How you can dual boot between Windows XP and Windows 7

Now that you've downloaded the Windows 7 beta, let's talk about how you can configure your machine to dual boot between Windows Vista and Windows 7, or even Window XP and Windows 7. The key to multi-boot configurations that involve Windows Vista, Server 2008 or Windows 7 is Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store. The BCD will make or break your configurations, and in my screen cast below, I walk you through setting up your hard drive to support a multi-OS boot configuration. 

If the Video Playback window does not appear below, you will need to install Microsoft Silverlight.

Now that you've seen the power of the dual boot scenario, let me point you to a few articles that will provide some of the details. One of the assumptions I made was that an earlier version of Windows already exists and that you will be installing a newer version of Windows (like Windows 7). In the event that you have Windows Vista or Windows 7 already installed and then you install Windows XP, you'll need to check out this article. This article holds true for Windows 7 as well as Windows Vista.

Windows Vista no longer starts after you install an earlier version of the Windows operating system in a dual-boot configuration

https://support.microsoft.com/kb/933179

If you want to learn all of the details of the bcdedit tool, check out:

BCDEdit Command-Line Options

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc709667.aspx

and then of course you'll want to check out the faq as well:

Boot Configuration Data Editor Frequently Asked Questions

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc721886.aspx

This was my first screen cast, so please let me know what you think.

Until next time!

Rob

 

Technorati Tags: Dual Boot,bdcedit,Boot Configuration Data Store,Windows 7,Windows XP