Windows 10 & XP dual boot. Best way?

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  1. Posts : 258
    Windows 10 (Home Ed.)
    Thread Starter
       #31

    Sorry I've read that a couple of times, but I can't quite follow the logic. To recap (is this what you are saying?):

    1. Unplug all drives apart from the SSD. Upgrade the Win7 to Win10
    2. Unplug all drives apart from one HDD., which will have the XP O/S. Install XP to that drive
    3. Plug the SSD, with Win10, back in, leaving the HDD with WinXP connected
    4. Do the clean install of Win10
    5. Reconnect any other HDDs

    The confusion is you say at the start, "The first step will be unplugging the drives leaving only the SSD plugged in for the upgrade over 7!" but later "The idea is to first see the older Windows go on first to the intended drive" ..

    So are the above 5 steps how it should be?

    Won't I need EasyBCD to get a boot menu?
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  2. Posts : 11,247
    Windows / Linux : Arch Linux
       #32

    Hi there

    WHY double boot XP.

    Run XP as a Virtual Machine (VMWARE player / VBOX -both Free). Simple --easy -just start the Virtual machine as a normal program.

    An XP VM requires MINIMAL resources on a W10 Host.

    I run a VINYL cutting record studio successfully on a Windows XP virtual machine together with a load of legacy hardware -- absolutely NO dual boot needed.

    (My XP VM will be around for a long while yet --it's outlasted my W7 system !!!).

    Cheers
    jimbo
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 3,367
    W10 Pro x64/W7 Ultimate x64 dual boot main - W11 Triple Boot Pending
       #33

    We're already covered all that! jimbo45

    Can you post back a screen of the Disk Management tool? martinlest Once you unplug the SSD for the XP install you will want tthe XP installer to see that drive as Disk #0 first in the boot order to avoid the mbr being written on the wrong drive. By isolation you insure that the XP drive will be able to boot on it's own as well as seeing the boot files end up in the right place.

    With 10 if you have anything "But" another OS drive plugged in the boot files and temp install folders will end up in the wrong places preventing the upgrade. So once you have XP installed the only other drive you will plugged in will be the SSD when going to see the upgrade and afterwards the clean install of 10 so that 10 sees the XP drive and adds a boot entry in.

    If you end up manually needing to see the XP boot entry added in with the EasyBCD tool refer to the XP dual boot guide at Neosmart there which will outline how to add the new boot entry for XP into the BCD store which is the same seen on Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 as it is for 10. You will want the latest version of that utility program however so it will run on 10 without seeing any compatibility issues. The version just prior to the latest will also work while going back two versions will run into problems.

    The technique is simple. The older always goes on first apart from the newer which will then add the older in as a boot option. Generally this is how it works when seeing the newer version installed last. If the older goes on last that will overwrite the newer version's boot information when all drives are plugged in at the same time and why the best move is to isolate the XP drive as well as keep the other drives unplugged until 10 sees the clean install.
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  4. Posts : 258
    Windows 10 (Home Ed.)
    Thread Starter
       #34

    I'll post again when I am at the PC and working on it - may be a couple of weeks. I think I need to start trying stuff out, once the data is all backed up it won't matter if there are failures initially, I've nothing to lose.. I can even give the VM a go, just to test things out.

    Thanks again for the help
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  5. Posts : 1,366
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       #35

    That's another big positive with VMs. If something goes wrong, you aren't going to corrupt your OS install.
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  6. Posts : 258
    Windows 10 (Home Ed.)
    Thread Starter
       #36

    If I could get full hardware support I wouldn't hesitate to go down the VM route.. I may try it out even so, as I say. It's easy enough to erase the partition and start again.

    Why can't I have Win XP as the host and Win 10 as the VM O/S (or has that already been answered?). It's XP I need to run the hardware..
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  7. Posts : 1,366
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       #37

    You could, but there may not be XP drivers available for the system, especially if it's something recent.

    What hardware do you have that works with XP but not 10?
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  8. Posts : 11,247
    Windows / Linux : Arch Linux
       #38

    Hi there

    although you CAN also run a 64 bit GUEST (I.e VM) on a 32 bit host - you have the restrictions of max 4GB RAM etc etc. You also as others have said need NATIVE drivers on the HOST to be able to access some of the newer hardware.

    To run a 64 bit VM on a 32 bit HOST you need the CPU VM features to be enabled (if you are using an older machine).
    You in theory don't actually need a 64 bit CPU although you will in practice as the VT technology required will only exist on 64 bit CPU's.

    You CAN run fairly simply though a W10 32 bit guest on an XP Host (if you are bonkers enough to try it). Securiy and networking on the HOST (XP) machine will be limited though.

    Cheers
    jimbo
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 258
    Windows 10 (Home Ed.)
    Thread Starter
       #39

    ... both my o/s are 64-bit - it's all in the previous posts here
    Last edited by martinlest; 02 Sep 2015 at 12:28.
      My Computers


  10. Posts : 258
    Windows 10 (Home Ed.)
    Thread Starter
       #40

    DeaconFrost said:
    What hardware do you have that works with XP but not 10?
    As far as I've understood it here, that's not the issue. None, is the answer, but people say the drivers XP may not work when XP is the guest O/S. Without VM there'd be no driver issues.
      My Computers


 

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