Thread: Duel Boot XP & Vista

"REDWAGON" wrote:
>I understand how to set up a duel boot on my computer for XP (SP2)
> and the new Vista OS. What I would like to know is if I no longer
> want Vista on the computer after I have done this, how can I delete
> Vista from the duel boot and just have XP as the only OS ?? OR--
> if I decide to just want Vista and not XP, what should be done ??
>
> Details: Installed XP first, Vista 2nd.
> Duel boot has been set up with XP on one individual hard drive
> and Vista on a completely separate hard drive.
> Both OS's are retail versions, not OEM


Here's my best guess until saner minds prevail:

You want to repair the MBR of the HD containing XP, and maybe
the boot sector of the active partition. FIXMBR and FIXBOOT
in the XP Recovery Console should do these for you.

*TimDaniels*

There's a chance that nothing has to be done for the
HD that contains XP. It may be that the boot logic
on the Vista HD treats the XP HD as a mono-boot.
and just passes control to the MBR on the XP HD.
You can find this out by just disconnecting the Vista
HD, hitting the Start button, and seeing if XP boots
up.

As for changes in the Vista HD, you can either just
ignore the XP choice in the boot menu, or inquire
at microsoft.pulbic.windows.vista.installation_setup
on how to change a dual-boot Vista to a mono-boot.

With both OSes mono-booting, you can select which
one boots by changing the boot priority of their
respective HDs in the BIOS.

*TimDaniels*

Thanks Timothy for the information and suggestions. The reason I was wanting
to know was if I didn't want one or another of the OS's that was on that
particular single HD, I could remove it and format the drive and use it for a
BU drive or slave drive along with the one I was using for the boot OS.

I had thought about using the MBR commands but wasn't sure which one to
change or what the changes would actually be.

"Timothy Daniels" wrote:

> There's a chance that nothing has to be done for the
> HD that contains XP. It may be that the boot logic
> on the Vista HD treats the XP HD as a mono-boot.
> and just passes control to the MBR on the XP HD.
> You can find this out by just disconnecting the Vista
> HD, hitting the Start button, and seeing if XP boots
> up.
>
> As for changes in the Vista HD, you can either just
> ignore the XP choice in the boot menu, or inquire
> at microsoft.pulbic.windows.vista.installation_setup
> on how to change a dual-boot Vista to a mono-boot.
>
> With both OSes mono-booting, you can select which
> one boots by changing the boot priority of their
> respective HDs in the BIOS.
>
> *TimDaniels*
>

I don't know what "MBR commands" are. Maybe you
mean BIOS settings? In any event, removing a dual boot
entry in a Vista loader's dual-boot menu should be
covered in the Vista NG. Here in the XP NGs, it would
help to list the contents of the top level of the HD containing
XP to see if it still contains ntldr, boot.ini, and ntdetect.com.
If those are still there even though Vista was installed
after XP, we'd know a lot. Would you post the contents
of the top level of that HD, and if boot.ini is there, would
you post the contents of that, too?

*TimDaniels*

"REDWAGON" wrote:
> I had thought about using the MBR commands but
> wasn't sure which one to change or what the changes
> would actually be.
>
> "Timothy Daniels" wrote:
>
>> There's a chance that nothing has to be done for the
>> HD that contains XP. It may be that the boot logic
>> on the Vista HD treats the XP HD as a mono-boot.
>> and just passes control to the MBR on the XP HD.
>> You can find this out by just disconnecting the Vista
>> HD, hitting the Start button, and seeing if XP boots
>> up.
>>
>> As for changes in the Vista HD, you can either just
>> ignore the XP choice in the boot menu, or inquire
>> at microsoft.pulbic.windows.vista.installation_setup
>> on how to change a dual-boot Vista to a mono-boot.
>>
>> With both OSes mono-booting, you can select which
>> one boots by changing the boot priority of their
>> respective HDs in the BIOS.
>>
>> *TimDaniels*
>>

You don't say how you got the dual boot.
Did you install Vista and Vista created the dual boot?

If yes, Vista has put its boot files on the XP drive (C).
To use XP, you would have to repair the XP boot files.
Probably a repair install.

