Vista and XP on same hdd need help

[Im New]

i have xp and vista on the same hdd as my original xp; vista is partitioned off

i badly gotta reformat my xp but im afraid it will formatt vista instead or as well


how do i make sure or kno that vista isnt getting the boot as well?


nvm mods feel free to delete this post sorry i didnt look b4 i jumped

[Im New]

ehh as it turns out i still need this answered ive yet to get a decisive answer and havent tryed

[EzyStvy]

The following is backwards to your situation...Looks like the key is to make sure the Vista partition is the "active/system" partition.

In a dual-boot configuration, Windows XP does not start if you subsequently format or delete the partition on which Windows Vista is installed
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922809/en-us

[Im New]

im sorry but im nit quite sure if i understood any of it


i have vista that is my main os i think....becuz its the one that will automatically boot up if i dont select which one in the givewn time


i dont have an xp disk rather i have recovery disk i just want to formatt and reinstall my xp partition

my xp is covered in adware and i cant get rid of it


but im afraid it will recover over the vista partition since the recovery doesnt ask about the partitions

[glc]

If all you have is a recovery disk, you are stuck. It's all or nothing.

[Im New]

but using tho recovery disk i can do a total reformat.....back to my original factory state

[glc]

That's correct. Then you have to reinstall Vista if you want it.

[Im New]

o well thats fine...idk why but vista is having all kinds of weird issues so imma reinstall vista now too anyways