XP and Vista on same machine
 

Ok here's the deal. I got a new computer that came with Vista installed on it. Since Vista is pretty much the suck, I installed XP on a separate hard drive and have been running off of that since the install.

Vista is still installed on the other hard drive, but I don't know how to boot Vista at startup. I can't select the other drive in the BIOS as the startup drive.

I've never run a computer with two separate OSes. What do I need to do if I ever want to run Vista again?

well XP and vista both have bootloaders, I can't really help on how to set that up since I honestly did it following guides around the net, but doing dual boot with two windows versions should be pretty simple. If I run into a decent guide or something that I used before I will edit this post with a helpful link.

well, it's odd, because i've downloaded some boot manager programs.

but the system isn't even recognizing the second HDD during the boot sequence -- even though I can access and write files onto the second HDD once XP has started up.

So basically, I need some help figuring out how to get the system to even know the drive is there with an OS installed on it.

I'm also in a pickle because the computer came with Vista installed, but no system disk or install disks for Vista. So I can't ... delete them or reinstall Vista, or boot from the Vista CD.

I may just be screwed unless I want to buy a new copy of Vista (even though I have legit registration codes already, just no disk).

You have to install Windows OSes oldest->newest or screwy things will happen with the boot order.

Why would you want both on one system anyway? Just live with Vista. I still haven't figured out what people hate about it. They all say it's horrible but can't give any specific reason why.

The only gripe I have is that it steals a few FPS in games, which is vital if you have a low-mid range gfx card, but seriously I agree with Arainach theres nothing substantially flawed about it besides from the requirements.

Yeah I thought Vista was crap based on what others were saying. Its not bad. Even better if you disable the fancy interface and don't mind the old Win2K look. But as for the dual boot off seperate HD, if any one finds out how I would also like to know. As for why the HD isn't found by the BIOS I am unsure I would say try a BIOS update.

Mostly because Vista was disconnecting me from my wireless network every 5 minutes.

You have to add a line to the boot.ini, which would point to the other OS to enable the boot menu.

I was dualbooting Vista and XP at one point, and that's how I did it. You still have to go XP, then Vista though.

Well, when I installed XP on the second drive, the computer started defaulting to running XP. So the fact that Vista is on the drive that's not being used either leads me to believe that a) I can add it to the boot.ini just as if I had recently installed it (since the computer is currently configured to be an XP system), or b) the Vista install is pretty much just wasting space on the other drive now, and can't be used at all.

I guess I can give it a try.

If you haven't already, there is a program out there called "EasyBCD" or another called "VistaBootLoader". They can be used to re-insert your Vista boot entry into the right place and get the "Select your OS" screen up.