Vista/XP Dual Boot Questions

Here is my predicament

I purchased a computer with Windows Vista Home Premium x6
preinstalled. This computer comes with a 640GB SATA II hard drive
Recently, I have decided I do not want to use Windows Vista for at leas
(estimating here...) another year, and I'd rather use Windows XP

I have another hard drive that is IDE. On this IDE hard drive, I woul
like to install Windows XP. I would also like to make Windows XP th
default OS on this computer until I decide to make the eventual switc
to Vista. Here are my questions

1.) 'Dual-booting XP deletes Vista restore points | PC Tips
(http://www.pctipsbox.com/dual-bootin...estore-points/
- Here, it is reported that dual-booting Vista/XP will cause Vista'
restore points to be lost, which I do not want to occur. With the O
being installed on 2 separate drives (one SATA, one IDE) in my case, i
there a chance this happens

2.) How do I set up which OS my computer boots from? Do I use the BIO
menu and declare the IDE drive as the primary drive to boot from, or i
there a way I can actually set up a boot loader that will let me choos
which OS to use, without using BIOS directly

--
Hyphen

"Hyphen" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> Here is my predicament:
>
>
> I purchased a computer with Windows Vista Home Premium x64
> preinstalled. This computer comes with a 640GB SATA II hard drive.
> Recently, I have decided I do not want to use Windows Vista for at least
> (estimating here...) another year, and I'd rather use Windows XP.
>
> I have another hard drive that is IDE. On this IDE hard drive, I would
> like to install Windows XP. I would also like to make Windows XP the
> default OS on this computer until I decide to make the eventual switch
> to Vista. Here are my questions:
>
>
> 1.) 'Dual-booting XP deletes Vista restore points | PC Tips'
> (http://www.pctipsbox.com/dual-bootin...estore-points/)
> - Here, it is reported that dual-booting Vista/XP will cause Vista's
> restore points to be lost, which I do not want to occur. With the OS
> being installed on 2 separate drives (one SATA, one IDE) in my case, is
> there a chance this happens?

If you go into Device Manager and disable the unused drive...ie...when using
XP then the Vista drive is disabled and vice versa...you shouldn't have any
problem with losing restore points....at least I don't.

>
> 2.) How do I set up which OS my computer boots from? Do I use the BIOS
> menu and declare the IDE drive as the primary drive to boot from, or is
> there a way I can actually set up a boot loader that will let me choose
> which OS to use, without using BIOS directly?
>
>
> --
> Hyphen

Thank you for the help. I do not have the Vista DVD as Vista cam
preinstalled on my computer. Is there some other way I can get ahold o
fixmbr and bcdedit

Also, what about the workarounds and fixes? Does anyone know of any?
want to do everything possible to make sure I can preserve my restor
points

--
Hyphen

Will it cause any problems if my Vista is 64-bit but my XP is 32-bit

--
Hyphen

Hyphen wrote:
> Will it cause any problems if my Vista is 64-bit but my XP is 32-bit?
>
>

If you install on 2 separate partitions, no.

http://apcmag.com/how_to_dual_boot_v...step_guide.htm

The restore point workaround linked below is a fairly simple registry edit
that does solve the problem but...

- to preserve existing Vista SR points you'll have to do the registry edit
in XP while the Vista drive is disconnected
- you'll need to know in advance which drive letter the Vista drive will be
seen as in XP. The registry edit hides the Vista drive contents from XP but
if you use the wrong drive letter by mistake your Vista restore points will
be wiped as soon as you boot XP.
- Along with all the other XP drivers you'll need for the computer you might
have to source SATA drivers as well. There might be drive boot order related
issues to deal with as well... I recall some people had boot problems when
both IDE and SATA harddrives were being used.

"Borne Aching" <> wrote in message
news:...
> "Hyphen" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>>
>> Thank you for the help. I do not have the Vista DVD as Vista came
>> preinstalled on my computer. Is there some other way I can get ahold of
>> fixmbr and bcdedit?
>>
>> Also, what about the workarounds and fixes? Does anyone know of any? I
>> want to do everything possible to make sure I can preserve my restore
>> points.
>>
>>
>> --
>> Hyphen
>
>
> This claims it can fixmbr
> http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBC...r+with+EasyBCD .
> So it maybe could replace fixmbr.
>
> bcdedit is available to you thru the command prompt.
>
> Here is one possible restore point workaround
> http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/12...ot-delete.html .