Windows 10: Windows 10 & XP dual boot. Best way?

Summary of game plan. Seem OK??

1. Upgrade the Win7 on the SSD to Win10, using my RTM iso (burned to a DVD).
2. Convert this to a clean install (can't recall how as I type this, but I know the option is there)
3. When Win10 all working, unplug the SSD and then install WinXPx64 to one of the HDDs
4. Reboot and see what happens!
5. Use EasyBCD to get a dual boot menu. I must get the PC set up so that it default boots to XP after a give timeout (where I have an option to boot into Win10 instead)...

 

The first step will be unplugging the drives leaving only the SSD plugged in for the upgrade over 7! Otherwise you will end up seeing what I ran into here on the 29th of July being a No Go! The boot files and temp install folders end up getting scattered all over! *Eek*Doh It took a day to track the problem until looking over the clean install guide for the upgrade install solution needed!

Once 10 is on and the too often needed clean install to follow you then unplug the SSD when going to plug the intended XP drive in by itself. That prevents one drive from being seen as Disk 0 while XP is being installed to another by only having that drive present not knowing how your drives are set up there.

Once XP is on you then replug the other drives including the SSD in order to add the new boot entry for XP or when going to see the clean install of 10 as suggested earlier leave the XP drive plugged in while the others are unplugged to allow the 10 installer to edit the BCD automatically for you! The idea is to first see the older Windows go on first to the intended drive and once all that is set plug the 10 over 7 SSD drive back in and perform the clean install to have everything set.

If any problem comes up with the planned dual boot refer to the guide for this or since you are planning a dual boot of XP as the secondary OS you will want to review the Neosmart database in order to see this done using EasyBCD. Installing XP as a second OS

 

Sorry I've read that a couple of times, but I can't quite follow the logic. To recap (is this what you are saying?):

1. Unplug all drives apart from the SSD. Upgrade the Win7 to Win10
2. Unplug all drives apart from one HDD., which will have the XP O/S. Install XP to that drive
3. Plug the SSD, with Win10, back in, leaving the HDD with WinXP connected
4. Do the clean install of Win10
5. Reconnect any other HDDs

The confusion is you say at the start, "The first step will be unplugging the drives leaving only the SSD plugged in for the upgrade over 7!" but later "The idea is to first see the older Windows go on first to the intended drive" ..

So are the above 5 steps how it should be?

Won't I need EasyBCD to get a boot menu?

 

Hi there

WHY double boot XP.

Run XP as a Virtual Machine (VMWARE player / VBOX -both Free). Simple --easy -just start the Virtual machine as a normal program.

An XP VM requires MINIMAL resources on a W10 Host.

I run a VINYL cutting record studio successfully on a Windows XP virtual machine together with a load of legacy hardware -- absolutely NO dual boot needed.

(My XP VM will be around for a long while yet --it's outlasted my W7 system !!!).

Cheers
jimbo

 

We're already covered all that! jimbo45

Can you post back a screen of the Disk Management tool? martinlest Once you unplug the SSD for the XP install you will want tthe XP installer to see that drive as Disk #0 first in the boot order to avoid the mbr being written on the wrong drive. By isolation you insure that the XP drive will be able to boot on it's own as well as seeing the boot files end up in the right place.

With 10 if you have anything "But" another OS drive plugged in the boot files and temp install folders will end up in the wrong places preventing the upgrade. So once you have XP installed the only other drive you will plugged in will be the SSD when going to see the upgrade and afterwards the clean install of 10 so that 10 sees the XP drive and adds a boot entry in.

If you end up manually needing to see the XP boot entry added in with the EasyBCD tool refer to the XP dual boot guide at Neosmart there which will outline how to add the new boot entry for XP into the BCD store which is the same seen on Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 as it is for 10. You will want the latest version of that utility program however so it will run on 10 without seeing any compatibility issues. The version just prior to the latest will also work while going back two versions will run into problems.

The technique is simple. The older always goes on first apart from the newer which will then add the older in as a boot option. Generally this is how it works when seeing the newer version installed last. If the older goes on last that will overwrite the newer version's boot information when all drives are plugged in at the same time and why the best move is to isolate the XP drive as well as keep the other drives unplugged until 10 sees the clean install.

 

I'll post again when I am at the PC and working on it - may be a couple of weeks. I think I need to start trying stuff out, once the data is all backed up it won't matter if there are failures initially, I've nothing to lose.. I can even give the VM a go, just to test things out.

Thanks again for the help

 

That's another big positive with VMs. If something goes wrong, you aren't going to corrupt your OS install.

 

If I could get full hardware support I wouldn't hesitate to go down the VM route.. I may try it out even so, as I say. It's easy enough to erase the partition and start again.

Why can't I have Win XP as the host and Win 10 as the VM O/S (or has that already been answered?). It's XP I need to run the hardware..

 

You could, but there may not be XP drivers available for the system, especially if it's something recent.

What hardware do you have that works with XP but not 10?

 

Hi there

although you CAN also run a 64 bit GUEST (I.e VM) on a 32 bit host - you have the restrictions of max 4GB RAM etc etc. You also as others have said need NATIVE drivers on the HOST to be able to access some of the newer hardware.

To run a 64 bit VM on a 32 bit HOST you need the CPU VM features to be enabled (if you are using an older machine).
You in theory don't actually need a 64 bit CPU although you will in practice as the VT technology required will only exist on 64 bit CPU's.

You CAN run fairly simply though a W10 32 bit guest on an XP Host (if you are bonkers enough to try it). Securiy and networking on the HOST (XP) machine will be limited though.

Cheers
jimbo

 

... both my o/s are 64-bit - it's all in the previous posts here

 

As far as I've understood it here, that's not the issue. None, is the answer, but people say the drivers XP may not work when XP is the guest O/S. Without VM there'd be no driver issues.

 

I'm confused then. The VM has it's own hardware specs, borrowing pretty much part of your current processor. What I was trying to get to is this. If you had a very old USB printer that wasn't supported under Windows 10, then you won't be able to use it in a VM with XP. If a device, such as a USB flash drive, scanner, printer, etc has Windows 10 drivers so the main/host system can use it, then the VM software will allow you to make that hardware available to the XP virtual machine.

You mentioned it in a previous post, so that's why I asked. The VM software, such as VMWare Player or VirtualBox all have virtual hardware that's compatible with the OS you choose to install as a virtual machine.

I say it often, but dual-booting is dead. If you want to maintain an XP computer, virtualization is the way to go.

 

I don't know whether some of the hardware is supported by Windows 10 or not - the printer is very new, so it will be. The (music) keyboard is plug-and-play USB as far as I recall... Better I have a look when I get back in a couple of days - I haven't been to the UK since last year and I can't recall exactly what hardware I need to connect.

I can only but give it a go and see what happens. I can ask again here if I come across any problems. Perhaps in a new thread.. Thanks.

 

OK, just realised one thing. My PC is Windows 7 Home Premium, so although I have an iso for Windows 10 Pro, I guess it won't let me install it? (Any way to do that, short of paying the $99?). I am not installing any other version of Windows 10 as I do not want my updates to run automatically for a start, so I may well stick with Windows 7 and try to install XP via VM with that...