Does anyone have a suggestion for a "simple" easy to install, configure & run a Windows only boot manger software?
I have a need to Boot Win Xp Pro and Win 7 from the same PC several times a week, dual booting would save me 1 PC which I can use elsewhere.
The PC that I wish to use as a Dual Boot unit already has Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit OS installed.
Hardware spec's are: 5 year old P4, 2.8Mhz Hyper thread, 1.5gig DDR2 RAM, 3 IDE hard drives + 1 SATA HD, IDE DVD/CD, AGP 8X Video card with 256MB DDR2.
Any and all suggestions will be appreciated by the old bloke in Tassie.
The easiest way would be to just install them on separate partitions and by default you should get a screen about which one you want to load at start up. The only "boot loader" type programs I know of are the Linux ones but you could probably set them up with windows fairly easily.
The easiest way would be to just install them on separate partitions and by default you should get a screen about which one you want to load at start up. The only "boot loader" type programs I know of are the Linux ones but you could probably set them up with windows fairly easily.
Thank you rridgley & CTskifreak, I shall try the simple separate partition install as I do have 3 physical HD's, however Win 7 is already installed, will this matter?
Your best bet is to put XP on one of your spare hard drives however you must be careful not to corrupt the Windows 7 drive by making the mistake of overwriting it with XP boot loader.
So to be on the safe side I would temporally disconnect the Windows 7 hard drive until you have competed the XP installation.
To dual boot you have 2 possibilities: a) change the drive booting order inside the BIOS setup b) add XP to Windows 7 boot menu using bcdedit.
Installing XP with bcedit can be a little tricky however there is a freeware tool called EasyBCD which simplifies the process.
Thank you Redhawk, I shall take your advice and use BCDedit.
I have visited Neosmart.net forum, read all available info, joined the forum, downloaded EasyBCD build 2.0.0.79 (latest) collected some good info from "Saltgrass" who has completed exactly what I require to do, except he installed build 76. All good info. Re disconnecting the Win 7 HD, a good & basic suggestion, many thanks once again. I shall give it all a go in a couple of weeks, shall report back.
Your best bet is to put XP on one of your spare hard drives however you must be careful not to corrupt the Windows 7 drive by making the mistake of overwriting it with XP boot loader.
So to be on the safe side I would temporally disconnect the Windows 7 hard drive until you have competed the XP installation.
To dual boot you have 2 possibilities: a) change the drive booting order inside the BIOS setup b) add XP to Windows 7 boot menu using bcdedit.
Installing XP with bcedit can be a little tricky however there is a freeware tool called EasyBCD which simplifies the process.
Well redhawk mission completed and all is OK thanks to your advice. Downloaded EasyBCD and notes from "Saltgrass" forum member of Neosmart, who has just completed what I was about to embark upon except using 2.0.0.76, he hit a brickwall when trying to boot his XP Pro OS. I downloaded 2.0.0.79.
As my unit has 3 HD, 1 with Win7 and 1 data and 1 spare, I disconnected the Win 7 HD, (as you suggested) installed XP Pro SP2 (I'll do SP3 tonight), shut down, reconnected Win 7 HD as primary and the XP HD as slave, boot priority CD, HD (Win7), and fired it up.
Once Win 7 was up I installed EasyBCD, performed the configuration, then commenced 4 cold reboots, 2 for Win 7 and 2 for XP.....magic........all works.........I have now installed all of my Apps SW with several reboots, all OK....many thanks.