Need help with Tri-Booting Windows XP Pro, Windows 7 Ultimate x64, and Wind

[speed45]

Hi I built a new computer and I have 24gb of ram installed with an i7-3770k CPU and I would like Windows XP Pro, Windows 7 Ultimate x64, and Windows 8 Pro x64 all to be tri-booted on my machine. I also have a 256gb SSD and a 2gb SATA drive. I would like to install all 3 OS's onto the SSD. What would be the best method to get this all done as I have not done anything yet no OS's installed yet or anything. I need all 3 installed as I need this for a job I am doing.

 

Thanks,

 

Matthew

[+BudMan MVC]

Why don't you just install 7 and run xp and 8 as VMs? That is what I would do to be honest.

What job are you doing that requires a tri boot system?

[The Evil Overlord]

^ Holding up bridges, maybe? :p

[lukeslife]

Hi Matthew and welcome to Neowin!

 

Partition the SSD into 3 separate partitions. Then go through the process of installing windows to each partition. (You might need some drivers on a disc for windows xp to recognise the SSD) Windows should set up the boot order accordingly. I would install firstly windows xp then windows 7 then windows 8. Hope it all goes well.

 

(Ninja Edit:theVM idea is a whole lot better for your system so go with that)

 

Regards,

 

Luke

[+BudMan MVC]

These 1 post wonders with these sorts of odd questions always feel off to me.. They will be back later with some link to somewhere or website that answers their question, etc.

[The Evil Overlord]

These 1 post wonders with these sorts of odd questions always feel off to me.. They will be back later with some link to somewhere or website that answers their question, etc.

I'm with you on that. I would love to give the benefit of the doubt, but unfortunately, I've been proved right everytime I thought 'ok what have we here?'

 

I honestly would love for OP to prove me wrong, then I'll apologise, I guess time will tell.

[speed45]

Thank you Luke. I am doing full installs and I do not want to do VM installs as I am doing a work at home call center job that requires xp and 7 and they can not be VM installs and also I would like to install fully windows 8 just to have to use. Also this is a new machine I built as a gaming machine also so VM installs would not work either for that. I will try this method out Luke and let you know. Also I thought I was always registered for years with Neowin but I guess I was not. I love the site and reading the forums.

[The Evil Overlord]

Thank you Luke. I am doing full installs and I do not want to do VM installs as I am doing a work at home call center job that requires xp and 7 and they can not be VM installs and also I would like to install fully windows 8 just to have to use. Also this is a new machine I built as a gaming machine also so VM installs would not work either for that. I will try this method out Luke and let you know. Also I thought I was always registered for years with Neowin but I guess I was not. I love the site and reading the forums.

In that case, wouldn't 3 separate machines suit you better (2 lower powered ones as well as your main one?) then attatch them to a switching box, then to your monitor (s) ?

[+BudMan MVC]

"that requires xp and 7 and they can not be VM installs"

Says who? Your hardware is exactly the same as your callers for help? Then no it does not matter if on hardware or VM if you needing to be able to test/take screenshots/etc of the OS the user is using to help/troubleshoot an issue they are having.

So someone is going to call you and your going to boot their OS.. What are you using to manage the call, a different machine?

This is also your "gaming" box?? Yeah that is not a good idea you would be using for work..

Nice with VM, is you could clone and roll it back after doing anything you might need to help troubleshoot, like install software, change settings, etc. etc..

a VM is a better solution for any sort of call center for a bajillion reasons over a dual/tri/quad type setup..

For starters you can have ones with different configs, like different SP, different IE versions 6,7,8.9,10 -- need version X of java.. Great start from clean, install version. Done roll back to snapshot before you installed that. You need a new one -- click click your now have a clone of your clean machine that you can infect with a virus duplicate a uers problem.. When done - delete and that never happened. Oh your worried about said virus infecting something else - no big deal, disconnect the VM network card and access it via console, while you work in the main os still on the internet looking into issues, talking with others on neowin to help you, etc. etc..

This is EXACTLY where a VM would shine vs bare metel install of the OS.

[blerk]

Thank you Luke. I am doing full installs and I do not want to do VM installs as I am doing a work at home call center job that requires xp and 7 and they can not be VM installs and also I would like to install fully windows 8 just to have to use. Also this is a new machine I built as a gaming machine also so VM installs would not work either for that. I will try this method out Luke and let you know. Also I thought I was always registered for years with Neowin but I guess I was not. I love the site and reading the forums.

 

I'm just curious as to what prevents the use of a VM. Surely not anything performance related with the machine that you've described... And if you're concerned about game compatibility with Windows 8 vs. older games - surely the number of games that are not compatible is rather small?

[speed45]

There is certain software from different clients I get connected with the at home call center job which some can run with 7 and most run with XP.I have had several others that do this try VM install's and they do not work I do not know why I have not done this position yet. But anyway I want to use Windows 8 also myself to try out and get used to and there is no need for a reason why for all of this and I understand VM Install's would be a better option but I am not looking into this option at the moment. Later on I will be doing ESXi option. I appreciate everyones help on this and for the gaming part I will be using this at times when I am not working.

[+BudMan MVC]

" have had several others that do this try VM install's and they do not work"

"Later on I will be doing ESXi option"

So which is it - vm's don't work or they do work?

Good Luck I guess.

[BeerFan]

If you really have to do all 3 physical, just make 3 partitions as suggested and start by installing XP to the first.

 

But also as suggested, VM's are really the way to go here.  VM's will work perfectly fine and give you full functionality if you learn how to configure and use them properly. Start by installing Win8 to your SSD, then install the included Hyper-V features.  Then, you can set up as many other OS's as you have space and RAM for.  I keep all my VM hard disks on a separete HDD from my OS SSD drive to save space.  And I've started using the Remote Dekstop App (published by Microsoft) from the Windows 8 Store to quickly switch between all of them.

[Ambroos]

I'd be surprised if you can still get XP to work without issues on recent hardware. It's really an old OS now, I doubt there are much drivers available and you'll be limited to 4GB RAM. And XP is losing support in a year, it'll be a security mess after that.

[Jose_49]

I'd suggest to grab another hard drive for storage purposes. Those triple installations are going to eat that 240GB SSD very quick!

 

Edit: Never Mind. I see that you misspelled the 2TB hard drive.

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

What motherboard do you have? you might have no choice but to use VM's depending on the driver support for Windows XP.

Something else to keep in mind, unless you use 64bit Windows XP your going to be limited to around 3gb of your 24gb of ram when using XP.

Are you not going to spend all day booting between different OS's if not? Your in Windows 8, your first call of the day is about Windows XP, so you boot in to XP, your next call is about Windows 7, so you boot in to that, then next your back to XP... i can see that getting annoying fast if your getting a lot of calls.