Progam install with dual boot

I am dual booting Vista and XP, on separate hard drives. When I install
programs in Vista is there any reason why I cannot install the program right
over my existing XP copy? Would save a lot of space...
Ron

Hi Ron--

Here's my experience and that of many many people with installing programs
on dual boots through every build of Vista since the beginning through RTM.

You have a dual boot. Always try to install XP first because the principle
is that Vista can overwrite the XP boot loader if you install the newer OS
prior to the legacy (XP etc. OS).

I'm not sure what you are getting at with the phrase "install the program
right over my existing XP copy." You usually install a program onto either
your XP boot or your Vista boot.

On dual boot machines, I had hundreds of programs on my XP boot. I
installed Vista on a separate partition throughtout the Beta which must have
included about 15 builds or so.

I wanted to save time, so early on I tried to copy my XP programs using the
copy pane (they could have been dragged and dropped with the same result) to
Vista. What happened was that and now I can't remember the percent had to
be uninstalled and reinstalled on Vista because they would not open up or
would not work. I remember that Office 2003 (everyone would agree a rather
large program and getting larger every year) would not work on Vista so I
had to uninstall it and reinstall it specifically on Vista.

I have been able to take some programs I copied to Vista and run them but I
wouldn't advise it.

You may not know this but you can shortcut between the Vista desktop to the
XP desktop and gain access to all your files and folders. You can't use
Outlook Express on XP from Vista and you can't merge it with Win Mail
because they use different storage formats. You can merge Outlook though.

I was able to drag Ad Aware from my XP Program files folder to my Vista
desktop and make it run.

So bottom line, you can save time and space using a shortcut to XP desktop
from Vista desktop or anywhere on XP by typing the file and folder file
path. You can go from XP to Vista as well.

To go from Vista to XP Desktop use: XP Drive\Documents and Settings\Ron's
XP Profile\Desktop

To go from XP to Vista desktop use: Vista Drive\Users\Ron's Vista
Profile\Desktop

This avoids the loss of restore points when you are on Vista and then boot
to XP without using Bit Locker Encription or 3rd party bootloaders.

I will never try to install a program to XP and use it on Vista or vice
versa. My experience has convinced me to install to each OS separately. It
takes a little more time, and it takes space on each OS/drive/partition.
Many programs won't work if you try to copy them from XP to Vista.

I would love to know what you mean when you ask "why I cannot install the
program right over my existing XP copy." You have two OS's on a dual boot.
What do you mean when you say this if you don't mean copying a program from
XP to Vista (which again I would not do. There are separate files and
registry entries that need to be setup and maintained on each OS for a
particular program/application.

Please let me know what you meant, and if there is anyway I can see to help
I will.

CH







"Ron Carr" <> wrote in message
news:0217A308-CF42-43BB-91B9-...
>I am dual booting Vista and XP, on separate hard drives. When I install
> programs in Vista is there any reason why I cannot install the program
> right
> over my existing XP copy? Would save a lot of space...
> Ron

Ron--

I should have made clear and there may be people with more direct
information on the physiology of this but when you try to copy a program on
a dual or multiboot from say XP to Vista, you are involving the transfer of
registry keys and values, .dlls, and many individual files and folders. If
for example you were to pull a copy of the Office Resource Kit off the shelf
of your local bookstore, or the excellent development book by Sue Mosher on
Outlook you see how many and how specific and how complex are the registry
entries in Office or Outlook and they change of course from XP to Vista
(although many are retained), and the .dlls change as well.

If you thumb through the Vista Resource Kit, you will quickly get a sense of
this process from XP to Vista.

My point here is that for reasons I can't articulate but some might be able
to"

1) These settings may be fragile and not survive copying well from one OS to
another.
2) These settings are offten different from XP to Vista, as is the
***architecture of Vista under the hood for many many of its components.

I find this a compelling reason not to try to copy programs from XP to Vista
but rather to install a program on each OS you use on a dual or multiboot if
that's what you're driving toward Ron.

CH


"Ron Carr" <> wrote in message
news:0217A308-CF42-43BB-91B9-...
>I am dual booting Vista and XP, on separate hard drives. When I install
> programs in Vista is there any reason why I cannot install the program
> right
> over my existing XP copy? Would save a lot of space...
> Ron

You're misunderstanding the OP's question. In a dual boot situation you may
install a program in XP and then go to Vista and install the program there
INTO THE SAME folder as was used under XP. This creates the registry
entries etc. in Visat. Trying to copy a folder without installing it is a
completely different issue.

