[William_Wilson]

Installing A Dual Boot with Vista:

*NOTE: the original version included 41 images, due to board limitations I have reduced that number*

You likely have XP installed... If you don't, I would question if your computer is ready for the Vista jump.
Vista System Requirements:
*As listed by Microsoft's Website

if you are an avid computer user you probably have it setup just the way you like it, and you may not be ready to give up your Precious Windows XP for Vista just yet, then this is for you.

Overall Minimum:
-800 MHz processor and 512 MB of system memory
-20 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
-Support for Super VGA graphics
-CD-ROM drive

Suggested Minimum:
Home Basic:
-1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
-512 MB of system memory
-20 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
-Support for DirectX 9 graphics and 32 MB of graphics memory
-DVD-ROM drive
-Audio Output
-Internet Access

Home Premium/Business/Ultimate:
-1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
-1GB MB of system memory
-40 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
-Support for DirectX 9 graphics with:
* WDDM Driver
* 128 MB of graphics memory
* Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware
* 32 bits per pixel
-DVD-ROM drive
-Audio Output
-Internet Access

*I have placed items which are not critical to the installation in italics, but are nice to have for any computer experience

**You can get away with a little less space for the installation, the OS takes about 7.5GB all together, but it is not recommended in most circumstances. If you are installing to a partition or have multiple hard drives, then less space is alright, but you really should have 15+ GB just for your Vista Installation to be safe.


[break = Create Partition]


Choosing a Vista that is right for you:
You will first need to decide which version of Vista is right for you. This can be a tricky choice with cost, performance, and additions to the software eac playing a role, but Microsoft has done a good job of laying out the pros and cons of each version, you can read details on each version or see a side by side comparison.


Once you have decided, and have purchased your software, it's time to get to work. You want to keep your XP in tact, so you chose not to upgrade, but to dual boot your XP and Vista on the same machine, I don't blame you since I did the same thing.

*NOTE: for this explanation I am installing Microsoft Windows Vista Business Edition. I am using the DVD version as well. There are essentially no differences if you are using the 5 CD version, just that you will be swapping discs often.


Step 1 - Partitioning:
I prefer to use Partition Magic, but if you have another partitioning tool you prefer, go ahead, there is a free Partition Magic trial available if you are not familiar with partitioning. The full version is expensive so if you are not constantly using this product this will be enough.

When you run Partition Magic, you will have something like the screen below for your drive (don't worry if yours only has 1 long segment, this is just a comparison)

Before:


-click the image
-from the left hand menu select create a new partition
-click next twice more
*Be sure the new partition will be created after the Partition C:\ where your XP installation is.
-click next again
-click next once more then you will get to choose the size of this partition. (7.5GB - 15GB is your aim)
*NOTE 1GB = 1024MB
-click next
-here you can name your drive anything you want
-click finish

It will now show you what your new drive will look like, before you go ahead with the changes.

After:


-click apply in the bottom left corner and your computer will restart to apply these changes.
-once finished it will then likely restart again, and load into Windows.

WinXP - XP installation
WinVista - Vista installation
* - Linux Ext
* - Swap
XP-Extra - Storage Partition

Now the important things to take from the image of the partition are:
1) It is approximately 15GB
2) It is directly after my XP partition
3) There can be other partitions after Vista, but it is not necessary
*Do not worry about the 2 un-named partitions, they are simply a Linux Ext partition and a swap space. Neither of these are necessary, and they will not affect the installation.

[break = Install Vista]

With your partition successfully created, it's now time to install Vista!
Restart your computer with the Vista CD1 or DVD in your drive. You will be prompted to press a key to boot from cd/dvd, so press a key.
*If this option does not appear, you must go into your bios and change your boot order to include your cd/dvd drive before your hard drive. This can be accomplished by pressing delete or ctrl+alt+esc when the reboot first starts, or the equivalent for your hardware. Most computers will display the correct keys to press on the screen during the first few seconds of booting.

