Re: xywrite Digest V5 #80

[Jon P xywrite4@xxxxxxxx]

I would love to have good old XP running on my much faster Win7 computer but your procedure seems...so to speak..complicated.

You can also capitulate to Win7 and use XP Mode  within Win7.  It's not
perfect--occasional hiccups in response time--but it's not bad. You have to save a copy of files to
Win7 in order to print/send them--I have a macro for that. 

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/install-and-use-windows-xp-mode-in-windows-7


Jon Pareles 


------------------------------

From: "Kari Eveli" 
Subject: Windows 7 and XP dual boot
Date: Wed, 4 Sep 2013 13:46:01 +0300

Hi,

As Windows XP's end-of-life is nearing, I started to look more closely into Windows 7. I would still
like to run XP as long as I can with an option to switch to Windows 7 if it becomes absolutely
necessary. Towards this end I am building a dual-boot machine based on an HP Z400. When moving from
Win2K, I had a dual-boot system (XP, Win2K, (and Linux) ), and that proved to be a good way to
switch. Now then, when faced with the task of building a dual-boot Win7 and XP machine, I found that
it is much more difficult to accomplish. The problem lies with Win7's taking over the boot process.
I used GRUB Classic to double-boot XP and Win2K. Win7 and GRUB do not make a good match. The HP Z400
had Win7 preinstalled with separate SYSTEM and BOOT parttions, XP does not understand these. There
are drive letter problems with XP when installing. To overcome these, here is how I proceeded (by
trial and error) and finally succeeded in doing this:

1) I backed up the entire hard disk containing a Win7 install to an external location. This being a new system, I did not have licensed software (normally I use Acronis TrueImage), and I found these tools to do the backup: REDO Backup and Recovery (http://redobackup.org/) and Hiren's BootCD (http://www.hirensbootcd.org/ (download) and http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd (discussion) ). Hiren's BootCD has a copy of Seagate DiscWizard (a version of Acronis) which runs on the HP Z400 even though a downloaded version of the program does not think the HP-labeled Seagate disk is a Seagate at all.

2) I hid the Win7 partitions (system and boot = c:) and made room for XP on the hard disk by
preparing an empty primary active NTFS partition. You can accomplish this by using GParted (on the
Hiren's disk) or Acronis Disk Director 11 (version 10 does not understand Win7).

3) I installed XP. The system is XP only now.

4) To double-boot, I installed MasterBooter 3.5.
ISO image for burning at: http://www.megalab.it/file/473
Complete and verbose instruction from this Italian site:
http://www.megalab.it/4115/dual-boot-installare-windows-xp-vista-e-windows-7-sullo-stesso-pc-nel-modo-corretto
This account does not deal with the system partion, so I had to figure it out myself.

5) MasterBooter 3.5 is configured as follows: restart from the CD, wait till you have a DOS command
prompt, run "mrbooter", select the 3 partions with following labels:
1) Windows7 (=system)
2) ******** (= boot Win7 = C: )
3) WindowsXP
Make the hiding mask for respective partitions as follows:
1) 001 = win7 system
2) 001 = win7 boot = C:
3) 110 = win xp = C:
(0 = show, 1 = hide)
Use 1 and 3 for starting systems.

Please note that MasterBooter writes over Win7 MBR. The restore it, use Easy BCD, BCD Deployment, Install Win7 bootloader to MBR. (https://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/#comparison download a free personal edition).

At this point everything should be working. The operating systems are completely separate as with
GRUB. If you want to graduate from dual boot to single boot, it is easy: restore an XP image to an
empty disk to have XP, install Win7 bootloader to MBR and delete XP to have only Win7.

Best regards,

Kari Eveli
LEXITEC Book Publishing (Finland)
lexitec@xxxxxxxxxx

*** Lexitec Online ***
Lexitec in English: http://www.lexitec.fi/english.html
Home page in Finnish: http://www.lexitec.fi/



------------------------------

Date: Wed, 4 Sep 2013 08:52:06 -0700 (PDT)
From: J R FOX 
Subject: Re: Windows 7 and XP dual boot

Kari Eveli wrote:

At this point everything should be working. The operating systems are
completely separate as with GRUB. If you want to graduate from dual boot to single boot, it is easy:
restore an XP image to an empty disk to
have XP, install Win7 bootloader to MBR and delete XP to have only Win7.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you've found a method that worked for you, I'm glad.  Previously, I tried a couple different
ways to have such a dual boot -- on a couple different systems (laptops) -- and in fairly short
order got corruption and annihilation.  At this point, I don't recall which of the two did
worse damage to the other, but it was a disaster.
(I had gotten to being reasonably effective with standard tools like the Acronis programs, and knew
that because of things like GPT  --even if you stick to non-jumbo HDDs and do not use it --
using up to date versions of Acronis is essential.)

I had also made dual boots with Win-7 and eCS on two laptops.  Success there should be more
readily achievable, although the latter had changed its boot loader over to Airboot.  Long
story short, only one of these two still boots on each machine -- a different OS, in each case --
even though I know that the other one is still present, and hopefully may yet be revived, should I
find the time to work on this.  But I think it remains a very perilous endeavor.  Win-7
does not like to play nice with another OS.


  Jordan

------------------------------

From: "Kari Eveli" 
Subject: Re: Windows 7 and XP dual boot
Date: Wed, 4 Sep 2013 19:57:17 +0300

>Win-7 does not like to play nice with another OS.

You are quite right there. This is a repetition of what Microsoft tried with OS/2 when Win95 was
published. Now Win7 is made to reject Linux boot loaders, and this is why I did not even try a GRUB
setup. While Win7 is capable of dual-booting Win7 and XP, this setup has problems:

1) It can destroy Win7 restore points
see: http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/127417-system-restore-points-stop-xp-dual-boot-delete.html

2) If one installs XP after Win7 without hiding, one cannot get a C drive for XP, which is not what
I wanted.

My conclusion is that one has to make two separate systems that do not see each other. Following the
procedure I described you can get a stable system, but be sure to perform a drive backup before
experimenting and prepare all the utility CDs before going any further. Install Easy BCD in Win7
before proceeding to XP install.

IMPORTANT:
If you want to use Masterbooter, you should keep Win7 Easy BCD configured as follows: In Edit Boot
Menu have only one entry, namely Windows 7 and enable "Skip the boot menu" radio button.
In the BCD Deployment, MBR Configuration Option use only the "Install the Win7 bootloader to
the MBR" option to restore normal Win7. Never the Install XP MBR option. Use Masterbooter CD to
restore dual boot. Use a partion image to restore XP. It is important to follow these guidelines to
the letter, otherwise you may end up with an unbootable system, in which case you can make good use
of the drive backup. I had to restore my system several times before getting it to work.

I think it is wise to install Win7 first and XP afterwards. When you eventually delete XP first
restoring the Win7 bootloader from a Win7 session, you are left with a Win7 system that needs no
fixing. Doing it the other way round, you might end up in trouble.

Best regards,

Kari Eveli
LEXITEC Book Publishing (Finland)
lexitec@xxxxxxxxxx

*** Lexitec Online ***
Lexitec in English http//www.lexitec.fi/english.html
Home page in Finnish http//www.lexitec.fi/