Installing XP Over Vista, got a dual boot screen but XP does not load now

raksrules

Elite
I know this question must have been asked million of times on this forum and i suppose there are tutorials on the same available. But before jumping into the well, i want to get clarifications so i don't mess up things when i attempt the install.

PS: I don't want to remove Vista but want to have XP along with Vista installed with Vista pre installed.

1. I have a Toshiba Satellite L300D-01N laptop with 32 bit Vista Home Premium installed on it. It has AMD Athlon X2 Dual Core QL-60 1.90 Ghz processor and SATA drive (i suppose). Heres the link for the full config:

Toshiba Canada - mobile computing - notebooks - satellite notebooks - Satellite L300

Can i install windows XP over this pre-installed Vista ?

Will i need to use the Shrink volume utility in Vista to create a partition for XP ?

2. Will i encounter issues while i boot my machine using a Windows XP bootable CD, like HDD not found for install, etc ?

3. If yes then how do i rectify this issue without minimum effort? I suppose doing something in BIOS will be of help but am not sure. I also know something about slip streaming the SATA drivers and creating a new bootable XP CD but i want to avoid it.

4. Suppose i am able to install Windows XP properly, I expect not being able to boot into Vista again at this point (as per whatever i have read on the net till now). In this case i need to install EASYBCD in XP to rectify this issue so i get a dual boot screen at startup for booting into either of the OSes. Am i correct ?

5. Should i face any issues while using EasyBCD like the Vista Boot partition not found or any other unexpected problem? I mean i don't want to get stuck at a point of no return and render the laptop useless.

6. The laptop did not come with any vista CD but has a hidden partition which will be helpful for Vista recovery (dont know how to use it though). I have created a 2 DVD Vista recovery disc using Toshiba's inbuilt recovery disc creator software. Will it be helpful incase i screw up things.

7. What about the drivers that are needed for XP (if any) to interface with the available hardware in my laptop ? How to be certain that the installed XP will work flawlessly on the laptop ?

I have tried to be as much point blank as possible with my questions. Please let me know if any more information is needed. :)
 
Someone will definitely help you with what you need to do to make sure you dont get the weird message saying: SATA HDD not detectable etc"

I suggest you to format whole hard drive and create 2 partitions.

1) 20GB for your OS (Vista OR XP)

2) 2nd partition for ALL DATA.

Most companies like Dell, HP etc have a huge "C" drive and a small partition of "recovery".

If u have a huge C drive whatever you store in the C drive (my documents, my music and desktop etc) will be formatted if you re-install you OS again, hence making a small 20GB partition for OS is very good. No data loss bla bla....

Its a one time solution, only problem is you will have to back-up all data in a seperate hdd. borrow from friend etc.
 
All said and done, my opinion is that you have to format the hdd by xp bootable cd and make 2 partitions of whatever size you want for the OS's.

Then for a proper functioning install xp first and then install vista, however about your creating a recovery dvd of vista I oubt that you will be able to install vista through it, altough there are methods available on the net which guide you to create a fresh install dvd of vista through the recovery disk....

first find out what version of xp you have any version post xp sp2 will not have issues with sata disks..

then get back to us here...
 
Then you HAVE TO FORMAT WHOLE HARD DRIVE and create 3 partitions, 20gb XP 20gb vista and rest for your data. If you dont have VISTA DVD then arrange it from somewhere. If you cant arrange then forget it, you cant XCP OVER Vista.
rak007 said:
I want to install XP over Vista. I mean i don't want to remove Vista at all.
 
You dont have to format whole drive you can use stuff like acronis to re size your vista partition and free up some space. you don't even need a separate partition to store data. Both vista and xp an see each others partition without any special configuration. Just make a new partition with acronis and install xp in it normally the u hae to follow some steps to get xp to boot from vista boot loader. This is done by using you vista disk to recover vista boot loader and then booting into it to add an entry in it for xp and you are set to go.
 
^ this is the more complicated way. OP wont be able to do it i can bet.

Formatting is easier but will take time for sure.
 