Step 2 - Loading the Setup:
You will then be greated by a boring, but somewhat informative loading screen:


Once the bar reaches all the way across you will have to wait just a little longer, with one of many screens like:


Now to fill out all that information to setup your comptuer.

[break = Information]

Step 3 - Basic Information:
You will be prompted by the language information first:

simply choose the appropriate information for your computer and click next.

Very nicely, the installer now informs you that you are about to install Vista, but don't be fooled, there is much more information to be entered, before that actually happens.

click install now.

...Again you wait:

Product Key time:

enter your key located on the case of your Vista into the field provided. There is no need to enter the - characters, it will add them for you.

Once accepted, you now must agree to the Microsoft License:


Step 4 - Installation Specific Information:
With all the boring stuff out of the way, now comes a few questions specific to your installation.

Install Type:

since I rebooted, upgrade is not an option, especially since the goal is to have XP and Vista in the end.
Choose Custom (Advanced).
Where do you want to install Windows:


Notice how i named the partition WinVista since the Vista installer can read the names of the partitions, this saves me all the work of ensuring the correct partition. Select your soon to be Vista partition and click next.


Step 5 - Installing Files:
There isn't much to do here, but wait
.
..
...

.
..
...

You may even want to take advantage of this time to go do something, you have 15 - 30 minutes to waste here.

Once finished your computer will reboot for the first time:

you can wait the 10 seconds or if you are impatient, click Restart Now


[break = First Boot]


Step 6 - Vista Installation:
For the first time in this installation we finally are (somewhat) without the disc.

The boot screen is lame, i know...

Just as boring is the ever informative first boot screen:


...and the ever popular, please wait:

...but this looks a little more like an operating system at least.

Again the installer essentially lies to you...

we are no where near finished, but hey no reason you can't be optimistic.
*It also warns you about several restarts we've already had 1, and there is only 1 more to look forward to, but perhaps 2 is several.


[break = User Account]


Step 7 - Boot Option:

A sign of progress:

2 options under the boot manager
*Do not change the choice, we have not finished with Vista yet.

Once again our friend the loading bar.

Step 8 - user Account Information:

fill in your information, and click next.


pick a computer name and background image (i've gone with the standard image so that my pictures go together).

Vista is not a perfectly secure package yet, so i suggest choosing the recommended settings for now. The warnings are annyoing, but they slow down once you have isntalled all of your favorite applications.click next

Set your date and time (or don't), click next.

choose your computer's location.

That's it:

Finally the information collection is finished, and the actual installation can be completed!
click next

Step 9 - Finishing Installation:

Just for interests sake:

I like how the progress bar is well into installing even though it was still collecting information. It really has been installing Vista, but this bar is a little misleading about the amount of data collection.

[break = Installation]
You are greated by a Performace Bar:


This step shouldn't take to long 10 - 15 minutes, sit back and watch as MS displays it's Vista features, or again feel free to do something else.

*There are 6 screens here informing you why you chose to install Vista in the first place, similar to the XP installation, I have left them out to limit the image count*


[break = Login]


Step 10 - Login:

Type in your password from before, and press enter or click the arrow.

Vista nicely greets you with a welcome message.


then prepares your desktop.

There you have it!
Vista and XP!
It was a long process, but not a difficult one. Enjoy your dual boot of Vista and XP!

*Total Time for installation: approximately 2 hours (pending your computer and your attention to the installer)



Questions/Comments: [email protected]
-William. § (marvin_gohan)

[tosh]

The info you have given gives me some hope!
I teach computers to seniors (and have several computers for this purpose). These systems are operating with XP but I am finding that as new students arrive (8 every 3 weeks) many of them have now purchased new computers. The new computers are loaded with Vista Basic or Vista Business.
Obviously this gives me a problem in that many students are still using XP. Accordingly I (the seniors association) purchased a Vista Business license so that I could bring all the systems up to date. Alas, I did not know that Vista Upgrades could not be installed alongside XP. What I am learning is that Vista Upgrades will simply overwrite XP files BUT, because I will have a need for both systems for sometime to come, I need to be able to dual boot thus allowing the student to select which OS he/she wants.

