Examples

1. Video dual boot install Windows XP and Windows XP

Download demoinstall.wmv (demoinstall.zip). The quality is not the best but you see all required steps. I hope it's useful.

2. Windows XP and Windows Vista dual boot with hidden (cleared) partitions

The goal is to install Windows XP on the first partition and Windows Vista on the second partition. I want that no windows has access to the partition of the other Windows. There should be a third partition that will be used as shared partition. Both Windows have access to this partition.

There are many ways to do this. I will describe one way.

It works only with the MBR installation!

What should be the result

• Windows XP on partition 1
• Windows Vista on partition 2
• A shared partition for both Windows as partition 3
• No Windows has access to the other Windows partition
• Realized with the Plop Boot Manager (hard disk installation)

Basic conditions

• The hard disk is not partitioned
• No boot manager is installed

The description

Install Windows XP

At first install Windows XP. Create with the Windows installer a partition with the size you want. I use a 10GB partition. Install Windows XP on this partition.

Setup Partitions

When you installed your Windows, go to the Disk Management and create a second primary partition for Vista and a third primary partition for the shared data.

Install the boot manager

Now comes the boot manager part. Boot from the boot manager install floppy or CD. Install the boot manager to the hard disk and then reboot.

Configure the Windows XP profile

The boot manager created a profile called "os harddisk 1" to boot Windows XP. It also imported the 3 primary partitions. The names are HDA1, HDA2 and HDA3.

Now go to setup and profiles. Select os harddisk 1. Give it the new label windows xp.

Select linked partitions. Press enter at the first slot of HDA and select HDA1. At the second slot press c to set it to cleared. You can leave the third slot as don't touch or select HDA3. See the difference at configure partition entries.

Configure the Windows Vista profile

Now leave the configuration of Windows XP and go to an empty profile in Profiles. Give it the label windows vista. Set show in main menu to yes. Now select linked partitions. Press at the first slot c to set it to cleared. At the second slot press b to set the boot flag. Press enter and select HDA2. On the third slot choose the same as for windows xp (don't touch or HDA3).

Install Window Vista

Go back to the main menu. Now you see windows xp and windows vista. Move to windows vista and press Enter. This writes the profile settings to the hard disk. The booting will fail, because Vista is not installed. Now boot the Windows Vista install DVD. In the installer you should see at the partitions screen at first an unallocated space (there is xp installed) and 2 primary partitions. Select the first primary partition to install Windows Vista. when the Windows Vista installation has been finished, it's possible, that Vista is booting immediately and the Plop Boot Manager does not come. In this case use Rewrite loader from the Plop Boot Manager install floppy or CD.

Now you should have two bootable Windows on your hard disk and they don't know from each other. You can share data between both with the shared partition.

Windows Vista on the second hard disk

It's similar to the previous description, if you want to install Windows XP on the first hard disk and Windows Vista on the second hard disk. The second hard disk is HDB in the boot manager. So install Windows Vista to the first partition of the second hard disk. Set in the vista profile/linked partitions the first slot of HDB to HDB1 and press b. The boot manager will set the boot flag to 81h. This should be ok for your installation.

3. Dualboot Windows XP and Windows 7

Here are short instructions for a complete new installation of your pc with dualbooting WinXP and Win7. It doesn't matter if you use 32 or 64 bit versions. Take care, all data on your pc will be deleted!

Boot the Win7 install DVD. Remove all partitions from the hard disk. Create a partition for Win7. The install program will create 2 partitions. One with about 80MB for the Win7 boot files and a second partition with the Win7 files. Create an additional partition for WinXP. Now you see 3 partitions. Install Win7 to the second partition. After the Win7 installation is complete, install the Plop Boot Manager. After the Boot Manager installation go to the Boot Manager Setup, then Profiles, then "OS HARDDISK 1". Change the name to "Win7". Go to linked partitions and press enter on the first position of HDA and select HDA1, on the second select HDA2 and on the third press "c" for cleared. Now leave the profile settings for Win7. Use now an empty profile to create the WinXP profile. Give it the name WinXP, visible in main menu "yes". In linked partitions select for HDA on the first position HDA3, press "b" to set the boot flag on the first position. On the second press "c" to set it cleared. On the third press "c" to set it to cleared too. Go to the main menu and press enter on WinXP. You will be not able to boot this partition because XP is not installed currently. If you get the message about invalid boot signature, then press "n" to abort. Now boot the WinXP install CD. You should see now only one partition. Install WinXP there. After the installation completed then start the Plop Boot Manager install CD and use "Rewrite loader". Reboot, the boot manager will tell you about partition changes. Press "y" to import the new values. Now you should be able to boot both systems.

© 2024 by Elmar Hanlhofer