Multiple Operating System Setup

Now that you’ve made the choice to go with a multiple OS setup, lets get on to some basics. Every computer, no matter what OS is installed, has a “Master Boot Record” (MBR). This is located in the first partition of the first drive, AKA drive 0 (C:). Whether you have 1, 2, or 10 OSes, they all must start from the same place on drive 0 or C:. If you install a new drive and OS, then slave your old OS to your new drive/OS you aren’t going to accomplish anything, other than waste some disk space. That is because you have no set of instructions (MBR) telling your computer to boot to that hard drive. Unless you opt for a TRIOS, you HAVE to have a boot record for each OS, and it HAS to be on the first partition of drive 0. That’s just the way it is.

Every OS should have it’s own partition. Now it is possible to install 2000/XP on the same partition as 98/ME. But, you are going to have problems eventually. My first experiment in a dual boot was 98 and 2000. I messed up, and did NOT install 2000 on it’s own partition. Things worked great for a few months, then one day I just couldn’t boot up. What a headache.

Windows Boot Manager: Getting down to business

So there you are looking at the Windows 2000 or Windows XP box. You have, hypothetically, two partitions on your 20GB drive, and you have Windows 98 or Windows ME installed. Well, while you’re trying to get into the blast-proof blister pack the new OS came in, why not run a thorough scandisk and disk defrag? By the time these two applications are done running, you might have the new OS packaging open. Probably would be smart to back up your important data too. You never know when something screwy is going to happen, besides, you probably needed a new back up anyway.

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Botdra Lar’les
Hey, thanks for this great little guide.
I’m looking into running Vista and XP on a single computer, would that be possible? Also, what amount of space would it take up having two different OS’s? And lastly, will both OS’s use the same hardrive so I can save one type of file on XP and then access it later on Vista?

E. Williamson
I learned this on my A+ course for which I’m studying at the moment.
I used Partition magic to partition 50G of my 165G hard drive, then booted from an XP install disk and installed it on the new partition. I then rebooted with my Vista recovery disk in my DVD Rom and run the Repair function to repair boot up. I removed Vista disk and let my machine boot up Vista, then I downloaded and installed Easy BCD which allowed me to add my new operating system to the boot order.
Now when I turn on my machine I get the choice to boot up in Vista or XP. Am now trying to sort out a couple of devices that as yet are not working on XP, but hey its all part of learning!

Rick
I have the same problem with XP not working properly on a machine built for Vista. I have figured out that the sound card won’t install on XP and the video card doesnt work properly. The window leaves a trail behind it when moved and the pages wont scroll down smoothly. I don’t want to download and install the driver because i am scared that doing that will ruin the audio for Vista which all of my files are on, all of my music, and i use alot more than i would with XP. Also some other things like the controller BUS wont install correctly. I was also missing tons of dll files. But the thing is, is that I’m not running XP and Vista on the same HD. I’m running them on seperate HD’s. What do you think i should do? Thanks.

Petre
I want to install two OS’s, XP2 and Solaris, what is the way?
Best Regards,
Petre
MP
I’d like to install both Windows Vista OS (Microsoft), and OS-X (Apple) on my laptop. I already have Windows Vista. I know you need to “partition” the hard drive. No idea how that’s done. Ive seen people mention installing Windows 98, and XP in one computer…. or XP with Vista….. or Vista with 98, or 95 etc. etc, but I don’t need any of that.
How do I get Windows Vista and OS-X installed on one laptop? It would be helpfull because some programmes run only on OS-X, and not in any Windows, such as “Logic Studio 9″ in particular. Id rather just partition my hard drive and all that, than spend something like £1000 on a new laptop again.
Thanks

Moshean 11
dude thats so easy.I have XP and Fedora 8 on one HDD. just DOWNLOAD a software called partition magic and then partition your hard drive. install the second OS in another partition. After the restart you have OS CHOICES menu to choose from. Good LUCK

doug strande
hi I hav a apple lap top someone put a pc os on my computer now my computer does’nt work how can i fix it
Naim
hi ..thanx for the great tutorial.. could anyone help me with the information i would like to ask …that is … could i use Windows Vista 32bit edition and 64 bit edition in the same hard drive of my laptop without partitioning it?? what sort of problems would i face? i have a 32 bit vista installed in my laptop… could i install another 64 bit edition windows XP also?
Vinh
Hi. I recently bought a computer and installed windows XP Professional SP3 on it. Now i also want to install windows 7. i partitioned my 500GB WD Caviar Blue into two volumes each approx 250G. How would i go about installing windows 7 on the 2nd volume? do i just boot it up like i did with the XP? or do i need to do something extra? because i tried booting the windows 7 disk and errors keep on occurring. i also enable virtual machine on my BIOS.

Moshean 11
For cautions’ sake make another 3rd partition. Install the second OS in that partition. Restart the comp. Then you have OS choices menu to choose which os to boot from. then u r home and try. Enjoy

Dan Hobbs
I installed Windows Xp on my second partition after installing Windows 7 on Drive C (1st part)
I get the os boot menu with options for Win 7 or XP. Win 7 boots fine. XP will not boot says that a file is missing
/ntldr How do I get the system to see it?

samad kay
Would it be okay to install the Mac OS on my 2nd hard drive in my laptop? and also how many gb will the OS require?
andrey
Lol this is piece of cake for me.1 terra hard drive,no sweat.
jai
I recently forgot my password for my user logon, stupidly i installed vista again on my hard drive which is insanely low. Ive remembered my password for my first vista and want to delete the other vista, how do i go about that?
Brandon
hi, im running windows 7 now, and i want to put a second os on my computer. can i have both windows 7 and linux Ubuntu 9.04 on my computer?
tshown
its possible just have enough disk space and memory to run the 2 operating systems as well partition the harddisk.
Icatkh
I have win 7 on my laptop have my old HD as an exterrnal HD, I want to install win XP on it so I can restore my old data off my other external HD with back up. Back up was done in Perfect Image and can only be restored in original OS (XP pro) My old laptop motherboard crashed. HD was not able to reboot so it was reformatted. now if I load xp on old HD and restore it I will use it as a 2nd HD and OS. ???????