If you want to install Vista onto an XP computer, try the reverse tutorial: (XP already installed) (How to Dual Boot Windows XP and Vista)Click here to read the entire tutorial

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-William. § (marvin_gohan)

I have an Acer Aspire 3680 with vista preinstalled and Partitions C and D already on my system. C:/ is for vista while D:/ was supposed to be or XP. I installed xp and used Vistaboot Pro to configure the settings, but when I try to run xp from the Vista bootloader it gives me an error like this one:

File: \ntldr
Status: 0xc000000e
Info: The selected entry could not be loaded because the application is missing or corrupt.

And tells me to put in the installlation disk and redo the language settings which I have tried to do twice with no success.

William

I've followed your very well-written process on how to set up a dual boot XP/Vista (vista first) system. The problem is in step 4., Edit boot.ini. When I right click on bcdedit.exe and select Run as Admin, the black dos window fly’s in and out in a flash. It pops up but disappears immediately. What do I do now?
Thanks!
DLS1031

Partition created by Vista disc manager. Labelled E:
When I boot from an XP CD (and I've tried three!) , after initial file installation- about 4 minutes in- I get a blue screen telling me there are no hard drives to be found on my machine.
Which comes as a shock.
The only option is F3 to abandon the install.
Suggestions?

So i did step one, I have a partition for XP... when I pop the XP CD in to install, it wont see the 60 gigs I left for it, just the vista... in fact, it only sees 130ish gigs of vista... how do I make it see the partition I made for it?!?

I had the same problem. I had to create a new XP disk using "slipstreaming". Do a google search for "xp slipstream sp2" and that should point you in the right direction. Check out the websites driverpacks.net and nliteos.com for utilities that make it much easier.

I had this same problem. I had to create an entry in the bootloader first before setting the options. To create the new entry, use bcdedit /create {ntldr} /d "Microsoft Windows XP". I was then able to run the commands in the order specified, though the last command to set the description was redundant as I had set it when creating the new entry.

One of the XP discs IS new. Same on all three.
If I hit F6 on booting from the dvd, I get this- "Unable to load support for mass storage device. Currently, setup will load support for (no) mass storage devices.

To specify additional scsi adapters etc, press S.

When I press S- get this- I get the following:

Setup could not find a floppy dive on your machine to load OEM drivers from floppy disks.

Well, no. It doesn't have a cassette tape drive either.

I'll have a look at the sites you mentioned. Thanks.

William,

I am new to syschat and must say I'm impressed with all your knowledge, posting, and willingness to help. We need more people like you!

I have tried following your 4 step process; however my laptop came with software preinstalled. I do not have a vista cd to insert upon startup to enter in all the bcdedit commands. Is there another tool out there that could help me with this? I tried installed easybcd in xp when it came up but it will not even open. Thanks for all your help!!

TB

Hello All,
A really useful and informative site

In Page 2 The procedure is to use the Vista CD, But the HP notebook I bought only came with a recovery CD for Vista, can I boot from this recovery DVD? and then proceed to repair volume as outlined? Thanks in advance

Dear William,

Your tutorial has been very helpful and I have been trying to be a good pupil.
After completing al the steps I still haven't succeeded to dual boot Vista and XP.
Maybe I should start by saying that I'm trying it on my Macbook Pro.

I first installed Vista using Bootcamp. This went remarkably smooth! And 'm very pleased with running Vista on my mac. The trouble starts when trying to 'triple' boot with XP. Am I pushing the Mac's Limits?

I'm now actually dealing with 2 problems which if you could only solve one might get me through this sticky phase.

XP's 1st part of the setup goes well [copying files to my 2nd Windows partition, D:].
After the first restart, however, it says: can't find 'hall.dll' in the Windows/system32 folder. When starting up in Vista again, I look for the hall.dll, and this file appears to be in the Windows/system32 folder at both CVista) and DXP) drive!

So I'm not sure why it is complaining about that?

Now my 2nd problem kicks in:
I listed the XP setup as second in the Windows Boot Manager, but my mac keyboard does not seem to respond when the Boot manager window comes up and starts after 7 sec. into Vista again. Weird thing is: sometimes (at random?!) the arrow-down key respons for a split-second, but then the 'enter' does not work, so I'm left to do a hard reset and try again, and again, and again....

If you know how to solve the hall.dll issue, I could list XP as the 1st bootable os, so it will at least finish the XP install.

Thanking you in advance,

Ned