Dual Boot with EasyBCD XP & Windows 7

[Tasgandy]

"Redhawk" was responsible for suggesting that I use EasyBCD for this exercise given that I had an existing Win 7 OS installed and wanted to install XP Pro on the same box. He also suggested that I disconnect the Win 7 HD so as to NOT corrupt the Win 7 drive by overwriting it with XP boot loader. I wish to not only thank Redhawk for his advice but also assure others that my wish to dual boot XP from an existing Win 7 PC not be shy about using a great little piece of FREE software.....EasyBCD.

 

As my PC had several physical HD's (Win 7 OS installed on disc 0 - "C") I cleaned off and formatted drive "D" (disc 1) first then powered down. Disc 3 was also disconnected. This PC is a 5 year old Gigabyte P4, 2.8Ghz, 1.5gig RAM - all HD's IDE and 1 SATA DVD/CD, every day AGP 8X VC.

 

I then physically disconnected disc 0 (master) and connected up disc 1 (changed from slave to master) and proceeded to boot and install XP Pro SP2, then update to SP3, install Avast 5.0, all Piriform SW, Macrium Reflect (free version), MS Office 2000 (yes a very old legal copy - only installed Word & XL which is all I need on this XP dual boot box), FireFox 3.6 & Mozilla Thunderbird. Run Defraggler & CCleaner, then power down.

 

Swap disc 0 and disc 1 (master & slave over), boot up Win 7 (fingers crossed), all OK. Install EasyBCD and configure (took all of 10 minutes), went for the big test "RESTART".

 

Well I'll be..........................there it was, I was presented with the promised outcome, I was to choose "Windows 7" OR "XP Pro", I then proceeded to boot Win 7 the primary OS, I then tested and re tested booting into XP then back to Win 7, several times, running SW and connecting to the internet, send and recieve e-mails, and to date no issues or problems at all. My dual boot XP / Win 7 has been up now and working for some 48 hours. Under a Win 7 boot (drive 0 & "C") the XP Pro named drive 1 - still appears as "D" drive. Both physical HD's are partitioned 50/50 so that System & Apps on 1 partition and Data on the 2nd partition on each HD.

 

All I need to do now is to perform a Macrium Reflect Back-up for both OS's, create CD rescue disc for each OS and test them. I feel sure I will not have a problem.

 

So given my first use of EasyBCD software and the above process from "go to wo" only taking about 3 hours whith many cups of coffee during the process I have no hesitation in recommending EasyBCD for a Dual Boot system.

 

PS: EasyBCD is available from Neosmart Technologies

[hazelnut]

Tasgandy great write up.

 

I am becoming concerned about your coffee intake though

[eFeM]

I installed Windows XP Mode/Virual PC (free for Win 7 Prof./Enterprise/Ultimate) from Microsoft to create Virtual XP-machines.

No more (dual) re-boots and no XP-licences required. (Although I also have a dual-boot Vista/Win 7 on my PC).

Just perfect!

[Tasgandy]

I installed Windows XP Mode/Virual PC (free for Win 7 Prof./Enterprise/Ultimate) from Microsoft to create Virtual XP-machines.

No more (dual) re-boots and no XP-licences required. (Although I also have a dual-boot Vista/Win 7 on my PC).

Just perfect!

Yes eFeM you are correct, however for those who do not have Win 7 Professional, Ultimate or Enterprise could consider EasyBCD.

 

PS: on my dual boot Win 7 (primary) and XP Pro unit I have just installed "sandboxie" on the XP Pro...run Returnil on the Win 7.......best of both worlds for my testing environment.

[eFeM]

Yes eFeM you are correct, however for those who do not have Win 7 Professional, Ultimate or Enterprise could consider EasyBCD.

 

PS: on my dual boot Win 7 (primary) and XP Pro unit I have just installed "sandboxie" on the XP Pro...run Returnil on the Win 7.......best of both worlds for my testing environment.

 

Sounds quite safe

I have been using EasyBCD on my Vista Pro unit for some time now. A very usable piece of software!

Have you tried Macrium Reflect yet?

I used to work with Acronis but as Macrium Reflect is free and has a much nicer interface I switched.

Acronis now runs on a virtual XP machine to be able to read old Acronis backup images.

[Tasgandy]

Sounds quite safe

I have been using EasyBCD on my Vista Pro unit for some time now. A very usable piece of software!

Have you tried Macrium Reflect yet?

I used to work with Acronis but as Macrium Reflect is free and has a much nicer interface I switched.

Acronis now runs on a virtual XP machine to be able to read old Acronis backup images.

Yes I am a keen user of Macrium Reflect (recommend it when ever the occasion arises) indeed just this afternoon I had occasion to restore the 23gig image of my XP Pro on my recently build Win 7 / XP Pro Dual boot PC. This restore only took some 12 minutes in total and I was back up and running.

 

I have also since tested the Win 7 restore just to make sure the other half of the equation works as it should and it did.

 

Re "Windows XP mode Virtual PC" that you spoke of, I'm told unfortunately will not install on XP Pro, however "Microsoft Virtual PC 2007" is still a good backstop, although I by-passed it last time for Sun Virtual-box which is a excellent piece of software, almost every bit as good as vmware.

[eFeM]

Yes I am a keen user of Macrium Reflect (recommend it when ever the occasion arises) indeed just this afternoon I had occasion to restore the 23gig image of my XP Pro on my recently build Win 7 / XP Pro Dual boot PC. This restore only took some 12 minutes in total and I was back up and running.

 

I have also since tested the Win 7 restore just to make sure the other half of the equation works as it should and it did.

 

Re "Windows XP mode Virtual PC" that you spoke of, I'm told unfortunately will not install on XP Pro, however "Microsoft Virtual PC 2007" is still a good backstop, although I by-passed it last time for Sun Virtual-box which is a excellent piece of software, almost every bit as good as vmware.

 

I installed Virtual-box and indeed it is an excellent piece of software! Thanks for mentioning it!

I was able to install and activate a XP-pro license from an old obsolete 1800+ AMD-machine and I am quite happy with this solution.

Bye, bye Windows XP-mode