Help with Laptop... Non Vista issue

I know this is a Vista forum but you folks are so well informed and nice that I want to take a little advantage of that if I may.

I recently purchased a refurbished IBM T42 lappy for the office, part of the reason why is because it comes with an integrated parallel port that I need for the software we use to sell our products.

Anyways, there was no CD with it as it appears an image made from Acronis comes with the lappy in case you need to do a clean reinstall of the XP OS.

Here's where I need help...:

The software we use runs on Windows 2000 Server so I would need to create a partition for me to be able to install the software but I would hate to destroy the XP OS already in it... is there an easy solution to this?

I know I did something similar when I did my dual XP + Vista boot but I doubt it will work with this since I had to use the Vista CD to make this happen.

Any takers? and if so... can you kinda take me by the hand with the blow by blow of how to do it?

Thanks folks.

How old is the laptop and do you know how much memory it has? Considering XP is already installed, it can be tough to get an instance of Windows 2000 Server installed as well, as a dual boot option. Usually you need to start with the older OS, so if you had Windows 2000 already, you can install XP as a dual boot option. The net is littered with people with issues trying to go the other way.

You might want to consider using VMWare instead, though this is essentially like having two computers in one, so you need to assign resources (memory, hard disk space) to the second computer which takes it away from your main laptop, unlike a dual boot option which just utilises whatever it can, based on your hardware specs.

If you really want dual boot, then I'd recommend having another partition on your hard drive to install Windows 2000 on, which probably also means you need to get yourself some third party partition software (like Partition Magic) as XP doesn't allow you to re-partition your drives without blowing everything away.

Depending on your current system specs (let me know if you need help finding out what these are) I'd seriously consider VMWare as an alternative. You should still have access to local ports. You shouldn't need to assign too many resources to get Windows 2000 Server up and running

VMWare Workstation
Here's the link for VMWare if you're interested. I think this is the product you'll need (they have a Server option too, but don't think you'll need that) but at any rate, your best bet is to contact them directly and explain what you are trying to achieve, to make sure you get the right thing

Hi astalavista,

As judge says you will need a 3rd party partition tool - do a search for "gparted live CD", this should allow you to create the partitions you need, and is totally free .

You may want to have a look at the XP disk on this page ...

AnswersThatWork's Boot Disk and Boot CD downloads - The best and ultimate Boot Disks and Boot CD Library on the Internet

just in case you have any problems

you will probably have to manually edit the XP bootloader to get the win2000 to dual boot - have a look around here, its a vista site but has a lot of information on multi-booting including XP ...

NeoSmart Technologies

hope this helps a bit to set you on your way - it may take a bit of research but what you are attempting should be possible

Thanks judge, I just browse the VMWare link a bit but I didn't understand exactly what it is, it appears I would have to take a lot of my non-pc understanding to learn something new for the small amount of time I am going to use the laptop... I'll explain more on this matter.

barman58, I do have gparted live Cd as this is one of the CD's I used when I did my dual boot on my desktop since I already had XP installed on it. I also have EasyBCD which was also used to set the boot sequence after restarting but, I had also heard that Win 2000 is finicky and likes to be the first boot or it will give you more grief than joy. I guess I was hoping that technology had advance to a point where this was old news... guess not!

This is a Refurbished (lenovo) IBM T42 laptop, it comes as stock as they get and I got it today, since the battery was uncharged, I left it charging so I can start using it tomorrow. I really don't know the specs but I suspect it comes with 512MB of Ram and a 40 or 60 gig drive only.

This lappy will be use for traveling only (couple to a few times a year) and that is it so, investing a lot of time learning all this stuff is not in my best interest but, perhaps that VMWare looks more promising than I give it credit.

I want to be able to have Windows 2000 server because my software runs on it but I also want to have XP because it is easier for me to navigate than on Win 2000 and getting drivers for 2000 is not that easy but, if the drive is only a 40 gig drive or can't handle both OS, I am going to stick with Win2000 only and that will be that.

If it comes down to nuking the XP already installed and leaving Win2000 on it, so be it but I just wanted to know what my options were.

Thanks to both of you for taking the time... I'll take a look at VMWare tomorrow, guess I am to tired right now.

Hi AstaLaVista,

Have you considered an adapter: Amazon.com: usb parallel adapter