Have XP and want to add 10

New to forum


I have an older computer that I put together years ago ( I call mygarage computer) with a Gigabyte GA-73pvm-s2h, E8600 cpu, 4 gb ofram, 2 DL dvd's, 1tb Seagate hd., and 600 watt ps. Video board wentbad recently, so looking for another. The board has HDMI, Gb lan,3gb sata, 2.0 usb + some other stuff. Supports 64 bit.


Anyway it has XP PRO installed and works fine, just running out ofsupport and updates. I bought Windows 10 to install on a seperate1tb drive (wanted to be able to switch between XP and 10). Aftersome research it looks like a lot of Gigabyte mobo,s won't boot fromUSB even though they are supposed to. Made an ISO disc and thatdosen't work either. Keep getting “invalid partition” something. So then I put the XP hd back in to see if Windows 10 would boot, noluck ( XP still works fine).


My goal is to have 2 seperate hd's (1tb each). Need to have dualboot, one with Xp and all its related programs which I already haveand one with Windows 10. Done research but only seem to find bits andpieces of info. My current XP drive has 4 partitions C 127gb, F126gb, G 73gb, H 603gb.


My questions are
Is this doable?
Do I need easybcd or is there another way to tell it to boot fromXP or 10.
How can I install Windows 10....and tell it to install on the 2^nd hd. Could be drive J, M, S, Y, etc?
Does Windows 10 format the new drive?
I'm sure I'll have more questions.


Thanks
Mike

Do you have a DVD-R or DVD-RW drive? Burn a Windows 10 DVD from ISO file downloaded with either Media Creation Tool or from Tech Bench:
Windows 10 ISO Download - Windows 10 Forums

Here's one program that will burn the DVD:
https://cdburnerxp.se/

Disconnect the Windows XP HDD, and connect only the new 1 TB hard drive, boot the computer from the Windows 10 DVD. Install Windows 10 to the new 1 TB drive. Once that is done, connect the Windows XP drive as the second hard drive.

From a Command Prompt (Admin) accessed by right clicking on the start icon, run:

bcdboot E:\Windows /d /addlast

The drive letter in red is the driver letter that Windows 10 gives to the Windows XP HDD after you connect it.

Thanks NavyLCDR.
Both drives are RW
I'll give it a try.

DesertMike said:

Thanks NavyLCDR.
Both drives are RW
I'll give it a try.

Hi there

I'd suggest possibly a better option.

Why not "Virtualise" your XP system and run that as a VM. Then you don't have to worry about Dual booting and you can just run the XP stuff whenever you want as well.

It's probably more secure too as you could isolate it from the Net --do all your net stuff on W10.
Sharing files is simple too. Use simple networking (Bridged/NAT/Host only).

You can Virtualise your XP machine quite easily without having to re-install XP -- simply download VMWARE CONVERTER (Free) and use it from your running XP machine.

You can share data between the VM and HOST (W10) by using standard file sharing and networking.

BTW take a backup of your existing XP machine first.
VMWARE player is FREE - use that as the VM software.

I'm still running an XP VM - I've got a professional Minidisc recorder on it, some old negative scanner hardware, Vinyl cutting machine for creating Vinyl records (we used to call them LP's and 45's but I think people call them "Albums" these days - Album in my time was a stamp collection album or a set of books !!), Studio software recording applications , and an HP blue print architectural drawing /plotter machine. All this hardware runs 100% on an XP VM running in VMWARE.

My own view is that unless you absolutely have to - for example some Games might not run properly - although even that is improving with latest releases of vmware / vbox software then skip the whole idea of dual booting.

Note if your old machine is a 32 bit machine you'll have to download an earlier release of vmware player than the current one as the new stuff is all 64 bit. If your machine is 64 bit capable then there's nothing to stop you running 32 bit VM's on it.

Cheers
jimbo

Shhh.....Shhhhhhh....calm down jimbo , "(we used to call them LP's and 45's but I think people call them "Albums" these days - Album in my time was a stamp collection album or a set of books !!)" , go take your pipe and slippers , here is some horlicks and a pack of worthers orignials , go sit and have a snooze...you know how you get if you don't have your mid-afternoon snooze....Shhhhhhh...there there....

Wullail said:

Shhh.....Shhhhhhh....calm down jimbo , "(we used to call them LP's and 45's but I think people call them "Albums" these days - Album in my time was a stamp collection album or a set of books !!)" , go take your pipe and slippers , here is some horlicks and a pack of worthers orignials , go sit and have a snooze...you know how you get if you don't have your mid-afternoon snooze....Shhhhhhh...there there....

Hi there.

@Wullail
Afternoons --prefer a nice Glass of Single Malt Scotch or some Beer (or both !!).

I have loads of youngsters who want me to cut some Vinyls for them --getting quite a profitable business -- I was ready a while ago to junk this stuff - but it's producing a nice income stream as I'm getting ready for cutting down hours on my "Usual" type of work. !!!! The new stuff is hideously expensive though and the hardware I have runs just fine on the XP VM so I'll keep using that until I have to replace it.

The most difficult bit was sourcing Blank Vinyls -- now fixed from a nice Factory in Taiwan -- quality is good and Blanks are cheap --did have problem Importing first time though --Customs thought I was trying to make some sort of "Illegal" device !"!!!!!!

Cheers
jimbo

It's amazing what the latest version of bios does. Did that and now everything is bootable. Still have some gremlins trying to install 10 but with a little time I think I'll get it.

cdburnerxp works great.

Got 10 installed. Had to do several times but up and working.