XP / Vista dual-boot question

Honey9036

Hi there

I had Windows XP installed on one partition of one hard drive of my PC. I then installed Windows Vista onto an empty partition.

Vista enabled a boot-up menu which lets me choose between XP and Vista.

Everything is fine with that.

But I now want to reclaim the partition with Vista installed on it (because I tend to mostly use XP, and basically now need the extra space for storage).

So my question is this: if I delete and/or reformat the partition with Vista on it, what will happen to the boot-up menu? In fact, where is the boot-up info stored? Is it on the Vista partition? Or somewhere else?

I don't want to go ahead and delete everything from the Vista partition if that means I can no longer boot into Windows XP normally.

I hope that makes sense? Thanks in advance for any replies.

Lori
x

Its-A-New-Age-Thing

reading between the lines here u have no interest in vista (great choice by the way as its certainly a pile of crap), and only want to use XP,

now bearin this in mind why not reformat your pc with just an xp disc in it?

then you will boot into xp

ALL THE TIME

:money::money::money:

Honey9036

Its-A-New-Age-Thing wrote: »

reading between the lines here u have no interest in vista (great choice by the way as its certainly a pile of crap), and only want to use XP,

now bearin this in mind why not reformat your pc with just an xp disc in it?

then you will boot into xp

ALL THE TIME

:money::money::money:

Thanks for such a speedy response! :j

Yes, you're right - I don't much care for Vista.

But I'd rather avoid reformatting for now - too much hassle backing everything up and then reinstalling all my applications!! LOL! (However, if there is no getting around this then I will just reformat etc).

The XP partition has all my emails, user files, documents, applications, etc. The Vista partition only has the Vista software itself - I only ever installed it to see if I liked it or not. So there's nothing on that partition that I'd be worried about backing up.

If anyone else can help I'd be very grateful.

Thanks in advance.

Lori

Its-A-New-Age-Thing

Honey9036 wrote: »

Thanks for such a speedy response! :j

Yes, you're right - I don't much care for Vista.

But I'd rather avoid reformatting for now - too much hassle backing everything up and then reinstalling all my applications!! LOL! (However, if there is no getting around this then I will just reformat etc).

The XP partition has all my emails, user files, documents, applications, etc. The Vista partition only has the Vista software itself - I only ever installed it to see if I liked it or not. So there's nothing on that partition that I'd be worried about backing up.

If anyone else can help I'd be very grateful.

Thanks in advance.

Lori

Now i only gave u a speedy responce as your 30 miles away from me,

and i feel sorry for glasgow people lol

what program did u use to do ure partition?

particion magick or a another?

it sounds like vista is the controling os, messing about with it unless your VERY CAREFUL,

may cause you to screw your pc right up,

id be backin my data up to a hard drive and reinstallin it,

but ive only been buildin pcs since windows 95, so to be fair im not that great with them..........

Honey9036

Its-A-New-Age-Thing wrote: »

Now i only gave u a speedy responce as your 30 miles away from me,

and i feel sorry for glasgow people lol

what program did u use to do ure partition?

particion magick or a another?

it sounds like vista is the controling os, messing about with it unless your VERY CAREFUL,

may cause you to screw your pc right up,

id be backin my data up to a hard drive and reinstallin it,

but ive only been buildin pcs since windows 95, so to be fair im not that great with them..........

LOL!! A fellow Scot!

I think if I remember correctly I just used FDISK to create the partitions when the HD was brand new. If not that, then I created the partitions during the XP install. But I definitely didn't use Partition Magic or anything like that (not that I've got anything against them).

I'm very grateful for your advice by the way!

I think, as you said, I should probably back-up everything that I need before trying anything silly.

I guess I had just been hoping that someone would say something like "Oh yes, the boot-up thingy is stored in the boot sector on your HD, so it won't be affected if you reformat the Vista partition - so fill your boots!". LOL!

Lori
x

Its-A-New-Age-Thing

its just less risky Lori, im just a bit of a sad case when it comes to pc's, messin about with them for to many years,

i use to have win98/xp/vista as my particion,

you really dont need vista in your life, win7 has a lot more promise to it,

how do u use your pc anyway?

i have mine connected through my hd cable into my 52 inch lcd, so flip a scart channel and online shoppin via the big screen makes a big difference and saves you burning lots of dvds u can just watch movie file straight from your pc that way etc,

id reccomend that setup if your not already using it,

i wouldnt recommend titin about with the particion, as if u mess it up ill feel responsible so ill let someone else tell you and my concience is clear

:A

Honey9036

Woohoo! Just wanted to say that I think I've found a solution. I've not tried it yet, but it looks like just the thing I need.

Here's a clipping of what it says:

"If you decide that dual-booting Vista and XP is not for you, EasyBCD lets you wind back the clock.


All you have to do is remove Vista’s boot manager – go to “Manage Bootloader”, select “Uninstall the Vista Bootloader” and then “Write MBR”. Restart the machine and that’s it – the XP boot loader is the only one left on the system and XP loads. You can then delete the Vista partition and use GParted to re-extend the partition to take up the entire disk, or the Extend command in Vista DISKPART."


'EasyBCD' is a small program that you download which enables editing of the bootloader etc.


I'll try it tomorrow. Time for bed now! I feel quite happy that my semi-numb brain has worked it out.


Thanks again for your help!


Lori
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Its-A-New-Age-Thing

No probs, brave brave soul, lol

nahh im sure itll be fine

make sure you back ure most important data up first though!!!

Honey9036

Its-A-New-Age-Thing wrote: »

how do u use your pc anyway?

i have mine connected through my hd cable into my 52 inch lcd, so flip a scart channel and online shoppin via the big screen makes a big difference and saves you burning lots of dvds u can just watch movie file straight from your pc that way etc,

:A

That sounds amazing! I think I'll look into that.

Lori
x

Its-A-New-Age-Thing

Honey9036 wrote: »

That sounds amazing! I think I'll look into that.

Lori
x

very simple drop me a pm one time and ill talk you through it, you dont even need to use a hd cable my graphics card is just a really good one, but i need it for the stuff i do lol

ure normal monitor lcd cable would do u though,

instead of pluggin ure desktop into ure normal pc monitor you will find most large screen lcds have the same connection so just plug ure pc with the "same cable" into your telly instead (lcd that is)

night night



ps: dont forget a wireless keyboard an mouse i control mine from my corner suite no cables and hide my base unit in a mirrored sideboard!!

alexlyne

A quick tip for anyone thinking about dual booting - but will use only one OS for the majority of work. If you have two separate hard drives, disconnect one and install the first OS, then disconnect this drive, reconnect the other and install the second OS. Then have them both plugged in and use the BIOS settings to select the primary HDD - every time you boot you will have that OS and if you need the other, it's a simple BIOS change. It works for me!