Will try to explain in detail about your queries..

1. Installing XP alongside a previously installed Vista is very much possible.. I was using my laptop that way for several months..

2. Regarding partitioning, I would advise you to use the Disk Management utility in Vista, and shrink the existing Vista partition to as much as you can.. In the remaining space, partition 10GB or so for XP OS and the rest according to how you see beneficial..

3. It is likely that the XP setup does not recognize your SATA HDD.. In that case, there are 2 options - one, as you have mentioned, slipstream and create a new XP CD. The 2nd is more easier... just disable SATA support (or AHCI if this cannot be found) in your BIOS, restart the system, and install XP. However, with the 2nd method, you lose features of SATA, and the HDD behaves like a IDE drive.. I'm not sure how much this is going to affect performance, but I haven't been able to notice any change at all.. :)
There is a 3rd option also.. you can have the SATA drivers ready in a pen drive or external floppy drive, and use it when XP setup asks whether you want to add any third party drivers.. I am not sure about this..
Once you do this, you are ready to proceed with the XP installation..

4. When XP setup asks you whether to format or not, opt for installing in an existing partition (the 10GB part you had created thro Vista)

5. After installation of XP and reboot, you will initially be able to only boot into XP.. Vista will not be identified initially. To get Vista in a dual boot menu, install easyBCD and follow the details given in the apcmag article.. (the site also has an arrticle on how to install XP after Vista -- am too lazy to search and post the link now.. :p )

6. At any point if you feel you are stuck and want to restore the laptop to the factory settings (single partition with Vista OS only), use the recovery discs given..

7. About drivers for XP, Google it.. You are bound to find drivers definitely. :)

Enjoy..
 
As per my previous post

http://www.techenclave.com/operating-systems/installing-windows-xp-pro-over-vista-122620.html

regarding installing windows XP over windows Vista, i was able to successfully. But now i facing another issue. Here's what all i have done till now

PS: I already had Vista pre installed on the laptop and now was trying to install windows XP professional on it on a different partition.

1. I already had a installation of Windows XP Pro on a DVD. I used nlite to create an ISO file with Windows XP SP3 slipstreamed it in and burned a bootable CD out of it

2. I used this bootable CD to install windows XP on a 6 GB partition available on the HDD.

3. Now as expected i was only able boot into windows XP.

4. I installed EasyBCD in XP and registered a new OS as "Windows XP Professional" and set its boot drive as E: (thats where XP is installed).

5. Then clicked on WRITE MBR.

6. Restarted the laptop to get a dual boot screen as expected. Now here i am able to boot into Vista but cannot do the same into XP (was able to boot into XP before this WRITE MBR thing happened)

Here's a picture of what the screen shows like when i select windows XP on the boot screen.



What is the problem and how to rectify it ?
 
Where is the picture?

What I want to know is what was the drive letter where you installed xp?

what is the current boot file reading in vista? paste that here.
 
rak007 said:
As per my previous post

http://www.techenclave.com/operating-systems/installing-windows-xp-pro-over-vista-122620.html

regarding installing windows XP over windows Vista, i was able to successfully. But now i facing another issue. Here's what all i have done till now

PS: I already had Vista pre installed on the laptop and now was trying to install windows XP professional on it on a different partition.

1. I already had a installation of Windows XP Pro on a DVD. I used nlite to create an ISO file with Windows XP SP3 slipstreamed it in and burned a bootable CD out of it

2. I used this bootable CD to install windows XP on a 6 GB partition available on the HDD.

3. Now as expected i was only able boot into windows XP.

4. I installed EasyBCD in XP and registered a new OS as "Windows XP Professional" and set its boot drive as E: (thats where XP is installed).

5. Then clicked on WRITE MBR.

6. Restarted the laptop to get a dual boot screen as expected. Now here i am able to boot into Vista but cannot do the same into XP (was able to boot into XP before this WRITE MBR thing happened)

Here's a picture of what the screen shows like when i select windows XP on the boot screen.



What is the problem and how to rectify it ?

:D You still have a few more simple steps to complete..