"Chad Harris" <vistaneedsmuchowork.net> wrote in message
news:%23c0$...
> Ron--
>

I'm interested in that question too.
I used that practice many times on a dual boot Win 98 and XP machine and a
Win ME / 2K dual boot machine. I believe it should work in Vista too but
have been cautious about it. I suspect it would be fine for most programs,
but would be careful with other MS products like Office which has a
particularly bad history of mucking around in the OS excessively.

"Ron Carr" <> wrote in message
news:0217A308-CF42-43BB-91B9-...
>I am dual booting Vista and XP, on separate hard drives. When I install
> programs in Vista is there any reason why I cannot install the program
> right
> over my existing XP copy? Would save a lot of space...
> Ron

GTS has it right: I would install my app under Vista, but install it into the
Program Files directory in Win XP. That way all dll,s, registry changes etc
would be in Vista but the program components would simply overlay the
(identical?) ones in Win XP.
And I agree I would not try this with MS products, but maybe games and less
important programs.

Ron

"Chad Harris" wrote:

> Ron--
>
> I should have made clear and there may be people with more direct
> information on the physiology of this but when you try to copy a program on
> a dual or multiboot from say XP to Vista, you are involving the transfer of
> registry keys and values, .dlls, and many individual files and folders. If
> for example you were to pull a copy of the Office Resource Kit off the shelf
> of your local bookstore, or the excellent development book by Sue Mosher on
> Outlook you see how many and how specific and how complex are the registry
> entries in Office or Outlook and they change of course from XP to Vista
> (although many are retained), and the .dlls change as well.
>
> If you thumb through the Vista Resource Kit, you will quickly get a sense of
> this process from XP to Vista.
>
> My point here is that for reasons I can't articulate but some might be able
> to"
>
> 1) These settings may be fragile and not survive copying well from one OS to
> another.
> 2) These settings are offten different from XP to Vista, as is the
> ***architecture of Vista under the hood for many many of its components.
>
> I find this a compelling reason not to try to copy programs from XP to Vista
> but rather to install a program on each OS you use on a dual or multiboot if
> that's what you're driving toward Ron.
>
> CH
>
>
> "Ron Carr" <> wrote in message
> news:0217A308-CF42-43BB-91B9-...
> >I am dual booting Vista and XP, on separate hard drives. When I install
> > programs in Vista is there any reason why I cannot install the program
> > right
> > over my existing XP copy? Would save a lot of space...
> > Ron
>
>

What you’re saying Chad is that you have, say, Vista on C drive/partition, XP
on D drive/partition and when you install say, Ad-aware, you go and install
it twice, once on C for Vista and once on D for XP?
Would be possible to install that/any app on yet another partition say ,E,
that would allow both OSs to go and read from there?
But what if an app is not smart enough to install properly on a drive other
then C then you may have to go to the solution before and install it on C and
D with the OSs?!
What do you think?


"Chad Harris" wrote:

