BleepingComputer.com: Installing Windows Xp And Vista On The Same Computer

Hi,

I'm not sure if I am putting this question in the proper forum so I am apologizing ahead of time. I am planning to buy a new laptop that contains the pre-installed Vista OS but some of the older software I use may not be compatible. Is it possible to install Windows XP on that laptop so that I can select which operating system I would like to use before it loads? Also, can Vista be installed on the new Mac laptops?

Thank you for your help. It is greatly appreciated.

Ice

Hello korniceman3000,

Yes, Installing Windows Vista and Windows XP on the same laptop and, Yes it is possible to install Windows Vista on a Mac.

To install a second operating system you need to partition your hard drive. You can use windows built in partitioner or other software of your liking. After partitioned, reboot the computer and enter the BIOS. After that go into boot-up options and make sure that the CD-DVD drive is the first drive to boot from. After that save and exit the BIOS and put the Windows XP CD into your disk drive. You should be prompted to press any button to boot from disk. And their you have it. Format the new partition you created as a NTFS file system and let Windows XP install.

Greetings korniceman3000 and xXAlphaXx,

I hope I can provide some additional insight here regarding the options available
to install both XP and Vista or OS X. If I may first address xXAlphaXx 's scenario,
commonly known as dual booting, is quite involved and cumbersome for the first
timer to this approach. All-be-it, you're here to learn about the process, so in that
manner, let's get into the options.

Dual Booting is the process of booting (starting) one OS or another from the same
piece of hardware (hard drive), by using something called a bootloader (used to
get things going by the boot straps). In order to do this you may have to mess around
with the Bios and/or the Bootloader, which can be problematic.

Another option, Virtualization, is often much easier, especially in the context we're referring
to. Virtualization, allows you to run one Operating System normally (A host) and a second
Operating System (Guest) inside the Host as an application unto itself. The benefit here is
less work, and more productivity. What's even better, you can download the software for this
for free from Microsoft, or several other.

Virtual PC, VirtualBOX, and Parallels (Mac OS X) are all examples of virtual machines (The software
that allows you to run a Guest operating system). All you need to do is choose a Virtual Machine
software that fits your needs and compatible with the Host operating system.

The Tech Saavy user would even go as far as getting a pc with Hardware Virtualization (The ability
to maintain performance in both operating systems). For instance my Dell 1720 with an intel T8300
and hardware virtualization runs Vista and XP perfectly. My old applications run exactly as they should.

Finally, if you run Vista, your XP applications can use something called compatibility mode (Run your
old applications as if XP was installed without a Virtual Machine) Using Compatibility mode works
great for many applications written for XP and is by far the easiest solution (Some Applications simply
won't run in this manner, but the number is quite low.)

If you have questions about how these processes work, don't hesitate to ask us, "google" it, or check it
out on wikipedia.org

Hope this is helpful.

Yes,

Their is also that you can do. I do not really like running an OS inside another so I recommend dual booting but its up too you.

If your going to run an OS within an OS, VMware fusion seems to be the best to me.

Thank you both xXAlphaXx & RandomUser for all your help and information!!! I really appreciated this since I'm not that familiar with operating systems (^__^) and have never used Vista before. Once I purchase the laptop, I'm probably going to try the compatibility mode first since I don't want to mistakenly remove Vista while installing XP because I forgot to partition (^__^). Hope you don't mind me asking but is the Compatibility Mode a setting in Vista or a separate software you need to download?

Once I get the hang of Vista, I'll probably try out both the Dual-Boot method and the Virtual PC. A friend of mine once told me about virtualization and how he runs IE using this to prevent viruses from getting in...

Thanks again,

Ice

Compatibility mode is either a wizard that you use to try and make a program compatible (it's built into Vista), or it's a tab displayed when you select the Properties of a file. Here's a link that explains a bit about it: http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/e...cf5f101033.mspx

Thank you for the info usasma! I'll definitely read up on that.