Andy,
Thanks for your comments on
http://www.lifehacker.com/software/t...sta-179906.php and all your assistance to this issue.
"andy" wrote:
> On Mon, 28 Aug 2006 10:02:02 -0700, Martin Healy
> <> wrote:
>
> >Andy,
> >
> >My aplologies for the late reply but I was away from my PC for a few days
> >but many thanks for replying. I must agree with your comments made on dual
> >booting with reference to: "If you make the new primary partition active, you
> >won't get dual
> >booting". There is a good chance that if I made the Vista primary
> >partition active, the computer would boot every time to Vista and I wouldn't
> >be able to switch to Windows XP as the Windows Boot Manager loader OS menu
> >would not be available. Of course, I could use the FDISK utility to make XP
> >the active partition instead in order to switch back to this OS but this
> >situation would be very inconvenient for swapping. It was actually a member
> >of the XP newsgroup that advised me to make the Vista partition active but I
> >must admit I had my doubts about it. At this stage, I'm going to use the
> >Disk Management utility in XP or Windows XP setup to create a second primary
> >partition for Vista. Then, I'm going to use the Windows Vista installation
> >setup to install Vista on this newly created partition and allow it to format
> >it by NTFS. The only outstanding query or doubt that I have is that I always
> >thought that a system partition was required in a startup config. Microsoft
> >refer to this system partition as a primary partition that is made active so
> >that you can boot to it. Also, they can only be one system partition. If I
> >go ahead with this dual boot procedure, my system won't have a system
> >partition but hopefully it will function as it will have two primary
> >partitions comprising of XP and Vista.
>
> If your computer has no system partition, then you won't be able to
> boot to any operating system. As long as you can still boot Windows
> XP, the system partition remains the Windows XP partition. When you
> install Vista, the Windows XP partition will be modified by the Vista
> setup program, adding whatever files it needs to boot Vista.
>
> > Finally, I have included a web
> >article on dual booting XP and Vista Beta 2 @
> >http://www.lifehacker.com/software/t...sta-179906.php.
> > It's okay but it uses a third party partitioning utility called Partition
> >Magic. But at least it doesn't mention that you have to make one of the
> >partitions active.
>
> That's because the C: partition remained the active partition.
> Partition Magic has the ability to make primary partitions active or
> inactive.
> The only reason he had to use Partition Magic is because only one
> partition was available for Vista installation, the C: partition.
> Vista won't install in a FAT32 partition.
>
> >
> >I would welcome any other comments.
> >
> >Thanks
> >
> >Martin
> >
> >
> >"andy" wrote:
> >
> >> On Thu, 24 Aug 2006 12:34:01 -0700, Martin Healy
> >> <> wrote:
> >>
> >> >The hard disk on my PC consists of a 20 GB primary partition and the rest is
> >> >logical. Windows XP came preinstalled on my 20 GB primary partition. My aim
> >> >is to dual boot XP with Windows Vista Beta 2. I want to create another
> >> >separate primary partition for Vista Beta 2 and a additional partition or
> >> >logical drive for my data. Also, I want to be able to access my data from
> >> >both operating systems. I'm not too sure about doing this but I may attempt
> >> >to carry out this dual boot procedure using the steps below:
> >> >
> >> >1. Using the Windows XP Disk Management tool under Computer Management, I
> >> >will right click the logical drive and space and select delete from the
> >> >context menu. This should convert this to free space.
> >> >
> >> >2. Next, I would right click this unpartitioned or unallocated free space
> >> >and select New Partition from the context menu. From here, I would select a
> >> >primary partition, create a 30 GB size and format it using NTFS accordingly.
> >> >This partition or logical drive will be used to install Windows Vista Beta
> >> >2. More importantly, should I mark this partition as active ? or is not
> >> >necessary as Vista will sort this out during the actual installation of Vista
> >> >on this partition later on.
> >>
> >> If you make the new primary partition active, you won't get dual
> >> booting.
> >>
> >> If your desire is for Vista to not change in any way the Windows XP
> >> partition, then you could make the new Vista partition active. But in
> >> order to get dual booting, you must first enable booting to Windows XP
> >> from the new active primary partition before installing Vista.
> >>
> >> >
> >> >3. Then I would create a new logical drive for my data using the remaining
> >> >space.
> >> >
> >> >4. Finally, I would restart the PC from my Windows Vista BETA 2 Installation
> >> >DVD, enter setup mode for that OS, and select the 30GB primary partition to
> >> >install Vista Beta 2.
> >> >
> >> >Please note, I will not be using the Windows XP setup and fdisk tools to
> >> >partition my hard drive in this case as my PC came preinstalled with XP on a
> >> >customised 20 GB partition. Also, other third party software such as
> >> >Partition Magic are not available to me.
> >> >
> >> >Please correct me if the above steps are incorrect as I'm not too sure how
> >> >to employ this dual boot procedure. I'm not sure whether to make the Vista
> >> >partition active or not in step 2 above before proceeding with the
> >> >installation of Vista at step 4. At completion, I would like to be able to
> >> >choose which OS to boot from at PC startup when presented with the boot
> >> >manager loader menu. Lastly, is it possible to change order of the boot menu
> >> >using Vista's BCD (Boot Configuration Data) menu which is the equivalent of
> >> >XP's Boot.ini file.
> >> >
> >> >I would welcome any assistance from anybody out there.
> >> >
> >> >Thanks,
> >> >
> >> >Martin
> >>
> >>
>
>
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