dual boot windows 7 / xp

[Hal computer]

Hi Everyone
I am new to the forums so please forgive me if I am not doing this right.
My problem is this.
I have a computer with 2 hard drives and 2 dvd drives. I have windowsxp sp2 installed and have been running this for some time now.
I now have windows 7. I purchased a new hard drive for this. I think I installed incorrectly and would like to make a few cahnges, so I need help. I unplugged my XP drive C: and installed the new fresh hard drive. I installed windows 7 on the new drive. It works just fine. Every time I want to go to windows xp I then have to unplug the windows 7 drive and plug the xp drive back in, and then reboot. What I would like to do is keep my original windows xp and the second data drive in the computer. I would have to sacrifice one dvd to make room to plug in the new windows 7 drive, no problem there. How would I go about dual booting to either windows xp or windows 7. I do understand that if I had left windows xp drive in the machine and simply added the other drive and put windows 7 on it that windows 7 would have made all the changes to allow me the dual boot option, but I didn't do it that way. Do I have to format the windows 7 drive and do it that way all over again or can I make it dual boot with some editing. Can anyone help me with this. Thanks in advance for you help.

[Spider]

Hi Hal computer welcome to Cyber Tech Help.

Originally Posted by Hal computer

I have windowsxp sp2 installed

First of all update that Windwows XP to SP3 (Service Pack 3) and get all important updates before you go one with a dual system.

I installed windows 7 on the new drive. It works just fine. Every time I want to go to windows xp I then have to unplug the windows 7 drive and plug the xp drive back in, and then reboot.

You don’t install a dual system that way.
You leave Windows XP SP3 (and the drive) alone
You install the second drive
You insert the Windows 7 DVD into a DVD drive and boot to the Windows 7 DVD install
During the install you select the new drive as the location to install Windows 7

A “Boot Loader” in created. This halts a booting dual system for 30 seconds so you can select (with the cursors keys) which Windows you want to boot up to.

I would have to sacrifice one dvd to make room to plug in the new windows 7 drive

DVD devices and hard drives do not go into the same locations. There should be no “room” issue.

Do I have to format the windows 7 drive and do it that way all over again

You have to install Windows 7 again but the format takes place during the install process. No need to format a drive before installing Windows.

When installing dual systems the older Windows must be in place first then one installs the newer Windows. This way a proper “read”
of what already exists creates the “Boot Loader”.

[Hal computer]

Hi Spider
Yes I understand what you are saying. My computer is an older one with IDE primary and secondary cables on the motherboard.
The primary had windowsxp on one drive and a data had drive. That takes up both plugs on the primary. On the secondary I have two dvds so that takes up both plugs on the secondary. So all my pugs are being used. What I wanted to do was buy another drive unplug the windowsxp drive load windows 7 then unplug the data drive as well and just have windows 7 only. I then found I needed my xp drive still so I have to plug in the one I want to use to do some things on it. I found I was unplugging to many times and I figured there must be a way to dual boot and keep both. Each OS doesn't know the other is even there. So to keep xp and the second data drive I just leave them plugged in the way they were originally. I now want to add win7 to the secondary plug on the motherboard. But I have two dvds, so I have to sacrifice one because I can only have 4 drives plugged in at any one time. So if I plug win7 to the secondary how do I get a dual boot from this. I don't really want to put win7 on all over again if I can help it. I have installed to much stuff already, it would take way to long to do it all over. But if it gets to a point were that has to happen then I guess I'll have to do it. I hope this explains it a bit better.

[home4tea]

I also have a dual-boot Vista and Windows 7 system and they are on separate disks, installed much the same way you did. It works great for me and I know that the two systems are separate from each other.
When my PC boots, I select F8 which tells the BIOS to let me select which drive to boot from. The default is the Vista system but I can select the drive for Windows 7 if I want to.

Perhaps your PC has a similar option when it boots?

[Spider]

The primary had windowsxp on one drive and a data had drive. That takes up both plugs on the primary.

Then perhaps copying the data drive to a USB stick (flashdrive) or the Windows XP drive (C:) and then replacing the
data drive with the new drive you want Windows 7 on.

Or you can buy an IDE controller card and add more devices. These cards install into a free PCI slot. This would also
require a more powerful power supply (than you are using now) to feed the
card and devices. 450 watts or more.

So if I plug win7 to the secondary how do I get a dual boot from this. I don't really want to put win7 on all over again if I can help it.

As home4tea (Keith) mentioned some systems offer an F key to halt the boot process and select a device to boot to.
Your system seems to be a bit older and may not offer that option.
Windows 7 installs fast. If you just put it in then putting it back isn’t that much of an issue other than reinstalling
W7 and the programs you like, set the setting you like and you’re on your way.

There is a complicated way of creating a boot.ini file but this is quite involved and I personally don’t have the time to walk
though this. I’ve tried to do this a couple of times online and the users were unsuccessful at creating the proper boot.ini
file which Windows installer creates during the second operating system install.

Set your drives up and get the W7 on right and you’re good to go.

[Hal computer]

Thanks guys, for your helpful advice. I decided to sacrifice one dvd and put the new drive on the primary of the secondary plug. I can do without two dvd drives, as I don't use them that much anyway. For the few installs from cd or dvd, I don't think I will miss it anyway. I can always through it in the other computer I have. I am going to do another fresh install of windows 7 and let it do it's thing. I think this is the best way to go. So I wanted to thank you for all your help.

[Spider]

Your welcome, good luck with all of that.

[Hal computer]

Thank you Spider. I started over with Windows 7. I added the new drive and did another install with XP as the main OS. I now have a dual boot that will go into Windows 7 after 30 seconds or I can pick Windows XP at boot time. This is great, just what I wanted all along. I now have to just install the few things I had on Windows 7 before. No big deal. Thanks again for your help.

[Spider]

Originally Posted by Hal computer

that will go into Windows 7 after 30 seconds

You don't have to wait the 30 seconds you can press the enter key and boot will resume.

Good job.

[Hal computer]

Thanks again. You know what? The first time I installed 7 the internet and audio didn't work. I must have done something because all of a sudden the internet started working and I had sound. Since I reinstalled 7 I got the internet working again hence this message. But I can't get the sound to work at all. If I click on the little speaker with the red X it says it diagnosing the problem and after some time it fails and can't find the problem. If I right click on the volume control and click on any thing listed ther a window pops up. It says the audio device supported by this application is not detected. The application will exit. I have tried my drivers, tried downloading the latest drivers, nothing works. I have a sound blaster audigy 24bit. Simple sound card. My sound does work when I boot to XP and like I said the sound worked the first time I installed 7. Do you have any ideas for this. If worst comes to worst I'll have to do another reinstall before I get to many things installed, and have to start all over again.

[Spider]

Try the Creative Software Auto Update, click the Accept(button) at the bottom of the page.

[Hal computer]

Hi Spider
Well I must have tried everything I could think of to get the sound working. I looked all over the net and tried them all. But I can remember when I first installed 7, that I didn't have to do much to get sound up and running. Since I had just installed 7 fresh for the second time I thought well I don't have much installed yet so I would do a new fresh install and not install anything, then try to get sound working. What I found was that once windows was installed the internet didn't work. This was normal for as it didn't work right off the bat the last 2 times either. So I installed the drives which got the internet running. Windows then automatically goes online and downloads the latest updates. Well what do you know it fixed my sound. I knew it was that easy the first time but I wasn't watching when my sound started to work. I was watching this time though. So now I have sound again and all I have to do now is install programs as I need them. Thanks again for all your help, I do appreciate it.

[Spider]

Good job, got to love Microsoft for those Windows 7 driver updates.