HAY GUYS

Guru · Local time: Apr 2, 2008, 06:15 PM

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?

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Guru · Local time: Apr 2, 2008, 08:01 PM

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).

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Guru · Local time: Apr 3, 2008, 05:40 PM

Originally Posted by Arainach

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.

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

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Guru · Local time: Apr 4, 2008, 01:35 AM

Originally Posted by ^-^

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.

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