> Hi Ron--
>
> Here's my experience and that of many many people with installing programs
> on dual boots through every build of Vista since the beginning through RTM.
>
> You have a dual boot. Always try to install XP first because the principle
> is that Vista can overwrite the XP boot loader if you install the newer OS
> prior to the legacy (XP etc. OS).
>
> I'm not sure what you are getting at with the phrase "install the program
> right over my existing XP copy." You usually install a program onto either
> your XP boot or your Vista boot.
>
> On dual boot machines, I had hundreds of programs on my XP boot. I
> installed Vista on a separate partition throughtout the Beta which must have
> included about 15 builds or so.
>
> I wanted to save time, so early on I tried to copy my XP programs using the
> copy pane (they could have been dragged and dropped with the same result) to
> Vista. What happened was that and now I can't remember the percent had to
> be uninstalled and reinstalled on Vista because they would not open up or
> would not work. I remember that Office 2003 (everyone would agree a rather
> large program and getting larger every year) would not work on Vista so I
> had to uninstall it and reinstall it specifically on Vista.
>
> I have been able to take some programs I copied to Vista and run them but I
> wouldn't advise it.
>
> You may not know this but you can shortcut between the Vista desktop to the
> XP desktop and gain access to all your files and folders. You can't use
> Outlook Express on XP from Vista and you can't merge it with Win Mail
> because they use different storage formats. You can merge Outlook though.
>
> I was able to drag Ad Aware from my XP Program files folder to my Vista
> desktop and make it run.
>
> So bottom line, you can save time and space using a shortcut to XP desktop
> from Vista desktop or anywhere on XP by typing the file and folder file
> path. You can go from XP to Vista as well.
>
> To go from Vista to XP Desktop use: XP Drive\Documents and Settings\Ron's
> XP Profile\Desktop
>
> To go from XP to Vista desktop use: Vista Drive\Users\Ron's Vista
> Profile\Desktop
>
> This avoids the loss of restore points when you are on Vista and then boot
> to XP without using Bit Locker Encription or 3rd party bootloaders.
>
> I will never try to install a program to XP and use it on Vista or vice
> versa. My experience has convinced me to install to each OS separately. It
> takes a little more time, and it takes space on each OS/drive/partition.
> Many programs won't work if you try to copy them from XP to Vista.
>
> I would love to know what you mean when you ask "why I cannot install the
> program right over my existing XP copy." You have two OS's on a dual boot.
> What do you mean when you say this if you don't mean copying a program from
> XP to Vista (which again I would not do. There are separate files and
> registry entries that need to be setup and maintained on each OS for a
> particular program/application.
>
> Please let me know what you meant, and if there is anyway I can see to help
> I will.
>
> CH
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> "Ron Carr" <> wrote in message
> news:0217A308-CF42-43BB-91B9-...
> >I am dual booting Vista and XP, on separate hard drives. When I install
> > programs in Vista is there any reason why I cannot install the program
> > right
> > over my existing XP copy? Would save a lot of space...
> > Ron
>
>

Hi George--

"What you’re saying Chad is that you have, say, Vista on C drive/partition,
XP
on D drive/partition and when you install say, Ad-aware, you go and install
it twice, once on C for Vista and once on D for XP?"

Exactly, because if you don't many programs won't work on each OS.

"Would be possible to install that/any app on yet another partition say ,E,
that would allow both OSs to go and read from there?"

With respect to many programs that won't work.

"But what if an app is not smart enough to install properly on a drive other
then C then you may have to go to the solution before and install it on C
and D with the OSs?!"

It's not about the app being smart enough, George, it's about there needing
to be the requisite registry entries(keys, subkeys, and values) and files
accessable to that OS--but they do not need to be on the same partition or
drive that the OS is installed on.

I think your logic would be great but things don't work that way for most
programs. I've tried that.

Here's what will work with respect to some programs, but does not work with
all of them, particularly large programs with complicated sets of files and
registry keys like MSFT Office.

I have been able to take some programs--Adaware among them, that I installed
on my XP boot. Let's say hypothetically you have divided your HD into 4
partitions. Before you installed Vista, you had an XP partition where you
installed Adaware onto F:\ for space considerations. You had XP on C:\ but
since your spaces is limited, you install as many programs as possible on F:
where their folders reside in F:\ Program Files.

We both know that with respect to some programs, you can install them on F:\
but they will insist on putting some of the files on the System Drive (C:\)
anyway.

So then you install Vista and you want some of the programs on Vista also.

Both OS's won't "read from there" unfortunately because the OS that didn't
have the program installed does not have registry keys or .dlls or other
files for the program.

I have been able for convienience on Vista to go to F:\ Program Files and
click the executable for say Adaware and it will install on Vista and you
can choose whether to install it to Vista's partition or drive or another
one. That program will then work on Vista, but not all of them will.

I think it's a far better proposition to install each program while you are
on the operating system you want it to run on, but for space considerations
or your convenience or preference, you can install that program to any
drive.

Most programs (but not all), allow you to browse and choose the drive you
install on. It's not the drive you install to that matters, but that you
install while booted into the OS you want to use it on so that again it can
put its registry keys and values in that OS's registry, and .dlls in the
program files that will work on that OS.

