Dual Boot XP and 7

[maiki]

If I want to start fresh on a new HD, and install dual-boot XP and Win 7 on it, what is the best way to do it. Of course, first to create partitions for each OS. How large should those be, for the OSes? (I assume one would put programs and documents on yet another partition.)

I already have xp Pro CD. I guess I would buy the win 7 upgrade. (I already have the Win 7 RC candidate DVD, but never installed it. Would that work as good as the commercial upgrade?)

Which OS should be installed first?

In installing the win 7 upgrade, it would want to see a previous version of Windows. If XP were installed first, and then I installed 7 on a different partition, would the 7 upgrade program recognize the XP installed on a separate partition?

In installing apps afterwards, should I install them separately for each OS, or in one location (on neither of the system partitions), where they can be used from either?

Thanks for the input.

[Black Viper]

You cannot use a dual boot configuration with an upgrade product as it either deletes the previous install or overwrites it.
This is per the EULA.
If you have full versions of said products, then you can multiboot as much as you desire and I am planning on a guide for that in the real near future.

[maiki]

You cannot use a dual boot configuration with an upgrade product as it either deletes the previous install or overwrites it.
This is per the EULA.
If you have full versions of said products, then you can multiboot as much as you desire and I am planning on a guide for that in the real near future.

What if then, one installs XP, let's 7 overwrite it in the same partition, and later installs XP in a separate partition?

I doubt many folks are buying the full version of 7.

What about the RC? Is it inferior to the final released version?

[maiki]

PS

I once had two installations of XP on the same computer, dual-boot. In that case not even separate partitions, but two separate Windows folders, \Windows and \Windows2, on the same partition.

I recall, in installing the second installation, the setup program told me that Windows was already installed--did I want to overwrite it, or create a separate installation? I chose the latter.

Has this changed with W7 (perhaps with Vista as well), so that an upgrade DVD will only overwrite the current OS?

[MARX91]

What if then, one installs XP, let's 7 overwrite it in the same partition, and later installs XP in a separate partition?

If you wanna try it.. install xp first then install it again on the second partition and up grade that to win7, if you do the upgrade first then install xp
it will write over the win 7 bootloader( thats the way it was with vista anyway) i think you'll have better results with the full version of 7

[maiki]

Anyone here actually set up dual-boot xp and 7?

If so, how?

[maiki]

I should mention  too, that as a teacher I can purchase the upgrade version of win 7 pro for $40. There is no academic version AFAIK of the full version, so that would cost $300 for pro, not sure how much for home premium. I'm not at all sure that's worth it to me. I don't even know if I'll like w7, that is why I want to do a dual-boot with xp.

For the $40, it's worth it to me to buy a w7 disk and try it out, dual-boot with xp. Not for $300.

As said, I already have a DVD for the RC version, downloaded months ago, and not yet installed. I guess I could also try out w7 that way, but not sure if it would have more bugs than the final version, and if it would stop working at some time.

Also, if I wait too long, the $40 academic special for the pro upgrade version may no longer be available, which is considerably less than its usual $200 price.

Just to show why I'm not so likely to buy the full version. I doubt many people will, as most people already have some version of Windows. One hardly sees the full version advertised.

I guess another option is to install xp on the new hd, let w7 overwrite it, then install xp on a separate partition. As has been noted, the xp installation would mess up the w7 boot, so then one would have to use a bootloader utility afterwards, or manually edit the boot file in xp, to get it to dual-boot.

Any other ideas? Who has done this? Thanks.

[Black Viper]

Any other ideas? Who has done this? Thanks.

As I stated before, it is against the EULA to use an Upgrade Windows 7 as well as the original OS that you are upgrading... so, "no one on these forums can say they have did that as it is against my rules..."
Whether or not you "can" is not the point of my response to this discussion...
Sorry that we cannot be of further assistance.

[Black Viper]

What about the RC? Is it inferior to the final released version?

The RC versions of W7 will stop working in a few months (varies with which version you are talking about).

[Black Viper]

And, just so people do not think I am pulling this information out of a hat... from the Windows 7 EULA:

UPGRADES. To use upgrade software, you must first be licensed for the software that is eligible for the upgrade. Upon upgrade, this agreement takes the place of the agreement for the software you upgraded from. After you upgrade, you may no longer use the software you upgraded from.

Emphasis is me.

Vista is the same (but number 13 instead of 15).

Search yourself and enter what ever product you desire:
http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/useterms/default.aspx