WinXP Sharing With Vista

WinXP Sharing With Vista
You don't have to choose between them, with a planning both can run on the same system
Howdy traveler, back for some more of everything Vista. Today well be discussing the steps required to keep both Win XP and Vista on the same computer for your convenient use, so you can take advantage of both operating systems best features. Well if you're ready, let's we hit the road to Dual-boot heaven.
So, you don't want to choose between them, Windows XP offers the best overall speed, best notebook battery life, and best hardware and software compatibility. But Windows Vista, on the other hand, offers an amazing new interface, new Direct X 10 graphics, potentially better security features, and compatibility that is improving as each month of fixes appears.
The best news is you don't have to decide between the two operating systems at all. With just a little preparation and mental-sweat, you can have the best of both WinXP and Vista installed at the same time on your PC, with a trusty OS selection menu appearing at boot time to let you choose your poison. Were about to cover how to add Vista to WinXP (and remove it if you've changed your mind), how to add WinXP to Vista, and go over the prickly issue of licensing concerns.
First things first, a few words about the Windows Vista EULA (End-User License Agreement) to keep you up at night, just about every version of Vista is attainable three ways; retail, OEM, (original equipment manufacturer), and upgrade. Both the OEM and retail editions of Vista have no restrictions regarding installation on a dual-boot computer, and in fact, both of these versions work just fine (If you were wondering, the OEM version doesn't have printed documentation and support from Microsoft but is priced significantly less than retail, while the difference between the street prices of Vista Home Premium retail and OEM averages about $115).
Microsoft didn't intend the upgrade version be used in a dual-boot setup, so both its EULA and the installer found on the installation disc prohibit installing it this way. Its $75 lower price over the retail version is intended to reflect the "absorption" of your existing WinXP license, which means it, will replace WinXP on your hard drive. And just because Microsoft has designed a well documented workaround, whereby you install the upgrade version without entering your license key (which installs Vista in Trial Mode) and then reinstall Vista again from your "Trial Mode Vista" (this time entering you license key), doing so is a violation of the upgrade EULA, so we suggest you don't do this.
Like most people when you speak of dual-booting different operating systems, you're talking about loading two different operating systems onto a single hard drive, but there's an easier way to accomplish this, just have two hard drives.
Just about all new computers can boot from any installed hard drive, and pressing a special key (frequently F8 or ESC - check your PC BIOS [Basic Input/output System] startup screen) when booting (if you see the Windows setup screen, it's too late, and you'll need to try again) displays a bootable device menu, letting you select a boot device. If you happen to have several hard drives, each is normally listed in this menu. If you install WinXP in one computer and Vista on the other, booting from each drive loads its particular operating system.
This design makes a lot of sense if your existing hard drive is short of the space to install another OS, your computer has this boot menu feature, and the space to house a second OS exists. This doesn't work for most notebook computers because normally they only have room for one drive, but there are individual notebooks where it is possible.
The easiest way to implement the dual-drive shortcut is to turn off your computer, temporarily disconnect your existing hard drive (which has your original OS), connect your new hard drive, and install the new operating system to the newly connected hard drive. When completed, just reconnect the old drive, press the hardware boot menu key, and select the hard drive that has your desired OS.
Well that's it for this hub, were ready to add Vista to your WinXP operating system and if you join me next time we will show you how to accomplish this feat of computer magic. This hub should have prepared you to make the move to dual-boot heaven, and allow you to enjoy the best features and capabilities of both Windows XP and Vista. Join us next hub as we will show you the sweet moves you'll need to make to make your dream of having Vista and Windows XP on the same computer and have you singing in the shower.