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  #1  
Old August 9th, 2007, 04:26 AM
paint paint is offline
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Using programs on multiple Operating Systems

On my computer I have 2 operating systems installed, Vista Ultimate and Media Center 2005. I use some programs that are massive and take up many gigs of space. I was would like to know how to only have to install the program once and use it on multiple operating systems.
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Old August 9th, 2007, 06:27 AM
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oracle128 oracle128 is offline
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Only if it's a standalone or portable program, residing on a drive/partition that can be seen by both operating systems, will it work. Most installed programs rely on resources other than what's in its installation folder (system files, drivers, registry keys) that will prevent this from working. This will eliminate almost any commercial game, and most productivity/office software.
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Old August 9th, 2007, 02:51 PM
paint paint is offline
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Would it work if I log on to media center, install the program, then log out and log in to vista and install it in the same directory? Would it more than likely mess up the install on media center?
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Old August 9th, 2007, 04:54 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by paint View Post
Would it work if I log on to media center, install the program, then log out and log in to vista and install it in the same directory?
I don't see why it wouldn't work for most, if not all programs, but I've never done it, nor can I find any cases of it being done. So give it a crack and let us know how you go with various programs. Though you will want to be wary of updates/patches as these may mess up one or both installs of the program.
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Old August 10th, 2007, 12:30 AM
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smurfy smurfy is offline
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Yes it will work for many if not most programs. The thing you have to be careful about is the location the program uses for configuration/settings/save files.
If it stores them in a user settings directory, then you should be fine, if it stores them in the program files directory, you could run into problems.

I've used this method many times with Win98/2000, Win2000/XP both in combination with Linux (running Windows apps through Wine).
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