dual boot Vista RC1 and XP

caspol

Hi all, I am interested in trying out Vista RC1 but don't want to just install it over my current XP pro as there is no way back without a fresh install of XP. I have read a couple of things online about dual-booting the two OS's and just wondered has anyone here done this already and how it has gone???

sco0ter

I have a dual boot XP home and Vista RC2. Everything works fine.

caspol

hi scoOter, did you put Vista on separate primary partition or separate hard drive? Any idea how much space it takes for install as well...lastly did u have any driver issues for any of your devices, if so what? Sorry for so many questions and thanks for your help ~>

sco0ter

I installed it on my D drive. Vista will automatically switch drive letters depending what system is selected to boot. With RC1 I had loads of problems with drivers (MAINLY WIRLESS NETWORK). Not had one problem with RC2, everything was installed automatically except for my soundblaster audigy that vista downloaded on its first connection to the internet. Cant remember how much the initial install took but Im pretty sure it was 15GB

caspol

Great, thanks for the info...i am a plonker, as i meant RC2. will try it later today and see how i get on

sco0ter

Any probs give me a shout and I will see what I can do

albertross_2

You could always try it as a virtual pc..

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.mspx

caspol

yes i have virtual pc installed but i find that OS's run quite slowly so you don't really get a good idea of how fast/slow it is or how it might run in real life. I have a second partition and just in the process of moving data off it to external drive temporarily. thanks anyway for suggestion

Poppycat

You can actually go back to xp from a dual boot when you have xp and Vista I did it as I couldnt get network, epson r300 printer and sblive card to work on rc1. I just repiared the boot sector

caspol

Hi all, installed and working fine so far. It didn't pick up drivers for my external usb sound card but i didn't really expect it to - installed from CD and all going good. The only problem i have had is that when it goes into standby it won't respond/ Anyone else have this problem??