If you wanted to keep Vista, Vista will have to be on D and its boot files
on C.
I don't know if you can put the Vista boot files on D and have Vista still
boot saying it is on D.
--
Ronald Sommer

"REDWAGON" <REDWAGON@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:CADB6337-218B-4248-A84F-D8008A3E8983@microsoft.com...
: Thanks Timothy for the information and suggestions. The reason I was
wanting
: to know was if I didn't want one or another of the OS's that was on that
: particular single HD, I could remove it and format the drive and use it
for a
: BU drive or slave drive along with the one I was using for the boot OS.
:
: I had thought about using the MBR commands but wasn't sure which one to
: change or what the changes would actually be.
:
: "Timothy Daniels" wrote:
:
: > There's a chance that nothing has to be done for the
: > HD that contains XP. It may be that the boot logic
: > on the Vista HD treats the XP HD as a mono-boot.
: > and just passes control to the MBR on the XP HD.
: > You can find this out by just disconnecting the Vista
: > HD, hitting the Start button, and seeing if XP boots
: > up.
: >
: > As for changes in the Vista HD, you can either just
: > ignore the XP choice in the boot menu, or inquire
: > at microsoft.pulbic.windows.vista.installation_setup
: > on how to change a dual-boot Vista to a mono-boot.
: >
: > With both OSes mono-booting, you can select which
: > one boots by changing the boot priority of their
: > respective HDs in the BIOS.
: >
: > *TimDaniels*
: >

I am not at the step in the new computer build Timothy. I am still trying to
get all my ducks in a row before I start installing the two OS's on the
computer once it's been built. till then I'm just getting all the information
I can about how to correctly install both XP and VIsta on my new computer and
in a "duel boot" configuration so when the computer boots I will have a
choice of which OS I want to boot.

"Timothy Daniels" wrote:

> I don't know what "MBR commands" are. Maybe you
> mean BIOS settings? In any event, removing a dual boot
> entry in a Vista loader's dual-boot menu should be
> covered in the Vista NG. Here in the XP NGs, it would
> help to list the contents of the top level of the HD containing
> XP to see if it still contains ntldr, boot.ini, and ntdetect.com.
> If those are still there even though Vista was installed
> after XP, we'd know a lot. Would you post the contents
> of the top level of that HD, and if boot.ini is there, would
> you post the contents of that, too?
>
> *TimDaniels*
>
> "REDWAGON" wrote:
> > I had thought about using the MBR commands but
> > wasn't sure which one to change or what the changes
> > would actually be.
> >
> > "Timothy Daniels" wrote:
> >
> >> There's a chance that nothing has to be done for the
> >> HD that contains XP. It may be that the boot logic
> >> on the Vista HD treats the XP HD as a mono-boot.
> >> and just passes control to the MBR on the XP HD.
> >> You can find this out by just disconnecting the Vista
> >> HD, hitting the Start button, and seeing if XP boots
> >> up.
> >>
> >> As for changes in the Vista HD, you can either just
> >> ignore the XP choice in the boot menu, or inquire
> >> at microsoft.pulbic.windows.vista.installation_setup
> >> on how to change a dual-boot Vista to a mono-boot.
> >>
> >> With both OSes mono-booting, you can select which
> >> one boots by changing the boot priority of their
> >> respective HDs in the BIOS.
> >>
> >> *TimDaniels*
> >>
>

"REDWAGON" wrote:
> I am not at the step in the new computer build Timothy.
> I am still trying to get all my ducks in a row before I start
> installing the two OS's on the computer once it's been built.
> till then I'm just getting all the information I can about how
> to correctly install both XP and VIsta on my new computer
> and in a "duel boot" configuration so when the computer
> boots I will have a choice of which OS I want to boot.


Then save yourself some agony and set up each OS
independently as a mono-boot. Just install each OS
on its own isolated HD (i.e. with the other HD discon-
nected). Then, with both HDs connected, enter the
BIOS during startup and select which HD gets control
at boot time. That selection will last until you decide
to boot the other OS or until the lithium battery on the
motherboard gives out. The running OS will call its
own partition "C:", and it will call the partition on the
other HD "D:" (providing that there are no other partitions).
This will not cause any problems as long as you don't
create any shortcuts that refer to other partitions (since
the other partitions' names will change).

By using the BIOS to determine which OS boots, you
save yourself having to locate, pay for, download, install,
and learn how to use a 3rd-party boot manager, and
you save yourself the hassle of returning one or the
other OS to a mono-boot mode in the event you decide
to dump one or the other OS. The downside, of course,
is that you need one HD per OS to use the BIOS technique
for multi-booting. There has been some mentions in these
NGs to Vista "colliding" with earlier Windows OSes " if you
use System Restore when both OSes can see each other,
but it eludes *me* as to how they wouldn't "collide" if they
were being dual-booted and they could see each other.

*TimDaniels*