Dual booting...Which way to go?

[stinger608]

Okay, I am going to set up a dual boot system with some older parts.

It will be running Windows XP and Windows 7.

What does everyone think is the best way to start? Put XP on first, or put Windows 7 on first? And why?

There is a bazillion articles regarding this dual boot configuration on the net and some say one way and others say the other way.

I have to wonder if makes and difference at all.

I know disk management in Windows 7 is a lot better for making partitions on hard drives. Not that I will do that. I will probably partition the drive prior to even loading either operating system.

Just want some thoughts and any experience at that dual boot configuration.

Thanks in advance,
Stinger

 

[newtekie1]

XP first then 7. Windows 7 knows to look for XP and setup the boot loader to give you the option to boot from either. Windows XP on the other hand has no clue to look for Windows 7, so setting up the bootloader is a pain in the ass if you install XP after 7.

 

[eidairaman1]

my question is- why do you need windows XP?

Read this for your information, does wonders

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/8057-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-xp.html

 

[stinger608]

Thanks Tekie! That is kind of what I was thinking as well. I dual booted a system several years ago and it seemed like it was a real pain in the ass after installing 7.

 

[stinger608]

my question is- why do you need windows XP?

Nostalgic box/old games.

 

[GLD]

I tried to dual boot XP Pro and Win 7. I fubared it real bad. I had to reformat after that. I gave up on that and got a hdd selector and currently have 3 hdd's in my system. One for Win 7, one for XP, and a storage drive. They only get powered on when you select them. This is the better way to go, IMO. I have this ORICO 4 drive switch like this one.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ORICO-HD-PW...A%2BFICS%2BUFI&otn=21&pmod=161018726110&ps=54

 

[eidairaman1]

read my previous post above on how to do it from the horses mouth, Also you need a older card to support some of those games properly iirc.

id honestly have 2 hdds for separate os, (both os not on same drive) I would also not make the XP drive web capable

 

[stinger608]

read my previous post above on how to do it from the horses mouth, Also you need a older card to support some of those games properly iirc.

id honestly have 2 hdds for separate os, (both os not on same drive) I would also not make the XP drive web capable

Having two drives would probably be the best scenario for sure.

Hmm, why wouldn't you make "the XP drive web capable?"

 

[eidairaman1]

considering Microsoft discontinued support for XP in security updates- its best to leave it as a dummy terminal/arcade os

 

[stinger608]

I suppose you do make a good point Eidairaman. Of course it will still have to access the net to do all the up to date windows updates. But after doing that it probably would be best to not allow net access.

 

[CJCerny]

Why not just single boot to Win 7 Pro and use the built in XP virtual machine?

 

[stinger608]

Why not just single boot to Win 7 Pro and use the built in XP virtual machine?

Because the video card capability is awful! You can't use your installed video card(s)....

 

[GLD]

Why not just single boot to Win 7 Pro and use the built in XP virtual machine?

Have you tried the XP virtual Machine? I did. It didn't work at all like you would think. It was unusable to run XP era games for me.

 

[eidairaman1]

its because of the way the hardware is accessed- software has to translate twice to make it work, by the way I hope your video card still supports Windows XP as of drivers too

 

[newtekie1]

I suppose you do make a good point Eidairaman. Of course it will still have to access the net to do all the up to date windows updates. But after doing that it probably would be best to not allow net access.

Having the XP machine on the net isn't a big deal as long as you are behind a router and don't use it to browse the web.

 

[kn00tcn]

what's wrong with browsing the web... dont have leaky plugins & dont run obscure exes without checking them, it's the same motto for not needing to run an antivirus (i sure dont)

 

[GLD]

April 8, 2014. Is the end of support for the beloved XP really that close?

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/lifecycle

 

[XSI]

I remember one good sentence: every one who wants to get to your computer already did....
So I don't see big problems with security updates or end of support for xp. they still will work don't they that's the point

 

[newtekie1]

what's wrong with browsing the web... dont have leaky plugins & dont run obscure exes without checking them, it's the same motto for not needing to run an antivirus (i sure dont)

I remember one good sentence: every one who wants to get to your computer already did....
So I don't see big problems with security updates or end of support for xp. they still will work don't they that's the point

The issue is malware embedded in websites. They will find more holes in XP that won't be patched, and even just the act of visiting a webpage will be enough to infect your computer with a virus. Yahoo just had a big issue with this, their ad provider was putting up malware infected ads on yahoo's sites and it was infecting a lot of people that went there, and some of the malware specifically targeted security holes in XP.

 

[kn00tcn]

but how do you target XP security holes across multiple browsers?

yes i've heard of java exploits, in fact i've been hit by one on vista but that was my fault for not updating java (& leaving it enabled in browser, i wasnt visiting java enabled sites in the first place, only use standalone apps like minecraft or jdownloader)

flash? acrobat? there are plenty of tricks in modern browsers that let you have whitelists or adblockers, if there's a virus coming through these, then it would be wise for the virus maker to additionally have vista/7/8 malware coming in as well

 

[newtekie1]

Vista/7/8 security is way different from XP. To start with the browsers in Vista/7/8 aren't run with administrative permissions by default, while every browser is run with administrative privileges in XP. There are just so many exploitable security holes in XP it is ridiculous. Even Microsoft admits XP is to insecure to bother with attempting to use a more secure browser.

 

[AsRock]

In the past i have done it like newtekie1 said and the other way is to install each OS on each drive having one drive installed a time and when the bios options pop up you select from the boot which one you want to run.

 

[newtekie1]

In the past i have done it like newtekie1 said and the other way is to install each OS on each drive having one drive installed a time and when the bios options pop up you select from the boot which one you want to run.

Yep, you can do it that way too.

 

[stinger608]

I am kind of up in the air about the whole damn XP crap anyhow. XP has been having known issues with tons of people across the net!

I have some older games that I really, really would like to play again and a couple of them barely are able to run on XP! The old original Need For Speed Porsche Unleashed for example is one. Hell, it was built to run on Windows 98!

Running Windows XP as a virtual machine is out of the question!

I thought about just running Windows 7 and using DoxBox, but some of the later games that were built during Windows XP will not run under DosBox or Windows 7. Kind of a catch 22 I guess.
I wish they would build a damn virtual machine that allows one to use the current video card in a system! Then a person could install Windows XP VM and Windows 98SE VM and utilize ones current video card.

So yea, I am totally up in the air on this and haven't done a damn thing yet. I haven't installed anything in this system and don't quite know were I want to go from here.

 

[newtekie1]

Have you looked into VMWare Player? It does support at least some DX9/OpenGL hardware acceleration. It won't give you anywhere near the full use of your graphics card, but for the old games that need XP to run you don't need full use of a modern graphics card.