Now you will have to install easyBCD in Vista. Then, open easyBCD in Vista and follow these steps in the given order:

1. Click on the Manage Bootloader tab, and on the right hand side, select Reinstall the Vista Bootloader, and then click on Write MBR.

2. Now click on the Add/Remove Entries tab.. On the right hand side, under Add an entry, click on Windows tab, and under the Type dropdown menu, select Windows NT/2k/XP/2k3, give it a suitable name, and select the drive in which XP is installed. Finally click on Add Entry button which is seen in the bottom right corner.

3. Lastly, click on Change Settings tab, select the default OS and OS menu timeout according to your needs and save changes..

4. Reboot.. Its done..!
 
hp-india said:
:D You still have a few more simple steps to complete..

Now you will have to install easyBCD in Vista. Then, open easyBCD in Vista and follow these steps in the given order:

1. Click on the Manage Bootloader tab, and on the right hand side, select Reinstall the Vista Bootloader, and then click on Write MBR.

2. Now click on the Add/Remove Entries tab.. On the right hand side, under Add an entry, click on Windows tab, and under the Type dropdown menu, select Windows NT/2k/XP/2k3, give it a suitable name, and select the drive in which XP is installed. Finally click on Add Entry button which is seen in the bottom right corner.

3. Lastly, click on Change Settings tab, select the default OS and OS menu timeout according to your needs and save changes..

4. Reboot.. Its done..!

I installed EasyBCD in vista as u said and it is saying i have two entries of OSes. The XP one shows that it is installed on D: (this is correct as per Vista because my machine has 4 partitions, one 134 GB on C: where vista is installed, another 6.4 GB D: where XP is installed and another 6.5 GB which is hidden by default and it does not show up in my computer but shows up under computer management. There is another one of 1.46 GB, the purpose of which is unknown to me). Here is a screenshot


But when i had initiated windows XP installation it showed me that it will be installed on E: :huh:
But i still went ahead with the installation since it showed only two drives C: (134GB) and E: (6.4GB) as NTFS and others as not file system.
So now i installed EasyBCD in XP and it showed me only one OS as Windows Vista installed on C: (which is correct), so i made another entry of Windows XP and gave it drive as E: (because i was in XP and had only two drives C and E visible with XP being installed in E: )
So in effect i think, Vista refers a drive as D: which XP referred as E: for some strange reason. :no:

I cannot put any screenies from XP since i am not able to boot at all into it.:mad:
 
broar94 said:
Check your msconfig boot options. Add your boot path and scan the entries with msconfig. It should detect properly :)

I did MSCONFIG in Vista and under the boot tab it has only one entry as Vista with text "Current OS; Default OS" written along with it.
 
@Rak: Go ahead with rewriting the Vista MBR and the other steps I mentioned earlier.. When adding entry for XP, choose drive C itself as the drive for it.. Dunno why or how, but it works this way..

And according to your partition table, the 1.46GB one is the Recovery partition that is hidden.. This is useful when you want to restore the system to factory settings as I mentioned earlier.. However, since you have a set of recovery discs too, you can safely delete this partition and use up the space, if you are willing to do so. The other partition of 6.33GB is still not formatted.. Thro the same disk management utility, format it as NTFS partition and use it.. :)
 
^^I am not sure if that 1.46 GB is recovery partition because when i created the recovery discs it asked for two 4.7GB DVDs and it used most of the space on both of them.
 
hp-india said:
@Rak: Go ahead with rewriting the Vista MBR and the other steps I mentioned earlier.. When adding entry for XP, choose drive C itself as the drive for it.. Dunno why or how, but it works this way..
:)

What an idea sirjee !!!!
Dont know how but it worked for me as well. Now i am able be seamlessly boot into both the OSes. Thanks a TON !!!!
:thanx: :hap2: :cheers: :yahoo:
One small issue but, i think there is a problem with display in XP. I mean the display appears stretched and i notice lag when i minimize or maximize windows. Even the mouse movements sometimes feel a bit lagging :no:
 
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