Mount o/s from second hard drive.

I am not sure if this is possible but just thought of putting my
thoughts across and see if this can be done.

I got a brand new computer with vista business on it. I am getting rid
of my old XP computer so i removed the hard drive from my XP computer
and put it in vista as a secondary hard drive. With Vista running, is
it possible for me to mount my secondary hard drive (XP) as a virtual
machine? Or how can i have Vista and XP running at the same time?

Thanks,
Hetal.

Hi,

No, you'd have to reinstall XP to that drive so that the OS would be built
around the new hardware. It's highly unlikely that it would function
correctly on another system as the hardware layer developed around the old
system wouldn't match. A repair install would be sufficient, but you'd have
to repair the boot sector afterwards as XP setup will overwrite the Vista
bootloader.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"Hetal" <> wrote in message
news:ce73b690-15f2-4c52-91dd-...
>I am not sure if this is possible but just thought of putting my
> thoughts across and see if this can be done.
>
> I got a brand new computer with vista business on it. I am getting rid
> of my old XP computer so i removed the hard drive from my XP computer
> and put it in vista as a secondary hard drive. With Vista running, is
> it possible for me to mount my secondary hard drive (XP) as a virtual
> machine? Or how can i have Vista and XP running at the same time?
>
> Thanks,
> Hetal.

Hetal <> wrote:
>
> I am not sure if this is possible but just thought of putting my
> thoughts across and see if this can be done.
>
> I got a brand new computer with vista business on it. I am getting rid
> of my old XP computer so i removed the hard drive from my XP computer
> and put it in vista as a secondary hard drive. With Vista running, is
> it possible for me to mount my secondary hard drive (XP) as a virtual
> machine? Or how can i have Vista and XP running at the same time?


I've made many old OS installations into virtual machines using Acronis True
Image Workstation with the Universal Restore addon.

ss.

Rick Rogers <> wrote:
>
> No, you'd have to reinstall XP to that drive so that the OS would be
> built around the new hardware. It's highly unlikely that it would
> function correctly on another system as the hardware layer developed
> around the old system wouldn't match. A repair install would be
> sufficient, but you'd have to repair the boot sector afterwards as XP
> setup will overwrite the Vista bootloader.
>

Acronis Universal Restore resets the Hardware Abstraction Layer, allowing
you to use the same OS installation on completely different hardware or a
virtual machine. I've been using it for a few years and have never had a
problem with it.

ss.

Hetal;965375 Wrote:
> I am not sure if this is possible but just thought of putting m
> thoughts across and see if this can be done
>
> I got a brand new computer with vista business on it. I am getting ri
> of my old XP computer so i removed the hard drive from my XP compute
> and put it in vista as a secondary hard drive. With Vista running, i
> it possible for me to mount my secondary hard drive (XP) as a virtua
> machine? Or how can i have Vista and XP running at the same time
>
> Thanks
> Hetal

You wouldn't want that copy of XP running on the new system since i
would see too many problems. The old copy of XP belongs with the ol
system for various reasons like hardware profiling, device drivers, an
simply bonded to the old system in general.

The best move for seeing a working dual boot of both versions takes
five step process if you have an XP disk to start with for seeing a ne
fresh copy installed. You also have two options for seeing a dual boot
1)shrink primary to create new second one for XP 2 leaving old drive a
storage device 2)copy any personal files from old drive and reformat fo
clean install of XP

The second option seems to be more of what you seem to be looking fo
of seeing a fresh copy installed on the old drive rather then touchin
the present Vista drive. The first steps for seeing working dual boot g
as follows

1)with all data backed up from old drive reformat it or even go as fa
as deleting the original primary and formatting a new one insuring
totally new fresh start

2)two options of one simply installing XP with Vista drive plugged i
and then later needing to repair Vista master boot with repair tool. O
unplug Vista drive temporarily to see XP set up as a stand alone OS o
the old drive later replugging the Vista drive back in unchanged but
need to reset that as the default boot drive in the bios depending o
type of hard drives involved(ide or sata or mix

3)going into menu bar>tools>folder options>view tab to uncheck the hid
all protected operating system files, hide extensions for known fil
types, and check the show all hidden files, folders, and drives items
You will need to do that first in order to copy the ntldr, ntdetect.com
and boot.ini XP boot files over to the root of C on the Vista drive

4)edit the copy of the boot.ini file with NotePad after a right clic
and uncheck of the read only option then click the apply button to se
the change. The two entries of default OS and the line under "operatin
systems" need a small change to each from "rdisk(0)partition(1)" t
"rdisk(1)partition(1)"

5)download and install the free tool best suited for editing the Vist
BCD or boot loader called EasyBCD found at 'Download EasyBCD 1.7.2
NeoSmart Technologies' (http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1) You need t
install this on Vista while it can be used on XP as well for any need t
recover the Vista mbr later

Once installed you go into the add/remove entries to select th
nt/2k/xp/2x3 with the last there for Server 2003 as well as selectin
the drive/partition from the seoncd drop dropdown list. The image her
shows how the current triple boot of XP, Vista, and the 7 beta releas
is seen in the add/remove options for referentce

'[image: http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uplo...b9c0f1f41.jpg]
(http://www.freeimagehosting.net/imag...bb9c0f1f41.jpg

--
Night Hawk

Synapse Syndrome <> wrote:
>>
>> I am not sure if this is possible but just thought of putting my
>> thoughts across and see if this can be done.
>>
>> I got a brand new computer with vista business on it. I am getting rid
>> of my old XP computer so i removed the hard drive from my XP computer
>> and put it in vista as a secondary hard drive. With Vista running, is
>> it possible for me to mount my secondary hard drive (XP) as a virtual
>> machine? Or how can i have Vista and XP running at the same time?
>
>
> I've made many old OS installations into virtual machines using Acronis
> True Image Workstation with the Universal Restore addon.


It seems with the new Echo release of True Image Workstation, you no longer
need the Universal Restore addon for VM conversion - you only need it for
different hardware.

http://pages.citebite.com/v1d2r1x7x6peg

ss.

Haven't tried it myself, but it certainly could be an option if one is
willing to spend a few bucks.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"Synapse Syndrome" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Rick Rogers <> wrote:
>>
>> No, you'd have to reinstall XP to that drive so that the OS would be
>> built around the new hardware. It's highly unlikely that it would
>> function correctly on another system as the hardware layer developed
>> around the old system wouldn't match. A repair install would be
>> sufficient, but you'd have to repair the boot sector afterwards as XP
>> setup will overwrite the Vista bootloader.
>>
>
> Acronis Universal Restore resets the Hardware Abstraction Layer, allowing
> you to use the same OS installation on completely different hardware or a
> virtual machine. I've been using it for a few years and have never had a
> problem with it.
>
> ss.
>

I took an hard drive from an old Pentium II 300MHz computer and virtualized
it using Virtual PC.
Seems to be working just fine.
You create a .vhd from the old hard drive and discard the old hard drive, or
keep it for safe keeping.

I had old programs that will not install on a new system without having to
phone the application vendor and trying to get a new key, amongst other
reasons for keeping the old install.

"Hetal" <> wrote in message
news:ce73b690-15f2-4c52-91dd-...
> I am not sure if this is possible but just thought of putting my
> thoughts across and see if this can be done.
>
> I got a brand new computer with vista business on it. I am getting rid
> of my old XP computer so i removed the hard drive from my XP computer
> and put it in vista as a secondary hard drive. With Vista running, is
> it possible for me to mount my secondary hard drive (XP) as a virtual
> machine? Or how can i have Vista and XP running at the same time?
>
> Thanks,
> Hetal.