Vista Tutorial - Dual Booting XP and Vista

Hi:

Why would or what advantage is it to upgrade to Vista Premium with dual
booting capabilities? If one is going to upgrade then why not just upgrade.

Frankly I don't see the purpose or advantage of dual booting other than
making you OS more complicated. Maybe someone can explain why?

Thanks

Many people are dual booting right now because Vista has some compatability
issues. This way they can have Vista, but at the same time, they can keep
XP running and still be able to run some of their programs on their computer
that they can't normally run if they only had Vista. Why just upgrade if
you aren't going to be able to use programs that you have come to rely on?


"ColTom2" <nomailaddress@none.com> wrote in message
news:OK6CZEdVHHA.4668@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Hi:
>
> Why would or what advantage is it to upgrade to Vista Premium with dual
> booting capabilities? If one is going to upgrade then why not just
> upgrade.
>
> Frankly I don't see the purpose or advantage of dual booting other than
> making you OS more complicated. Maybe someone can explain why?
>
> Thanks
>

"ColTom2" <nomailaddress@none.com> wrote in message
news:OK6CZEdVHHA.4668@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Hi:
>
> Why would or what advantage is it to upgrade to Vista Premium with dual
> booting capabilities? If one is going to upgrade then why not just
> upgrade.
>
> Frankly I don't see the purpose or advantage of dual booting other than
> making you OS more complicated. Maybe someone can explain why?
>
> Thanks
>

(1) Dual-booting makes things more secure. If one operating system fails,
you can boot into the other to recover.

(2) You don't have to worry about application compatibility.

--
Jon

I dual booted during the Windows Vista beta. So that I always had a fall
back position.

I also dual booted between Windows 9x and XP because I had a 3dfx graphics
card which had no drivers for XP and so games wouldn't run properly or would
run very slow on XP, I did that for a month or so until I got my GeForce 3.

So mainly compatibility and to ease migration.

--
Paul Smith,
Yeovil, UK.
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User.
http://www.windowsresource.net/

*Remove nospam. to reply by e-mail*


"ColTom2" <nomailaddress@none.com> wrote in message
news:OK6CZEdVHHA.4668@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Hi:
>
> Why would or what advantage is it to upgrade to Vista Premium with dual
> booting capabilities? If one is going to upgrade then why not just
> upgrade.
>
> Frankly I don't see the purpose or advantage of dual booting other than
> making you OS more complicated. Maybe someone can explain why?
>
> Thanks
>

Hi:

Thanks for all your replies and now I realize why one would dual boot.

In the upgrade process how does one select the ability to dual boot and
also down the line if your Vista does become fully operational can you
delete XP and keep only Vista?"

Thanks


"ColTom2" <nomailaddress@none.com> wrote in message
news:OK6CZEdVHHA.4668@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Hi:
>
> Why would or what advantage is it to upgrade to Vista Premium with dual
> booting capabilities? If one is going to upgrade then why not just
> upgrade.
>
> Frankly I don't see the purpose or advantage of dual booting other than
> making you OS more complicated. Maybe someone can explain why?
>
> Thanks
>

As with any new OS, there is going to be problems. People on these forums
took the plunge and upgraded and then found out, they had some problems and
then didn't have a way to go back.

In my work, I have to use a VPN client and PCanywhere. I finally got a
working VPN client, but PCanywhere isn't available for Vista yet.

If I dual boot, I get to fiddle around with Vista and learn it's quirks and
problems and if by some chance I have a really daunting problem, I can
always go back to XP. If nothing else, when I'm testing out games under
vista, I can go back and see how it behaves in XP. Sometimes, both OSes show
the same problem. Here in this forum, some people would scream how Vista
sucks and Microsoft screwed them !

I'm actually triple booting, XP, Vista32 and Vista64. Because I'm hearing
all this flap about 64bit and how it's the future and all that and so I
wanted to see was there in advantage or extra problems. Being able to go
back to Vista32, I can see whether it's a problem with Vista64 or if both
have the problem.

In 6-9 months from now, there won't be much need in dual booting, as Vista
will stabilize, Applications, drivers and hardware will get caught up and
Vista will run on par with XP in a generic sense. Right now, going pure
Vista is just too much of a unknown gamble.

If nothing else, Dual booting lets you find out, if you're going to have any
compatibility problems. You may find out you do, at which time you revert
back to XP and delete your Vista boot. If everything runs fine, you delete
your XP boot and go pure vista.

How does dual booting making your OS complicated ? You get a menu, before
you ever boot your OS, you choose your OS and off you go. There is nothing
complicated about it.


