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Installing Windows XP AFTER Windows 7

post #1 of 10
7/17/10 at 1:20pm
Thread Starter 

Is there anyone who has done this dual-boot succesfully? Ive read quite some tips but none has brought me the solution.

Let me explain:

 

-WIN7 is already on C

-Created a new partition on D for XP

-In XP setup (booted from cd-rom) I format D and install XP

-At first reboot it says: ''error running the operating system'' and neither WIN 7 or XP can be loaded

 

What Ive tried so far:

 

-Flashed bios to latest

-Ran recovery console/option from both WIN7 and XP cd-roms to fix boot

-Did a normal (as to not fast) format of the HD

 

Funny thing is that even when I am trying to only install XP as a single boot OS I get the same error. One would think theres something wrong with the HD but why then does WIN7 install like a dream? XP used to install fine for years!

 

Theres too much time already wasted on this but I want it to work. Im considering giving MS a buzz next week but I rather have it fixed now.

 

Any ideas are much, much appreciated.


Edited by moriez - 7/17/10 at 1:22pm
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post #2 of 10
7/17/10 at 2:02pm

I have XP, 7, and Ubuntu in a triple boot configuration. I originally had XP and then used the Upgrade to Windows 7. It saved my XP data and kept it so I can boot into it anytime I want. No problems whatsoever for me. Strange that even when you try to install it alone you get the same error. Is this what's happening? http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326676


Edited by NapalmK - 7/17/10 at 2:03pm
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post #3 of 10
7/17/10 at 3:12pm
Thread Starter 

Thats the error message. I have Award Bios 6.00 though and my HD is a 80GB Western Digital. Again, XP has been running for years with these specs. Also Ive been running XP next to 7 without problems for some months already but I needed to re-install.


Edited by moriez - 7/17/10 at 3:14pm
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post #4 of 10
7/17/10 at 3:35pm

See if you can repair Windows 7 (repair the bootloader) after installing XP and make it boot Windows 7. Then use a program like EasyBCD and add XP to the boot list.

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post #5 of 10
7/17/10 at 3:55pm

Yeah, you need the Windows 7 bootloader to be fixed before anything. Load up the recovery console, and the command should be bootrec.exe /fixboot. After that, you should be able to boot into Win7, and from there, open up an elevated command prompt, and use bcdedit to add an entry for WinXP.

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post #6 of 10
7/18/10 at 6:29am
Thread Starter 

Miraculously WIN7 recovery helped me this time around. First tried /fixboot but didnt help me. Second time tried /fixmbr which did the job and got me back into WIN7 again. Thank god I dont have to install it again. So right now I still have the problem that XP cannot start. All the installation has done is copied the files to D: and normally it would start installing after reboot but it doesnt.

 

Any ideas where to go from here?

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post #7 of 10
7/18/10 at 7:16am

Don't know if it is relevant now, and I have never tried it myself, but I've read good things about EasyBCD for managing the bootloader. Maybe you can give it a try.

 

Good luck on your dual-boot

 


 

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post #8 of 10
7/18/10 at 7:28am
Thread Starter 

Indeed, have downloaded it and might be useful. Also started a thread on their forum. 

 

Cheers 

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post #9 of 10
7/18/10 at 1:20pm

As I understand it, you must have XP already in place before adding Win 7.  I have had XP/7 in a dual boot like this and it worked fine.  Since all my software runs on 7 (64bit no less) I have since scrapped the XP partition.

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post #10 of 10
7/20/10 at 2:04pm
Thread Starter 

Yes, ideally. Can be done the other way around as well. Story ends though, might be a case of a scratched cd-rom.

For who's interested check http://neosmart.net/forums/showthread.php?t=6758

 

Case closed.

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