A further complication for me is that the Vista came as FOUR cd's marked 1 thru 4. So, it will mean that to install this #@#$#@ I will be visiting all these machines one at a time. As I do this instruction without pay and often have to spend additional time bringing the systems back to a semblance of order after students have been doing things they shouldn't, I am loath to spend more of my own time on this endeavor. The association is a non-profit and designed to assist seniors in quality of life AND if I waste their hard earned money it will not be easy to replace it.

Thus I need help to find a work-around to allow me to use my upgrades in concert with my XP systems and probably advice on how to copy the four Vista CD's to a DVD for ease of installation. The 2, 3rd and 4th Cd's contain only one folder entitled "Sources" so IF I am able to copy this stuff to a DVD I either need to rename the folders on 3 and 4 cd's or just copy the content. Because this is all in Canada I cannot return the Vista package (purchased thru a certified Reseller who had to order from the US who had to send it thru Customs who then had to send it to a Customs Broker who then sent it to the Reseller who eventually got it to me).

All the XP 's are OEM but I have individual cd's for each machine - IF I installed Vista, would I then be able to re-install XP from these cd's and then have the dual boot capability?

Help me please

[William_Wilson]

Since you have a valid key, finding a copy (to borrow or otherwise) of a dvd, would be the easiest solution. Using an upgrade, I would suggest partitioning the drive, install a 2nd copy of XP, and upgrade it, thus leaving the original XP intact.

depending on how many times you have installed XP with the discs before it is an option, the limit is usually somewhere around 6 installs.

The setup should really have a network thus you could do a network install, installing the OS on each drive at once, having it unautomated would allow you to input a seperate key for each computer.

[tosh]

Still in trouble William, I have not been able to put my hands on a retail copy of Vista and I have not been able to download a trial copy of Partition Manager. All the sites I have used - including your link - just have downloads that turn out to be demos. A ouple of times I thought I was lucky but when I got to the end - everything disappeared with the msge that THIS was a demo!!

tosh

[[email protected]]

Help please , i allready have xp installed and then i installed vista with no thinking of that i didnt automatically get the boot options xp / vista, i only get the options to boot vista, it doesnt see my xp installation anymore. how do i fix this?

[William_Wilson]

Are you sure you installed Vista to a separate partition, and not on another drive? Explain your setup more thoroughly please.
Also try looking at the bottom of http://www.dreaminco...wtopic26756.htm
under the section "Step 4 - Edit boot.ini:" and try adding XP manually. Check all your partitions to ensure there actually is another partition with a windows folder on it.

[oskarnoel]

Hello, thank you for this very good tutorial William Wilson
I have a question, I wanna install a reduced version of Windows Vista in a new partition but I dunno if my HD is correct partitioned cause I have an HP_RECOVERY partition before the XP partition and after the XP partition I have the new WinVista partition
Here you have the image:


Thank you

Oh, I sent you an email 2 or 3 days ago, but you didn't answer me so I posted here.

This post has been edited by oskarnoel: 18 February 2008 - 05:42 PM

[killacaravagio]

ok i did all these steps except for the partion part. I have two hard drives one has vista one has xp. I followed all the steps but xp will not start. It gives me a black scrren and an error message. I tried bot tutorials for xp pre installed and vista

This post has been edited by killacaravagio: 02 November 2008 - 12:40 PM

[William_Wilson]

@oskarnoel
Both of your partitions are listed as primary so you should be fine.
*sorry this is really late.

@killacaravagio
You will need to post the error message or I can't help you figure out what's wrong. Also some information on your computer, drives, etc. Is vista/xp the only OSs installed?

[fandew]

Thank you very Mr William Wilson!
I just followed your tutorial.. and its 100% corect...
no problem with booting xp after..
Thanks again.