How to make dual boot windwos xp & windows vista

version of Windows Vista was available for download from Microsoft, which is no longer the case. However, these instructions still work if you have a PC running Windows XP and a Windows Vista installation DVD. If you already have Vista installed, and you want to dual boot XP, go here.
In short, the steps for dual-booting Vista on an XP PC are:
0. Back up ALL your PC's important data.
1. Partition your hard drive. In Windows XP, using the $50 PartitionMagic or (according to one of our readers) the free GParted Live CD, create a new "primary" partition to install Vista on. Make it at least 20 gigabytes in size.
2. Install Vista on the new partition. Pop in the Vista CD and point it to your newly-created partition as the installation destination. Installation will restart your machine at various points.
3. Choose your operating system on boot. Once Vista is installed on your newly-created partition, on boot up, you'll get a choice to start XP or Vista. The default is Vista. However, this can be changed using Vista's boot manager.
When you're up and running with Windows Vista, be sure to check our our Vista upgrade power tips.
The original article appears below for posterity, and it's still got relevant screenshots and other info for those of you looking to dual-boot XP and Vista.
Because I'm a sucker for a good-looking operating system in beta, I downloaded and installed the publicly-available Beta 2 of the next generation of Windows, called Vista, this weekend.
Now, Microsoft says only developers, testers and those "experienced in PC troubleshooting" should install this on a spare machine. But I'm young, stupid and reckless so I installed Vista on my main PC which is the only machine I have souped up enough to handle the Vistage. I didn't want to let go of XP, though, in case everything went to hell. Thankfully all turned out well: I now have a single dual-boot PC that can run either Vista or XP.
I don't recommend you be as dumb as I was, but in case you are and you want to dual-boot XP and Vista? Here's how I got it done.
First you have to download the Beta 2 of Vista available at Microsoft.com, or order the DVD kit to be shipped to you for about 10 bucks. Last time I checked everyone and their sister was downloading the 3.12 GB file from the Microsoft servers, so for awhile there they took down the download link and you could only order the DVD kit. I got in on the download early which took me several hours to complete. Don't do the download with your browser, folks - use a download manager or wget. It's a monster file and you will hate yourself if it fails halfway in and you have to start from the beginning. UPDATE: If the download is unavailable on the Microsoft site, give the torrent a try after you get your Product key. It's an .iso file, which you have to burn to DVD. (So, obviously, you need a DVD burner.)
Next I started up the install and found that Vista will only install itself on a primary partition. If you choose the C: drive where XP is already installed? Vista asks if it can rename your Windows folder "Windows.old." Uh, no thank you Vista. To get dual-booting to work, you have to create another primary partition where Vista can live alongside XP in peace and happiness.
Free partitioning utilities (like the one on the XP setup disk) delete all the data on the disk when they create new partitions. That's not very convenient. Norton's commercial product called PartitionMagic, which you can purchase at Amazon for $43 (after rebate), however, can create a new partition out of free space on your C: drive without killing the rest of the files. That's what you want. UPDATE: Astute reader Barron says that the GParted Live CD also works and it's free. Thanks Barron!
Using PartitionMagic, I created a "primary" partition on drive C: made up of 20 gigabytes of free space. I assigned the drive letter V: for Vista. When you apply your partition changes, PM will make you reboot. Then you hold your breath and pray while PartitionMagic rejigs things on your hard drive. If the gods are smiling upon you, you'll boot up into XP with a shiny new disk parition all set up. Here's what the PartitionMagic console looked like after V: was created. (Click to enlarge.)
Note about the screenshot: The newly-created partition, V:, is on the right of C: in Disk 1. I took this screenshot after Vista was installed, so I'm not sure what the ?h? characters in the disk name are about. In Vista, the disk is called "Vista."
Now, once Windows XP is fully booted up and you can see your new 20GB drive, pop in the Vista DVD and run the install from there. Choose your newly created V: drive as the installation location, and let 'er rip. Vista will spend lots of time copying files and restarting your machine. All goes well in installation-ville, and you'll set up your first administrative Vista user and go from there.
Note: Vista didn't have the drivers for a whole bunch of the devices on my machine, like the sound card, video card, USB Wifi adaptor, dialup modem or Ethernet card, so be prepared to have all the driver disks that came with your computer (you did save your driver disks, didn't you?) to get your machine fully functioning with Vista.
Now, once you restart your computer, you'll get a choice to boot into XP or Vista. (Click image to enlarge.)
"Microsoft Windows" refers to Vista, and "Earlier version of Windows" refers to XP. The default choice is Vista, and you have 25 seconds to make another choice. Otherwise it boots into Vista automatically. (I'm sure one can change this behavior; something to research.)
There's much to be discussed regarding Vista, so this is the first of a series of posts that will do so over the next few weeks.
If you're feeling brave and wildly curious and not afraid to completely destroy your PC with unstable code, take a stab at a Vista installation and let us know how it goes. Everyone else? Post your questions and comments about Vista below or send us an email at tips at lifehacker.com. — Gina Trapani

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