"ColTom2" <nomailaddress@none.com> wrote in message
news:OK6CZEdVHHA.4668@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Hi:
>
> Why would or what advantage is it to upgrade to Vista Premium with dual
> booting capabilities? If one is going to upgrade then why not just
> upgrade.
>
> Frankly I don't see the purpose or advantage of dual booting other than
> making you OS more complicated. Maybe someone can explain why?
>
> Thanks
>

Hi Dale:

Thanks for your informative input. My biggest question that I have now is
how do I select to dual boot in the Vista upgrade process. What options
should I look for in the upgrade to be sure and implement the ability to
dual boot?

There is no doubt now as to whether I will elect to dual boot, but only
how?

Thanks


"Dale "Mad_Murdock" White" <dale.white@NOinsightbb.NOcom> wrote in message
news:kKqdnU6VftUV7UHYnZ2dnUVZ_r-onZ2d@insightbb.com...
> As with any new OS, there is going to be problems. People on these forums
> took the plunge and upgraded and then found out, they had some problems
> and then didn't have a way to go back.
>
> In my work, I have to use a VPN client and PCanywhere. I finally got a
> working VPN client, but PCanywhere isn't available for Vista yet.
>
> If I dual boot, I get to fiddle around with Vista and learn it's quirks
> and problems and if by some chance I have a really daunting problem, I can
> always go back to XP. If nothing else, when I'm testing out games under
> vista, I can go back and see how it behaves in XP. Sometimes, both OSes
> show the same problem. Here in this forum, some people would scream how
> Vista sucks and Microsoft screwed them !
>
> I'm actually triple booting, XP, Vista32 and Vista64. Because I'm hearing
> all this flap about 64bit and how it's the future and all that and so I
> wanted to see was there in advantage or extra problems. Being able to go
> back to Vista32, I can see whether it's a problem with Vista64 or if both
> have the problem.
>
> In 6-9 months from now, there won't be much need in dual booting, as Vista
> will stabilize, Applications, drivers and hardware will get caught up and
> Vista will run on par with XP in a generic sense. Right now, going pure
> Vista is just too much of a unknown gamble.
>
> If nothing else, Dual booting lets you find out, if you're going to have
> any compatibility problems. You may find out you do, at which time you
> revert back to XP and delete your Vista boot. If everything runs fine, you
> delete your XP boot and go pure vista.
>
> How does dual booting making your OS complicated ? You get a menu, before
> you ever boot your OS, you choose your OS and off you go. There is nothing
> complicated about it.
>
>
> "ColTom2" <nomailaddress@none.com> wrote in message
> news:OK6CZEdVHHA.4668@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>> Hi:
>>
>> Why would or what advantage is it to upgrade to Vista Premium with dual
>> booting capabilities? If one is going to upgrade then why not just
>> upgrade.
>>
>> Frankly I don't see the purpose or advantage of dual booting other than
>> making you OS more complicated. Maybe someone can explain why?
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>
>

Dual booting does solve some of the many compatibility issues between
software that runs on XP but doesn't currently run on Vista. I have at least
half a dozen applications that simply will not run on Vista and until the
software developer's update the software to run on Vista it is necessary for
me to dual boot.

Dual booting also has another point in its favour. If one operating system
fails, you have another one which you can boot into quickly thus resulting
in less downtime.

Of course dual booting XP and Vista does have its downside. For one if you
boot into XP then you loose all system restore points in Vista. So before
even considering a dual boot scenario with XP and Vista always make sure you
have the option to backup both operating systems just in case of a system
failure and you need to restore Vista.

But then if you do need to use two operating systems and you don't like the
idea of a dual boot scenario, you could always use virtual machine software,
such as Virtual PC 2007 or VMWare workstation.

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows - Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

"ColTom2" <nomailaddress@none.com> wrote in message
news:OK6CZEdVHHA.4668@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Hi:
>
> Why would or what advantage is it to upgrade to Vista Premium with dual
> booting capabilities? If one is going to upgrade then why not just
> upgrade.
>
> Frankly I don't see the purpose or advantage of dual booting other than
> making you OS more complicated. Maybe someone can explain why?
>
> Thanks
>

One thing that has been noted before, if you have the upgrade version of
Vista, you will not be allowed to dual boot, as Vista will disable your XP
boot. Do a search in the newsgroup\forums and you'll see some work around
for that.

If you have the full install version of Vista, all you need is a separate
partition or 2nd hard drive. When you install Vista it will automatically
setup a dual boot menu. One will be Vista, the other will be "earlier
version of windows" why it can't just say Windows XP, is beyond me.

