Dual boot XP/Windows 7?

[Arctucas]

I need a little help, please.

I would like to try the Windows 7 BETA, but I do not have a spare machine.

Can I partition my nVidia RAID 0+1 (596GB) and install a dual boot XP/Windows 7 setup?

If so, detailed instructions, or link to where I could find instructions, would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

 

[kenkickr]

If your partition is full you'll need a utility like Gparted, Diskeeper, or even Norton Ghost to make the partition smaller. I know with Gparted and Norton Ghost you'll boot from a CD but the way these two work is very different. With Gparted you will not need another HD and once you boot from the Gparted disk you can adjust the partition size. Norton Ghost is best done with a HD that is a little bit bigger than your current partition attached to your system. Once you boot from the Ghost disk you'll want to ghost your current drive to the attached drive. After that is done you'll again boot from the Ghost disk but this time your ghosting from the HD you attached to your original HD. Before ghosting you should get a screen that will show you the old and new partition sizes. Within this screen you can adjust the partition table sizes so you can make room for the Windows 7 install. Once you have ghosted, boot from your Win7 disk and you should get to a point that shows "unallocated size" which basically means there is no partition table and that would be what you want to install Win7 to.

I like Norton Ghost better because you get the security that if something fucks up you have a 100% image of your drive so you just start over again til you get it right.

 

[kid41212003]

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/beta-installation-instructions.aspx

If you already have another existing partition with enough free space and want to install the Windows 7 Beta on that partition to create a multiboot configuration, select the partition you want to use, and then click Next to begin the installation. (Be sure to install the Beta on a different partition from where your current version of Windows is installed.)

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/8572be9b-8580-49f7-9719-b3a4c42749fe1033.mspx

I did exactly like the instructions.

I have XP and Vista installed on my system. I created a new partition with Disk Management in Windows Vista, formated it with NTFS, then I insert the Windows 7 Disk, click Install, and choose to install on the partition that I just created.

And, I did backup my whole system before I do this too.

 

[Arctucas]

Thanks guys, now what about a boot manager?

 

[kid41212003]

You don't need to touch the boot file. Just install it, and it will show up along with other Windows.

I just rechecked my XP, and I noticed that it doesn't work. It let me choose Windows Xp, but it just restarted the computer after that.

Only Vista and 7 worked....

 

[Darth_Pewee]

i myself used Vista Boot pro it does work in Windows 7 just install windows 7 on your new partition that you make and then get that program and it works flawless.

 

[ooiman92]

How do you partition a hard drive? i want to know sow, so i can dual boot too.

 

[Darth_Pewee]

How do you partition a hard drive? i want to know sow, so i can dual boot too.

i use a program called Partition Magic, program is quite self explanatory