CH


"George" <> wrote in message
news:A41AF8DF-A360-4496-8B9C-...
> What you’re saying Chad is that you have, say, Vista on C drive/partition,
> XP
> on D drive/partition and when you install say, Ad-aware, you go and
> install
> it twice, once on C for Vista and once on D for XP?
> Would be possible to install that/any app on yet another partition say ,E,
> that would allow both OSs to go and read from there?
> But what if an app is not smart enough to install properly on a drive
> other
> then C then you may have to go to the solution before and install it on C
> and
> D with the OSs?!
> What do you think?
>
>
> "Chad Harris" wrote:
>
>> Hi Ron--
>>
>> Here's my experience and that of many many people with installing
>> programs
>> on dual boots through every build of Vista since the beginning through
>> RTM.
>>
>> You have a dual boot. Always try to install XP first because the
>> principle
>> is that Vista can overwrite the XP boot loader if you install the newer
>> OS
>> prior to the legacy (XP etc. OS).
>>
>> I'm not sure what you are getting at with the phrase "install the program
>> right over my existing XP copy." You usually install a program onto
>> either
>> your XP boot or your Vista boot.
>>
>> On dual boot machines, I had hundreds of programs on my XP boot. I
>> installed Vista on a separate partition throughtout the Beta which must
>> have
>> included about 15 builds or so.
>>
>> I wanted to save time, so early on I tried to copy my XP programs using
>> the
>> copy pane (they could have been dragged and dropped with the same result)
>> to
>> Vista. What happened was that and now I can't remember the percent had
>> to
>> be uninstalled and reinstalled on Vista because they would not open up or
>> would not work. I remember that Office 2003 (everyone would agree a
>> rather
>> large program and getting larger every year) would not work on Vista so I
>> had to uninstall it and reinstall it specifically on Vista.
>>
>> I have been able to take some programs I copied to Vista and run them but
>> I
>> wouldn't advise it.
>>
>> You may not know this but you can shortcut between the Vista desktop to
>> the
>> XP desktop and gain access to all your files and folders. You can't use
>> Outlook Express on XP from Vista and you can't merge it with Win Mail
>> because they use different storage formats. You can merge Outlook
>> though.
>>
>> I was able to drag Ad Aware from my XP Program files folder to my Vista
>> desktop and make it run.
>>
>> So bottom line, you can save time and space using a shortcut to XP
>> desktop
>> from Vista desktop or anywhere on XP by typing the file and folder file
>> path. You can go from XP to Vista as well.
>>
>> To go from Vista to XP Desktop use: XP Drive\Documents and
>> Settings\Ron's
>> XP Profile\Desktop
>>
>> To go from XP to Vista desktop use: Vista Drive\Users\Ron's Vista
>> Profile\Desktop
>>
>> This avoids the loss of restore points when you are on Vista and then
>> boot
>> to XP without using Bit Locker Encription or 3rd party bootloaders.
>>
>> I will never try to install a program to XP and use it on Vista or vice
>> versa. My experience has convinced me to install to each OS separately.
>> It
>> takes a little more time, and it takes space on each OS/drive/partition.
>> Many programs won't work if you try to copy them from XP to Vista.
>>
>> I would love to know what you mean when you ask "why I cannot install the
>> program right over my existing XP copy." You have two OS's on a dual
>> boot.
>> What do you mean when you say this if you don't mean copying a program
>> from
>> XP to Vista (which again I would not do. There are separate files and
>> registry entries that need to be setup and maintained on each OS for a
>> particular program/application.
>>
>> Please let me know what you meant, and if there is anyway I can see to
>> help
>> I will.
>>
>> CH
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> "Ron Carr" <> wrote in message
>> news:0217A308-CF42-43BB-91B9-...
>> >I am dual booting Vista and XP, on separate hard drives. When I install
>> > programs in Vista is there any reason why I cannot install the program
>> > right
>> > over my existing XP copy? Would save a lot of space...
>> > Ron
>>
>>

You make good sense there. If I misunderstood what the OP was after, my
apologies. It sounds as if the OP installed Vista first and then XP and
although it sometimes works, often it will not and the Vista boot loader
will over-write XP and you 'll have to fix that often with a 3rd party
bootloader or using the MSKB on that subject. I'd install the legacy OS
first always.

CH


"GTS" <> wrote in message
news:...
> I'm interested in that question too.
> I used that practice many times on a dual boot Win 98 and XP machine and a
> Win ME / 2K dual boot machine. I believe it should work in Vista too but
> have been cautious about it. I suspect it would be fine for most
> programs, but would be careful with other MS products like Office which
> has a particularly bad history of mucking around in the OS excessively.
>
> "Ron Carr" <> wrote in message
> news:0217A308-CF42-43BB-91B9-...
>>I am dual booting Vista and XP, on separate hard drives. When I install
>> programs in Vista is there any reason why I cannot install the program
>> right
>> over my existing XP copy? Would save a lot of space...
>> Ron
>