Dual Boot Vista and XP with Vista already installed

If you want to install Vista onto an XP computer, try the reverse tutorial: (XP already installed)
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</Dream In Code>
-William. § (marvin_gohan)

Hi!

I'm not new to computers, and after checking the boards i thought this should be piece of cake

How wrong can you be!!!

My install of XP is not working. after the reboot I get the msg "Error loading operating system"

I've tried several times now, with the same result. I'm using an XP SP2 upgrade disk with a 98SE OEM disk for validation.

I've tried following the guide tot he letter, I've tried using the recovery console (very clumisly, never used it before) tried using the Vista recovery centre, I've even tried formatting as FAT32 and putting on Windows 98, but I keep getting the same error. any suggestions? I'm die-ing here

Taydius

infinity is blue from the outside

Hi folks.

Please disregard my previous msg. 6 hrs of trying to setup a dual boot whhen things don't work out as they are supposed to can drive you batty

For those of you that do end up where I was, don't panic. I found a solution

The situation that I had was During step 2 when windows XP was supposed to reboot to continue the installation, it didn't. it gave the above error msg, or even just hanged before getting to that msg, just after the msg, press any key to boot from CD.

just go on the steps 3 and 4, and then boot into Windows XP and continue the installation

this works (ask me how I know LOL 6 hours of hair pulling and endlessly rebooting and changing disks around)

thanks anyway

taydius

infinity is blue, when viewed from the outside

After looking at 26 pages of questions and answers, I don't believe that I have seen this situation.

I have installed XP okay and used Vista Boot Pro to get VISTA access after the XP install (I don't have VISTA install disks, only recovery disks).

Now, VISTA is okay, but when I select XP at the boot, the XP (not VISTA) system recovery options menu starts up. The startup repair option is unsuccessful. Is there a way to allow XP to work as well from here?

Thanks (so close, hopefully)

Hello William,
Ok here is my Problem I have seen 2 Unregistered people bring this up. So I thought I would Register with my systems specs So that maybe I can get the answer to this.
I had no problem with step 1 But when I go to install XP it will load up the basic Drivers(on blue screen). Once done it will say "starting up Windows" which is where you select the HD you will be installing XP on. But i dont make it to that Screen. instead I get a Blue Screen that informs me "Windows has detected a problem that could cause damage, Needs to restart. If this is the first time you have seen this message restart computer and Try again, If Not Try to Run a Virus scan, Remove HD, or CHKDSK /F" At which point I cant do anything else but restart computer.

I have been Realing forum after forum and called Dell Twice(to no luck "We can not help you install XP on your system b/c you bought your system with Vista") in the last 4 days.

What I gather is that I need to chage my SATA (cant remember what to what) From ATA to IDE (or something like that) But in my Bios I dont have an Option to change it (I know the difference b/c I pulled out my old computer and it had the option under "Drivers")

I have taken the HD out of my old computer (with XP SP2 installed) and installed it on my new one and still got that Blue screen only at a different point (Windows loading Screen comes up and quickly changes to the Error screen) The BIOS verison I am using is "Pheonix Rom BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A04" Which are the Bios Dell "Recommends"

I like Vista for Directx10 (and related games) but my True Love is FFxi Which will not work on Vista for me so if someone can help me get XP back on my computer there is a good chance that I will give you my first Child haha jk
PS: I dont even care if I keep Vista anymore haha
Thank you!

AS74

you might try using the fixboot and fixmbr option that is afforedd in the recovery comsole of xp (I know it's in vista, but it is also in xp, although the syntax is different)

now this will stuff up the dual boot that you have right now, but it just might fix the problem that you're having.

If all else fails start the procedure from scratch. I know this means deleting the XP drive that you've created and then recreating it but. but I spent 6 hours doing just that before the install worked.

Hope this helps you

Taydius

Everything went perfect. Thank you very much William. I changed my boot order to XP 1st . Now I can't load X at all. Changed the boot order back to Vista 1st. Still receive error message listed above.
File: \ntldr
Status:0xc000000e
Help me please before my wife throws the computer out the door. I got it for my daughter for Christmas so I could have mine back and have been on for 32 hours with 2 hours sleep fixing various Vista/ XP conflicts.

@soulfly:

IDE and SATA are not interchagable by selecting a bios option, it is simply the drive type. The only way you could make this change is if your computer had 2 hard drives, one of IDE and the other of SATA type.

The error you are encountering is a vague one, but usually has to do with information errors. The cable connecting your drive, or the drive itself may be damaged.
The other option I could think of off hand is that your computer is failing to recognize some harware, try unplugging all uneccessary devices such as scanners, printers, camras, etc.

Let me know if the error changes or goes away.

@Taydius:
sorry about your troubles and that I was not able to help sooner, but I'm glad you found something that works

@flS537:
This is most often an issue of files missing, sometimes Vista likes to "fix" things, and it just screws up XP. You can use the repair option, but that too can sometimtes do more harm than good. So I suggest copying the ntdlr and ntdetect.com files from your XP cd (located at: CD_DRIVE:\i386\) into the root of your XP partition.
Or check that XP is indeed pointing to the correct partition, Vista will label it as D, or X, or whatever, but when running XP it makes itself C:\ and that is what it should be pointed to.

I am a few days old member and would like to appreciate the efforts here.

Thanks for the step by step guide.

I did dual boot xp with Vista loaded few weeks back. But after installing XP I took the went through Start Repair after booting from Vista CD. And then use the program called EasyBCD to change to boot loader and that also worked fine. But that was a long way to go and bit complicated also.

But thansk for the efforts here.