BleepingComputer.com: Dual Booting

hi guys,

im (hopefully) getting a new computer soon, which i want to dual boot. I know it's possible to dual boot vista and xp (http://www.pro-networks.org/forum/about88231.html).

however, I have some more OSs i want to DB:

Windows NT
Windows 2000 Pro
Windows XP
Windows Vista.


is it possible to DB ALL of them?

thxs!!

Yes it's possible, but it'll entail separating them, each on their own partition - then using a boot manager to access them.

I'd suggest installing NT first, then 2000 (to see if 2000 auto-detects the NT installation) - if not, let us know and we can work through this. XP will notice the 2000 installation, and Vista will notice the XP boot loader.

How to dual-boot Vista with XP - step-by-step guide with screenshots

but if Win NT detects Win 2000, and Win 2000 detects Win XP, will I not be able to install a clean install onto a partion?

I think you should be able to do it, it sounds to be a pain, though.
Have you considered through emulation like VMWare or Virtual PC instead of all of that multiboot?

It depends upon where the Operating System files are stored - they may be overwritten by the next one that you install. The boot sector may also be overwritten, preventing access to what you've installed earlier. Overall a VM (plenty of free choices) will work the best.

FYI - Virutal PC 2007 isn't available for Vista Basic, Home, and Home Premium - Only for Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate.

Yes, I have Virtual PC right now, but I would like to DB (when i get a new comp).

So should it be like, C Drive=Win Vista, D Drive=Win XP, E=Win 2000, and F= Win NT, or something like that?

and do u know any free, good boot managers for my purpose? thxs.

The Vista boot manager will work just fine unless you want something fancier. There's also several utilities to make using it easier.
Here's some links about it:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/ind...st&p=436714
http://www.pro-networks.org/forum/post-580...85df3d19778e44f
http://www.pro-networks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=74101
http://www.multibooters.co.uk/multiboot.html
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/En-US/library/aa906211.aspx

can anyone give me a kind of, more or less, "step-by-step" tutorial, on which OS i should start installing, then how to take it from there?

btw when i get my new comp (hopefully soon), i'll probably be starting from stratch from the HD.

thxs.

Hi, funnytim, did you manage to you the step by step tutorial note on installing a second operating system on your computer? if yes, can share with me cause I have a latpop with vista and I want to add on window xp. thanks!

Partition the hard drives so you've got 4 partitions to install OS's on
Install NT (to the first partition)
Install 2000 (to the 2nd partition) and watch to see if it detects NT - if not, don't install without coming back for more instructions
Install XP (to the 3rd partition) - watch to see that it recognized both NT and 2000 - if not, don't install without coming back here for more directions
Install Vista (to the 4th partition)

OS installs with Windows generally rely on installing the oldest one first. The next version is "supposed" to discover the older version during installation - but I haven't worked with NT or 2000 in quite a while.

An alternative would be to install all of the OS's in a Virtual Machine (there's a lot of free one's out there) and then you can run each without having to reboot or repartition your drives. I currently run XP and Home Server in VM's on my Vista Ultimate system.

how should i partion the HD before I install?

and to my_footprints, u can use the website http://www.pro-networks.org/forum/about88231.html

This depends upon the use you intend to put the system to - the largest partitions will be those that hold the most data, but this will also be influenced by the newness of the OS (newer OS's take more space than the older one's).

You can partition the hard drive as many different ways as you want to. I'd suggest investing in a good partition management tool to help with changing partitions as needed (I don't use a freeware program, so I can't recommend one of those. I use Acronis Disk Director which costs about $50 US).

You'll need a minimum of 4 partitions (1 for each OS) and you may want other partitions for programs and data, maybe even one for backups.

So....im pretty sure i need to make ~4-6 partitions before i install a OS rit? can Acronis Disk Director boot from CD (w/ no OS installed yet)?

Almost any boot disk can partition your drives before formatting (I don't know if Acronis Disk Director will do this from a boot disk - I've never had occasion to try it (my copies are all downloads, not bootable media). I'd suggest using a Win98 boot disk to partition with FDISK - then, when you go to install the OS's you can convert them to NTFS. I don't know of any other utilities for this, although other members may have some suggestions.