Running dual operating systems

[Calaber]

OK you geeks. Can two separate operating systems be run on one pc at the same time, perhaps by installing one on the pc hard drive and the second on an external hard drive?

In particular, Vista and Windows XP.

The pc has Vista, but I have programs which won't run on Vista but operate well on XP. Updates to enable them to operate on Vista don't appear to be available.

Can I install the XP on a 160gb external HD, then load those programs on the same drive and expect them to operate through the Vista on the pc?

[GetToDaChopa]

You can install 2 operating systems and then just choose which one you would like to boot into. As for the last request if i understand it correctly, you can't install programs on the external HDD while in XP and then boot into Vista and expect them to work.

In some cases you might want to consider running a virtual machine with XP on it.

[Calaber]

You can install 2 operating systems and then just choose which one you would like to boot into. As for the last request if i understand it correctly, you can't install programs on the external HDD while in XP and then boot into Vista and expect them to work.

In some cases you might want to consider running a virtual machine with XP on it.

I've been told that Vista clashes with earlier versions of Windows in some way. If I loaded XP onto the pc hard drive, can you forsee any problems, and how do I select which OS I want to use?

[SV62NV]

I've been told that Vista clashes with earlier versions of Windows in some way. If I loaded XP onto the pc hard drive, can you forsee any problems, and how do I select which OS I want to use?

you can also create another partition with this program called partition magic, then you have one partition which is for xp, another for vista, and possibly another one for everything else, so it appears you have 3 drives but your just sharing around your solo one in the machine

Shane

[GetToDaChopa]

Best way is to always start from scratch when installing 2 OS's. But what you need to do as mentioned above is to partition your drive and then install the XP on the second partition that you have created. When you boot the computer there will be a choise of which one to boot into.

This should help you out too: Linky

[D-Man]

best way to run dual OS (without having 2 pc's) is to have a Virtual PC.this means that you can turn on and off the OS as you see fit and not need to restart all the time to get to the other OS.

this means. have your base OS as the one you will use the most. start the VPC program (this in effect starts a second computer within your computer) have two screens would be easiest and then you can have the two running at the same time,one on left screen and one on right screen with the VPC in window mode.

YouTube Howto - YouTube - How to Set Up and Use Virtual PC
one site for more info - VMware Player: Run Multiple Operating Systems with Free Download for a Virtual PC
(those guys also have a free test for 30 days you can download to check how your system responds and so forth with it.)
windows website for more info again - Windows Virtual PC: Home Page
inside this wiki you will find a table on what is compatible with what OS - Microsoft Virtual PC - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

shared HDD, shared ram etc,
you can have the ram set to what you like aswell for instance, you have 8gb ram, 4096mb (exactly half) for one and 4096mb for the other)

when the Virtual PC isnt running your base system has 8192mb ram.

[VXdarkmagic]

As has been mentioned your best option would be a virtual PC (using software like VMWare) as you already have Vista installed. You could partition it, and try to setup a dual boot OS setup, but the MBR (master boot record) won't pick up XP properly and so you won't be able to boot your second OS because you already have Vista installed. With a Virtual PC, you just boot up the operating system from a disk image on your hard drive using software installed on Vista.

[Grennan]

Yeah Virtual PC is a good program to use. I play a couple of older games which run horrible on Vista and a lot of my clan mates swear by it.

[cdtoaster]

make 2 partitions on the hdd, install xp first then install vista. vista will pick up the xp installation and add it to the boot menu as mentioned. i wouldnt run xp in virtual pc, sounds a bit silly. any program designed for xp will run on vista. id only run virtual pc for older apps which needs win9x. win2000, xp and vista are all based off a winnt kernel anyway arnt they. its not like win9x/me where DOS was still present on the system

[holdensupporter2005]

Try How to dual boot Vista and XP (with Vista installed first) -- the step-by-step guide with screenshots
a good guide to installing xp on a vista pc.

[GetToDaChopa]

Try How to dual boot Vista and XP (with Vista installed first) -- the step-by-step guide with screenshots
a good guide to installing xp on a vista pc.

Dude that's the same link that i've posted above

[AntBoy1979]

Virtualising is definately the way to go.
I run XP Pro 64bit edition as my primary OS.
Then run XP Pro, VISTA Home Premium, UBUNTU, Mandriva, and several other linux distros.
I can run 3 Virtual machines at the same time at near full speed.
It allows you to switch between OS' instantly without rebooting.
The absolutely best part is that you can save the state of a VM and reboot it almost instantly, so if you leave the primary operating system bare, your machine will boot quicker, then starting VMWare and loading a saved state only takes a couple of seconds! It's not as quick as using a solid state HDD, but it's a HELL of a lot quicker than waiting for Vista by itself to boot up and load all the programs one aquires over the years!

You can also take an image of your current OS and turn it into a VM so you don't lose everything.

[danja]

VM's are great, but make sure you invest in a reasonable amount of RAM, because you're basically sharing it between 2 (or more) computers. Low RAM is the surest way to make your computer feel like a 486 again...

[AntBoy1979]

Yes, I forgot to mention that.
The reason I run XP Pro 64bit is so I can utilise 8g of ram to share between the VM's.
If you use a 32bit operating system as your primary you can only utilise 4G of ram even if you have 8G, it's just a limitation with 32bit software.

[GetToDaChopa]

Yes, I forgot to mention that.
The reason I run XP Pro 64bit is so I can utilise 8g of ram to share between the VM's.
If you use a 32bit operating system as your primary you can only utilise 4G of ram even if you have 8G, it's just a limitation with 32bit software.

3g of ram is the max on 32bit

[AntBoy1979]

No, it is 4G.
Windows will address 4G
but you will end up with somewhere around 3G usable after windows takes it's share and dedicates some to the GPU. Or something to that effect.
When I was running 32bit XP with 2G It said I had 2G, but when I installed another 2G it said I only had 2.8G!
After spending nearly $200 on the extra ram I was a bit pissed off and decided to google it. Many many theories and bullshit answers later I came across a site that explained it was an XP limitation and not a 32bit limitation. there are tweaks that will allow XP to show the 4G total ram, but you still only have the 3g, or in my case 2.8G left to use.

[holdensupporter2005]

Dude that's the same link that i've posted above

My Bad, You'd hidden the link