Duel Boot

aardvaak

I have a laptop running Win 10 can I split the C drive and install Windows XP Pro as I have the full program so I can then run Flight Sim 98?

esuhl

aardvaak wrote: »

I have a laptop running Win 10 can I split the C drive and install Windows XP Pro as I have the full program so I can then run Flight Sim 98?

Yes, but re-sizing partitions isn't totally risk-free, so make absolutely sure you have everything backed up first.

GParted is the best, most reliable, partitioning tool I've found if you have problems. You can boot it from a live CD/USB image.

https://gparted.org/

When you install XP, it will overwrite the Win10 boot record, so you'll have to manually repair the Win10 MBR. This will restore the Win10 bootloader, which will detect XP and add it to the boot menu, so you can select which OS to boot in future.

https://neosmart.net/wiki/fix-mbr/#Fix_the_MBR_in_Windows_10

This is based on MBR/BIOS systems. I presume it's pretty much the same for UEFI.

aardvaak

esuhl wrote: »

Yes, but re-sizing partitions isn't totally risk-free, so make absolutely sure you have everything backed up first.

GParted is the best, most reliable, partitioning tool I've found if you have problems. You can boot it from a live CD/USB image.

https://gparted.org/

When you install XP, it will overwrite the Win10 boot record, so you'll have to manually repair the Win10 MBR. This will restore the Win10 bootloader, which will detect XP and add it to the boot menu, so you can select which OS to boot in future.

https://neosmart.net/wiki/fix-mbr/#Fix_the_MBR_in_Windows_10

This is based on MBR/BIOS systems. I presume it's pretty much the same for UEFI.

Thank you for your reply, is there any other way I can run Flight Sim 98 on a Win 10 boot?

Frozen_up_north

A much easier (and safer) solution to running legacy software, is to install Virtual Box (https://www.virtualbox.org/), then install your other system inside the V/B. Virtual Box (and, if needed, the extension pack) is free and well supported.

I run 32 bit Windows XP on a 64 bit Windows PC, including serial port and printers in a virtual box. The XP installation can be isolated from the network and therefore doesn’t need anti-virus or updates, it runs like greased lightning.

aardvaak

Frozen_up_north wrote: »

A much easier (and safer) solution to running legacy software, is to install Virtual Box (https://www.virtualbox.org/), then install your other system inside the V/B. Virtual Box (and, if needed, the extension pack) is free and well supported.

I run 32 bit Windows XP on a 64 bit Windows PC, including serial port and printers in a virtual box. The XP installation can be isolated from the network and therefore doesn’t need anti-virus or updates, it runs like greased lightning.

Thank you so do I download VB then save XP to VB - would I still have the problem on Win 10 being over written?

System

Dual booting XP and Win10 is very unlikely to work because of a lack of drivers for Windows XP meaning you're going to be stuck in 640x480 unaccelerated VGA graphics, probably also have no sound nor network.

Windows 10 has a compatibility mode so you could try installing and running the software using that first.

https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/set-compatibility-mode-windows-10

Assuming that doesn't work then it is better to go down the virtual PC route as suggested above. Virtual Box, VMWare and others are an application that creates a "virtual PC" that as far as what OS you install on it is concerned is a real computer but actually only exists as a file on the hard drive. It runs within Windows 10 or whatever you normally run.

esuhl

aardvaak wrote: »

Thank you for your reply, is there any other way I can run Flight Sim 98 on a Win 10 boot?

I presume you've tried installing the flight sim on Win10, and it didn't work?


VirtualBox (as suggested above), or you could see if the compatibility settings mean it can run.

https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/set-compatibility-mode-windows-10


EDIT: Whoa! Snap, Tarambor! You can obviously type faster than me! :-D

aardvaak wrote: »

Thank you so do I download VB then save XP to VB - would I still have the problem on Win 10 being over written?

You download, install and run VirtualBox. You then create a "virtual machine", which will run as a window inside Win10 with whatever operating system you install into it (e.g. XP).

If you maximise the window, it will look like your computer is running XP. But actually XP is running "inside" Windows 10.

S0litaire

aardvaak wrote: »

Thank you so do I download VB then save XP to VB - would I still have the problem on Win 10 being over written?

In your case using a Virtual Machine (Virtual Box) your XP install will go to a dedicated file that mimics a hard drive for the XP system.

So you will NOT loose anything other than a few Gb of disk space.

It's quick and easy:
Just down and install Virtual Box

Then use it's setup wizard to create a Virtual Machine (select XP in the first page of the wizard for the correct defaults)

You then use your XP install CD or image file to install into the Virtual machine.

esuhl

Tarambor wrote: »

Dual booting XP and Win10 is very unlikely to work because of a lack of drivers for Windows XP meaning you're going to be stuck in 640x480 unaccelerated VGA graphics, probably also have no sound nor network.

Yeah... What's the model of your laptop, aardvark?

Frozen_up_north wrote: »

The XP installation can be isolated from the network and therefore doesn’t need anti-virus or updates, it runs like greased lightning.

XP runs incredibly fast in a virtual machine... But I find that a lot of games and graphics-intensive programs don't run (or run badly). I suspect there might be problems running a flight sim in a VM, but it's worth a try.

PRAISETHESUN

I'd also recommend the VM route... had some good fun setting up a MS-DOS machine to play classic games last year

Neil_Jones

The other advantage to the virtual machine is you can back up the "hard drive" (ie the image file that the virtual machine uses) and move it to another machine. A virtual machine only ties itself to the virtual hardware which for Windows booting purposes is identical anyway save for network adapters on the host and maybe sound, but apart from that it's transferable.