If you have the upgrade version and you don't like the work around, another
option is to buy another hard drive. $50 will get you an 80GB these days.
And you could physically swap out drives. Vista never knows about Xp and
vice versus. You will need to install a base XP on this drive first, since
the upgrade will look for it. If that sounds like too much work, I'd go back
to searching this forum for the Dual boot work around

"ColTom2" <nomailaddress@none.com> wrote in message
news:eOI84YdVHHA.3500@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> Hi Dale:
>
> Thanks for your informative input. My biggest question that I have now is
> how do I select to dual boot in the Vista upgrade process. What options
> should I look for in the upgrade to be sure and implement the ability to
> dual boot?
>
> There is no doubt now as to whether I will elect to dual boot, but only
> how?
>
> Thanks
>
>
> "Dale "Mad_Murdock" White" <dale.white@NOinsightbb.NOcom> wrote in message
> news:kKqdnU6VftUV7UHYnZ2dnUVZ_r-onZ2d@insightbb.com...
>> As with any new OS, there is going to be problems. People on these forums
>> took the plunge and upgraded and then found out, they had some problems
>> and then didn't have a way to go back.
>>
>> In my work, I have to use a VPN client and PCanywhere. I finally got a
>> working VPN client, but PCanywhere isn't available for Vista yet.
>>
>> If I dual boot, I get to fiddle around with Vista and learn it's quirks
>> and problems and if by some chance I have a really daunting problem, I
>> can always go back to XP. If nothing else, when I'm testing out games
>> under vista, I can go back and see how it behaves in XP. Sometimes, both
>> OSes show the same problem. Here in this forum, some people would scream
>> how Vista sucks and Microsoft screwed them !
>>
>> I'm actually triple booting, XP, Vista32 and Vista64. Because I'm hearing
>> all this flap about 64bit and how it's the future and all that and so I
>> wanted to see was there in advantage or extra problems. Being able to go
>> back to Vista32, I can see whether it's a problem with Vista64 or if both
>> have the problem.
>>
>> In 6-9 months from now, there won't be much need in dual booting, as
>> Vista will stabilize, Applications, drivers and hardware will get caught
>> up and Vista will run on par with XP in a generic sense. Right now, going
>> pure Vista is just too much of a unknown gamble.
>>
>> If nothing else, Dual booting lets you find out, if you're going to have
>> any compatibility problems. You may find out you do, at which time you
>> revert back to XP and delete your Vista boot. If everything runs fine,
>> you delete your XP boot and go pure vista.
>>
>> How does dual booting making your OS complicated ? You get a menu, before
>> you ever boot your OS, you choose your OS and off you go. There is
>> nothing complicated about it.
>>
>>
>> "ColTom2" <nomailaddress@none.com> wrote in message
>> news:OK6CZEdVHHA.4668@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>> Hi:
>>>
>>> Why would or what advantage is it to upgrade to Vista Premium with dual
>>> booting capabilities? If one is going to upgrade then why not just
>>> upgrade.
>>>
>>> Frankly I don't see the purpose or advantage of dual booting other than
>>> making you OS more complicated. Maybe someone can explain why?
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>>
>>
>>
>
>

Hi John:

Not knowing anything about either dual booting or Virtual PC 2007 it looks
as if Virtual PC 2007 would be much simpler to accomplish, as I assume that
you do not have to do anything to partition HD's. Looks as if you could
download and install Virtual PC 2007 and you would be ready to upgrade to
Vista or am I missing something? If this is the case why would anyone want
to do otherwise?

What are some of the Pro's and Con's of Virtual PC 2007 and also can you
use the work around to use the Vista Premium upgrade version rather than
full version? Can you at some point uninstall either XP or Vista at a later
date?

I would like to be able to upgrade to Vista in the simplest manner while
retaining XP MCE because of the many application problems, as described.

Thanks


"John Barnett MVP" <freelanceit@mvps.org.NOSPAM> wrote in message
news:uGW46cdVHHA.1208@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Dual booting does solve some of the many compatibility issues between
> software that runs on XP but doesn't currently run on Vista. I have at
> least half a dozen applications that simply will not run on Vista and
> until the software developer's update the software to run on Vista it is
> necessary for me to dual boot.
>
> Dual booting also has another point in its favour. If one operating system
> fails, you have another one which you can boot into quickly thus resulting
> in less downtime.
>
> Of course dual booting XP and Vista does have its downside. For one if you
> boot into XP then you loose all system restore points in Vista. So before
> even considering a dual boot scenario with XP and Vista always make sure
> you have the option to backup both operating systems just in case of a
> system failure and you need to restore Vista.
>
> But then if you do need to use two operating systems and you don't like
> the idea of a dual boot scenario, you could always use virtual machine
> software, such as Virtual PC 2007 or VMWare workstation.
>
> --
> John Barnett MVP
> Associate Expert
> Windows - Shell/User
>
> Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
> Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org
>
> The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
> kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
> reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable
> for any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out
> of the use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in
> this mail/post..
>
> "ColTom2" <nomailaddress@none.com> wrote in message
> news:OK6CZEdVHHA.4668@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>> Hi:
>>
>> Why would or what advantage is it to upgrade to Vista Premium with dual
>> booting capabilities? If one is going to upgrade then why not just
>> upgrade.
>>
>> Frankly I don't see the purpose or advantage of dual booting other than
>> making you OS more complicated. Maybe someone can explain why?
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>