[DaveA]

Originally Posted by elnasty

Microsoft wouldn't let me activate xp after installing it on 5 other differrent pc s

DAH, did you MOVE the OS by deleting it from the OLD machines?

Also how soon between installs and activations?

Sounds like you were trying to cheat MS out of 4 licenses!

[elnasty]

Originally Posted by DaveA

DAH, did you MOVE the OS by deleting it from the OLD machines?

Also how soon between installs and activations?

Sounds like you were trying to cheat MS out of 4 licenses!

I have and don't care.It activated when I changed the hd on my old pc but won't on a new pc.I could crack it or get a xp keygen but that sort of thing is not to be mentioned here.
All the installs were on hd that xp formatted except the first which I installed from 98SE and which 98se created a dual boot menu for me which I was pleased with but not expecting!
Eventually 98se packed up and no amount of reinstalling it on itself would make it work and so I moved to XP but I still needed the dual boot to launch xp.
stan

[techdawg667]

Eek!!! Dont Do That!!! Xp Will Overwrite Some Of Vistas Files Even If You Partion Your Hard Drive!! First Install Xp And The Vista!!!

[Goerge Delis]

how can i dual boot my pc.i have windows vista and i would like to use windows xp too.please send me the orders that i can follow to dual boot my pc at the email address: gdelis@isc.tuc.gr .Thamk you very much

[qldaussie]

I tried to follow your method but in my Vista there is only "Boot" and non of the other files
what now?????

[qldaussie]

Originally Posted by techy689

Below is the way I installed XP on my computer, after Vista was already installed... creating a dual boot.

First find the drivers for your network components, wireless card or nic, and save them to an external device such as a floppy disk or flash drive.

Then you will need to go into the BIOS on your computer startup. Scroll to the System Configuration tab and go down to the SATA Native Support and change its setting to Disabled. Then hit F10 to Save and Exit.

Next, insert your Windows XP CD and create the partition you wish to install XP on. After the installation is complete you should boot automatically into XP.

Now you need to move some files. First, make sure you have set your folder options to see hidden files and to show protected operating system files. Then open Windows Explorer and go to the drive where Vista is installed. Copy the folder Boot, and the files bootmgr, boot.ini, NTDETECT.COM and ntldr and paste them to the root of your XP drive.

Then download Vista Boot Pro and save it to your desktop or somewhere else that you can easily access. Unless you already have .Net Framework (v2.0 at least) it will redirect you to a Microsoft page where you can download this necessary component.

Install and run Vista Boot Pro and open the "Bootloader" tab. Select "Reinstall the Vista bootloader" and press Apply. Then go to the Manage OS Entries tab and select "Add new operating system entry" and make sure you select "Windows Legacy". Give the new entry a name (ie: Windows XP) and select the drive letter you have XP on and then select Apply. You can also choose which entry you would like as the default the system will boot to.

And now you should be able to dual boot between Vista and a previous OS.

"Boot" is all I have in Vista Ultimate" Please help

[yalhatimi]

I don't have the system configuration tab on my laptop's Bios and when I try to install xp on my already installed vista machine I get the message " windows xp could not find hard drive installed .... error. Any ideas? I called Toshiba and they said they don't support xp anymore on their new machines. I realy wana xp and have duo OS on this laptop

[aznxknight]

Hi, i'm new here and i'm really cautious about my computer(which is actually a laptop). I do not have a great knowledge of computers but i want to ask a question.

I have a magazine called "PC Magazine" and in vol. 27 No. 6 (only for people curious about where i get my facts) i was surprised that one of the headlines that appealed to me was on the front page saying the following: " Hate Vista? Return to XP".

I quickly flip to the page of the article and as i'm reading i get to this part:
Regress without Reformatting
(paragraph 2)
"Before you proceed, make sure you have several gigabytes of free space on your boot drive (usually c:). Take a moment to back up your entire hard drive;..."

That particular opening sentence is troubling me as a laptop user.
First of all, how much space do i really need? My laptop is a dual processor, the hard drive i use is C:, which contains 136GB of space BUT i have only 14.2 GB left. Will that be enough? Also my D: (which i think is used for recovery purposes) has 9.99 GB BUT 6.25GB is left.
Second, it says to "take a moment to back up your entire hard drive".
My laptop is very important to me and has very important critical files for my workplace where it would take me tons of time if i ever needed to back up my files.
Now my question is: Do i really need to? I understand the risks that if it somehow fails that something on my computer could go wrong.
With that being said, i don't want to reformat my computer. I want to downgrade from currently running vista to XP(what this topic is about). I'm not entirely sure if this is called a downgrade or just an installment of a dual boot but all i care right now is to be able to use XP on my laptop. My boss is being an *** to me right now, he gives me programs that are incompatible with Vista ( and i'm wondering why this OS was ever made) and now i'm forced to go to my office computer and do everything there while transfering the files to my laptop(which contributes to why my boss thinks i'm the slowest worker in the work area).
In the future, if i do downgrade/install XP successfully, will all my files still be on my C: and D: drives?

[Gswiss]

Originally Posted by yalhatimi

I don't have the system configuration tab on my laptop's Bios and when I try to install xp on my already installed vista machine I get the message " windows xp could not find hard drive installed .... error. Any ideas? I called Toshiba and they said they don't support xp anymore on their new machines. I realy wana xp and have duo OS on this laptop

That's because your XP Installer does not recognize the disk. You should go to the "Download Drivers" section on the Toshiba website. You'll very probably find the XP drivers for the model of your laptop. Download Storage Manager which contains the disk drivers you need. You'll very probably also find there a program which fits those drivers onto a diskette to be used through the F6 procedure at XP Installation time. You'll need a USB diskette reader for that.

If you don't have one, you'll have to slipstream your XP CD using nLite, if that means anything to you.

[PEIFRED]

I have tried your method of installing XP, but it wont work on my computer. When I go to install XP it does not show the partitioned drive, only C drive. What I would like to know is if I purchase an External Hard Drive, can I install XP on it and be able to boot to it, using the options software as to what OS I want to use?

[pranojit]

I successfully installed Windows XP from Windows Vista which came installed with my new laptop (Dell Studio 1535 bought from Best Buy).
No partition, just plain complete installation of XP.

I used the following:
- Restart and press F12 to go to system BIOS setup screen
- Disable the flash (associated with SATA)
- Change the SATA setting from AHCP to ATA
- save settings, exit and boot from Win XP CD.

That did good for me but my problem is Windows XP/Dell does not have drivers available for the hardware components (like audio, webcam, etc) on my laptop.

Vista is built on 64 bit architecture vs. XP on 32 bit so the vista drivers won't work. Any suggestions, will be greatly acknoledged.