How to setup a dual boot


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I have WIN 7 as main os.

I need to put XP on for a dual boot (have a program that I need to run in a 32 bit os).

How do I get the dual boot going? I have 15 gig free partition. 7 is already installed.

Do I just boot up with windows xp disc, and go from there?

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If your pc is a AMD64 system, you can't run 32bit programs unless you use an emulator

Wrong. AMD64 processors are x86 compatible. 64-bit versions of Windows drop 16-bit application compatibility to reduce support overhead, a 32-bit version of Windows will still support and run 16-bit applications natively on the processor. The rule of thumb on dual boot is that installing the oldest OS first followed by the most recent will automatically detect and setup the dual boot for you.

To edit the existing boot options, you may want to give EasyBCD a try. Else, google BCDEDIT.exe and you can find instructions for using the default Windows boot editor. I haven't used the tools myself or I'd offer more details.

Edited by Budious
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If your pc is a AMD64 system, you can't run 32bit programs unless you use an emulator

It depends on the OS, I have AMD64 and run 32bit Vista and 7.

But to the OP I think you have to install XP then 7, that's what you had to do with Vista and XP.

7 -> Vista -> XP (I guess)

Unless you get Linux and install GRUB, it works fine with that.

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I have an intel processor for what it's worth.

So installing XP now that I have 7 64bit running, will not work?

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I have an intel processor for what it's worth.

So installing XP now that I have 7 64bit running, will not work?

You can install it just fine. The dual booting part becomes a little tricky.

Partition the drive.

Install XP on the new partition. Going through the GUI reboot and everything.

At this point, XP erased the Windows 7 bootloader, so just stick the Win 7 disc back in and do a repair. Most of the time, it'll catch the new XP install and will have the dual boot option ready to go. If it doesn't then you'll have to manually add it using Easy BCD or if you're technical enough through BCDedit.

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