[Kalel7]

I recently purchased a new laptop with Vista preinstalled, and I have since found out that I have a need to create a multiboot with XP on an external drive. How can I load XP on to this external drive and then create the multiboot environment? I loaded the XP cd and attempted the installation; however, I continue to get a Program Compatability error.

[JohnWill]

You can't. XP won't boot from the external drive, and it would be a painful process even if it did. There are "hacks" to get it to run from USB drives, but I'd think of another way.

Why do you need a multi-boot with XP? If you have some application that requires XP, you might consider Microsoft Virtual PC, a free download.

[Kalel7]

Thanks for the info! I have downloaded Virtual PC and have configured a WinXP virtual machine. One question...when I try to start the XP session, it comes back with a message stating "Reboot and Select proper Boot Device or insert Boot Media in selected Boot Drive". I did create a virtual hard drive so I am a little confused as to what it is specifically looking for.

[JohnWill]

Well, you have to install XP into the virtual machine. It's just like a real computer, you have to do the installation from a CD or an ISO image of the XP install media.

[Reanimate]

Hi, i am in the same situation as the OP. I have Vista pre-installed and would like to be able to run XP as well. I went to the link suggested by JohnWill and found that Home Premium (the edition i run) is not on the list of viable operateing systems.

I am curious if premium IS able to handle Virtual PC, or if it really isnt.

[JohnWill]

Yep, I have Virtual PC 2007 running on Vista Ultimate and Vista Home Premium on my two Vista machines here. Other than the warning of an "unsupported" environment, it works fine. You'll want plenty of memory, those two machine each have 2gigs.

[wickydoc]

I have a Maxtor 500G external hard drive that I store Quicken backup data on on, and have had to install Virtual PC 2007 with XP onto my Vista Business to make the Quicken Cashbook 2004 program work. I understand that to access this it has to be done through Shared Folders, but since it can't see it in the first place (if it could I would have to go through all this) how to I make VM find the E drive to put it into Shared Folders? I spent all day getting this to work yesterday and now I can't access the backup drive!
Thanks heaps