Dual booting two hard drives windows 7 xp

On some systems, depending on the primary storage controller, We'll then install Vista and use the EasyBCD utility to modify Vista's bootloader to get XP loading properly. Got an old PC knocking about and don't want to throw it away? Here are some amazing ways to repurpose and reuse an old computer. To be honest dual booting is largely a waste of time. Windows 7 is horrible to use but there are times when you would want to test something on it and instead of installing it you can just load XP64 and have the other hard drive have a dynamically expanding Windows 7.

I've come across the link Steve mentioned, earlier and the last step screenshot mentions the use of EasyBCD to tweak the bootloader to your liking. Share Share Tweet Email. Related Topics Answers. MakeUseOf Articles Published. Subscribe to our newsletter Join our newsletter for tech tips, reviews, free ebooks, and exclusive deals! Click here to subscribe. New to Instagram? Ubuntu Running Slow? Windows 7 Installation, Setup, and Deployment.

Sign in to vote. Want to do the following: 1. Have new Sata drive which will be the new Win 7 drive and will transfer file and settings and data from the old win 7 sata drive 2. Will format old win 7 drive and load xp pro Both drives will be installed on the same computer, so question is how to set up as a dual boot?

Thanks To clarify: If I install Win 7 on the new hard drive, disconnect it and then install xp on the old hard drive. Does this require any BIOS settings. Monday, January 11, PM. With Windows 7 on the Disk 0, you will need to edit the Boot Configuration Data file in the root of the Windows 7 installation to add the XP option to the boot menu that displays when you start the computer.

This file does the same job that the Boot. By default, the only way to edit this file in with the BCDedit tool from a command-line. This can be a complex procedure. There is a third party application Free that makes editing this file very easy. Thread starter courtney01 Start date May 24, Joined Nov 25, Messages I found this general instruction online for dual booting from one hard drive.

If the installation goes well, then whenever I boot up my computer I should have the opportunity to choose which OS to run? Nenu [H]ardened. Joined Apr 28, Messages 19, There is a risk that you will not be able to boot either OS if the boot sector gets messed up using that method. This is a more foolproof method: Install Win 7 with only that one drive in the system.

This will then give it separate boot files to XP. Plug in the XP drive again. Dk Gawd. Joined Sep 24, Messages Nenu said:. Click to expand Ok, so if I'm understanding this correctly, it looks like this method keeps the 2 OS's completely isolated? Is there a faster way to choose which OS to boot instead of always needing to go into the bios to pick the boot order?

I don't have any blank dvds at the moment, so is there a way to burn the iso onto multiple cds? Yes, it makes the OS's independent. Just after the POST, you may get an option to select which drive to boot from. It will require you to press F5 or some other key. The DVD must be burnt to one disk unless you want to make your own installer. MrF Gawd. Joined Feb 18, Messages Then, you do not have to do anything to boot to that OS.

Only if you want to boot the other OS, press F12 at boot and choose the other drive. You cannot split the install onto multiple CDs. Then, you can use the same DVD multiple times. TheGamerZ Supreme [H]ardness.

Joined Sep 18, Messages 5, Why dual boot xp and 7 when you can run xp within 7?