Dual Booting 2 Different Windows....

[dusty550]

Today I was thinking of Dual Booting Windows XP Pro and Windows Vista (AKA Longhorn) Beta. I already have XP Pro Setup (for years now) and I wantted to try Vista on another partition using Partition Magic to make a new one. Making another Partition off of my Secondary Drive is no problem (I have 2 partitions on my Main Drive and 1 on my secondary [160 gb] drive).

If I were to make a new partition on my secondary and install vista on it, would it effect my XP and How will it boot into Vista or does it automatically edit my boot.ini.

Ive already tested Vista in a Virtual PC but thats way to slow and I wantted to test it out at full speed.

Thanks.

[justabitcrazee]

Windows has a built in bootloader, So When you install Vista Windows will create a bootloaded which asks you What you want to boot into when you reboot you computer. If You have problems with that, Use Windows Recovery (On your Xp CD) and it will fix your boot.ini

On a Personal note, I now have a Tri-boot system (Windows Xp, Unbuntu Linux and Windows Vista (Codename Longhorn).

Windows Vista is very nice, With a good video card mind you. Its very "visual" but the functionality is virtually the same (With the few exceptions). Network sharing is sorta funky. I can See my network drives from Vista, but they cant see mine from Windows XP, unless they have a password and login (Which i have Yet to figure out)

Anyways, Hopefully this will be somewhat helpful. Windows Should see that theres another OS anyways, and will make a bootloader for it.

[dusty550]

Vista can load Files from my other partitions right, like mp3's. Visually i know it looks nice, but what would be a good size for a vista partition?

And what about Driver Compatiblity? Like for my Videocard Drivers, Keyboard Drivers (since its multimedia), Motherboard chipset + audio, etc...

And my hardware is 32-bit and ill be using the 32-bit vista

[dusty550]

Can anyone answer my question, i really want to get this going i just need 2 know the size i should make the partition, will all my drivers be compatible (all mine are XP/2003 Compatible)

[smirnoff]

must be over 10 gigs or vista wont install.

20 is fine but its a waste of time its a empty os at this moment with out much new.

[Bluvertigo]

And what about Driver Compatiblity? Like for my Videocard Drivers,...

Nvidia & ATI new alpha drivers which support Windows Vista beta 1:

nVidia's Vista ForceWare
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/nVIDIA_ForceWare_Drivers_for_Windows_Vista/950852325/4

ATI's Vista Catalysts
https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&questionID=19933

[dusty550]

Perfect, But would my Asus Drivers (chipset and sound) work?

[dusty550]

Okay, Now i really need help... I have Vista installed, Works GREAT and fast. BUT now I cant install my Chipset drivers or my soundcard drivers, The videocard drivers installed flawlessly... I mainly need my soundcard drivers because its an onboard one. The installer just says its an unsupported OS and wont install. My Motherboard is Asus P4P800S the Soundcard onboard uses SoundMax and it is called (according to my manual) ADI AD1888 SoundMAX6-channel audio CODEC support S/PDIF out interface

My chipset says: Intel 848P MCH
Intel ICH5

[Mike]

right click on the installer file, choose properties, click the compatibility tab, check the box that says "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" Under the dropdown menu choose Windows XP. However, audio support is not complete in Vista yet so you may run into a few problems which should be fixed in Beta 2. Some drivers may not install at all. I was lucky that all of my drivers worked but it took some work to get them installed.

[dusty550]

Well all i really need is the drivers for is Mp3's, MSN, WoW, And some other small things. But ill try that in a few minutes, Im just finishing donwloading something then ill reboot into vista. But i think Vista works pretty well right now, It just takes some getting used to with the new interface.

Thanks, XP compatiblilty got my chipset installed and my soundworks, but only the basics. Now Ive tried installing my Microsoft Mutlimedia Keyboard using the latest drivers for XP from their site (no Vista drivers as far as i know) i set its compatiblity to XP but where you select which keyboard you have in the install it doesnt show the dropdown box.

Update: Winamp works for my mp3's :) all i had to do was select my soundcard in the config.

Update Again: Sound when first install, then reset, then sound works somewhat with an error of no drivers for ADI device, next reset of longhorn sound wont work, it just forgets its their.