP, right?

Johanna

 

Johanna, I think a parallel install can be useful in some circumstances. It didn't have the value for me that I thought but don't let that stop you.

I have two links for it, one for Home, the other for Pro. As you have noticed, some of the screenshots are for the wrong version but I think that's not relevant since the install directions are specific.

Take your choice:

XP Home Parallel Install

XP Pro Parallel Install

I am absolutely sure that you will enjoy the safety of periodic disk imaging. I wouldn't operate without it. I use Acronis but Ghost is fine too. I just prefer Acronis since the product (True Image) has stayed in the same hands for much longer than Ghost. It's probably a toss up so go with what you prefer after reading carefully.

All the best.

 

Alpha_and_Omega,

Painless process......start setup. When you get to 'which partition', select D. If you're storing data there, leave the file system intact. Keeping in mind I allow alot of 'junk' onto my system, so that I know better how to remove it (if I can manage to get infected), a short time back I installed 98, 2000, 2000 server, 2 XP Homes and 2 XP Pros on one drive, all separate partitions. A third XP Pro resides on a second drive. The 2 removable trays will allow me to add two more drives, with whatever number of OS's on them, to the boot menu.

Alternatively, and this is my recommendation, there is imaging software. I recommend this alternative because no two OS's are the same, even if they should be. What may work well on OS #2 may not work at all when you decide to put it on #1. An image however, allows you to put the program on #1, and either keep it because it works well for you, or replace a prior-to-installation image because it didn't, and cruise on like it never happened. Another post-good installation image, and you can continue trying out more software, without the worry of rolling back to before the install and having to re-install it again.

Now, the real reason I'm posting to this thread.........parallel installation.......re-installing to a new folder. Prior to my multi-boot situation, I went through a couple of Windows re-installations, over-top to the same folder, and always wound up with a second set of user profile folders. eg; Documents and Settings\Dave and Documents and Settings\Dave.Athlon. The same applied to ALL folders within the Documents and Settings directory. I was left unable to boot to my original profile, and all the tweaks I was accustomed to, and was faced with starting over resetting things the way I like them. Bootup was to the Dave.Athlon profile. All of my Dave documents were accessible, but only through the Docs and Settings\Dave filepath.
(just have to mention that through some registry editing I was able to get back to my original profile and all was fine again )
About a month ago, I walked into the bosses office and was informed that he suddenly couldn't boot. I don't remember what the error was, but it meant a re-install. Recalling what I had been through, I decided to re-install to a new folder.......C:\Windows1, expecting to bootup to a new profile and re-installing all programs from scratch. To my drop-jawed amazement, his 'tweaked' desktop loaded upon reboot. There was no C:\Windows1 folder, there was no second profile scheme, all was as if nothing ever happened. All installed programs worked as well. I'm still scratchin my head, as he surfs happily along a month later. Someone, please, explain this to me!

Pete, maybe I should actually READ the EULA , but I was under the impression that multiple installations on separate machines, was in violation. ???

Johanna, 'bout time you try multi-booting, just to know it.

BTW, just for clarification, I recently scrubbed my above multi-boot setup and now have only 98, XP Pro and XP Pro on a second drive. Got to be to many options.

 

Apparently this is a gray area and it would appear that M$ gives tacit approval given that they tell you how to do it properly:

XP Parallel Install Instructions from M$

 

sorry to interrupt but I have a question

I have already completed this parallel installation on a machine and I can boot to the new install perfectly. But when I try to boot the old installation, it stops at the screen where the logon names should come up and nothing happens. The screen just sits there and there is no processing going on. I think it has something to do with the usernames but I am not sure how to fix this, it would be really great if I could boot to this old install because I rescued it from a bad hard drive. I'm sorry to jump into this post with this question, but it is the only place I can find on here where this topic is being addressed. Thanks.

 

I now have XP pro installed twice on 1 computer. It is working perfectly and I have never had a problem as of yet.

When I called, by voice, MicroSoft to activate XP Pro and was asked if this version was on any other pc's I told them no, it was only installed on 1 machine, which is true. I did however explain to the person on the phone that it was a SECOND installation of XP Pro. I told him there were 2 complete installs on the same computer and asked if there were any problems with that fact. I was told "no ", there is no problem at all. He went on to say I could install it as many times as I wanted aslong as it is on the same machine and "NOT" any others. I also, in case he misunderstood me, said "so it is okay to install windows from 1 install cd on the same computer as many times as I wanted as long as I don't put it on any other computer ". His answer, without hesitating was "YES ".

Anyways again thanks everyone for the help I needed in order to do this setup, it was and still is greatly appreciated......

 

Will that delete

But will that delete any of my settings and files in the old installation.

 

When I installed XP a second time it touched nothing in my other already installed copy. But i did have re-install mainboard drivers etc for my second installation.


BTW: I installed my 2nd XP installation to my D: partition NOT C:.... I don't know what would happen if I had put it on C: aswell. For that reason I'd put on a separate drive (partiton) and you should have no problems, but then again, as was suggested you should make a backup just incase....

 

Installing a second copy to the same partition is only recommended for repair purposes or to recover data prior to a reinstall. If used beyond those purposes, there is the possibility of cross corruption of the Program Files Folder as well as any software folders installed outside of the Program Files Folder. This occurs when the Registry of one system does not track the changes made to the Program Files Folder by the other OS installation, such as installing/uninstalling or upgrading programs.

Installing to a separate partition is fine for any purpose and no cross corruption will occur.

I'm glad to hear that MS has voiced their approval even though it may seem to be a possible violation of the EULA as Pete points out.