Can i install Win 7 over Win XP on another partition ??

[raksrules]

I have a netbook (1GB RAM, 160 GB HDD) and i have installed Win XP Pro on C:. I want to try out Win7 and for that i am planning to install it on another partition.

Can i do it easily using a flash drive ???

I should later get a dual boot screen and can login to either XP or Win7 .

Also which was the software which can make a flash drive bootable ??

 

[logistopath]

For the tutorial on how to dual boot XP and 7 with XP installed first:

How to dual boot Windows XP and Windows 7 (XP installed first)

For the tool to make your USB drive bootable with 7 loaded on it:

Microsoft’s Official “Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool” is Back, Download NOW - Tweaking with Vishal

 

[vivek.krishnan]

Link to Microsoft Store for Windows 7 USB/DVD Tool

Microsoft Store: Download Manager Help

Link to download tool http://images2.store.microsoft.com/prod/clustera/framework/w7udt/1.0/en-us/Windows7-USB-DVD-tool.exe

 

[ocizer]

Yes u can ...............but Windows 7 itself uses 1GB of RAM
so it might slow your net book

 

[Sei]

The simplest way to about it is to mount the ISO of windows 7 in Power ISO/ Daemon Tools and run the setup. It will install without any fuss. No need to make the pendrive bootable or anything in this case. Just keep the partition free.

Another thing to note is that Windows 7 over XP will make changes to the MBR. So, if by chance you don't like 7 and want to permanently switch to XP, you will have to either repair the MBR or reinstall XP again.

For installing windows 7, you don't need any software to make it bootable. You can do it yourself using MS's inbuilt software called diskpart in Windows 7.

1. Insert pen drive. Make sure it is detected and is atleast 4GB in size.

2. Open Run

3. Type diskpart.

Note: This will work only on a Windows 7 machine. But this is a foolproof method to get your job done.

4. Type "list disk"

If you have only 1 HDD, then the Disk 0 will be your internal hard disk and Disk 1 will be your pen drive. You can also verify this by looking at the size of both the disks.

5. Type "select disk 2"

This is done considering the fact that your USB is disk 2

6. Type "clean"

7. Type "create partition primary"

8. Type "select partition 1"

9. Type "active"

10. Type "format fs=NTFS".

Now assuming you have the image of Windows 7, you mount it using any tool like PowerISO or Daemon Tools and then copy all the files inside it to the pen drive. Select all and copy it to the pendrive.

Your pendrive is ready now and you can simply start the computer and select USB as the boot option in the BIOS.

As simple as that.

 

[hotshot05]

Another tool using which you can make a Windows 7 bootable pendrive is WinToFlash(WinToFlash - Install Windows from usb - Home page).

If you have the Windows 7 DVD then just choose the DVD drive as Source and the Pendrive as Destination and click Start.
If you have a .iso file of Windows 7 on your harddisk then use Daemon Tools to mount the image to a virtual drive and in WinToFlash, point to that virtual drive as Source and the Pendrive as Destination and click Start.

When the datatransfer process has finished, reboot. Enter your BIOS and choose the pendrive as the 1st Boot Device and reboot after saving the changes.

This time when your netbook reboots, it will boot from the pendrive and the installation of Windows 7 will start.

 

[tech.addict]

Just open the windows 7 ISO with MagicISO or PowerISO in Win XP and extract all the files to a folder. Run the setup directly from Win XP. WIn 7 will boot and win XP bootloader will be lost. You will need Vista Boot Pro or similar software for adding the Windows XP option to the bootloader and dual boot.