Sharing MS Office with XP & Win7

[tech_girl]

Recently I bought a 160GB HDD for my laptop, and I had 4 partitions on it. First partition, I have XP, and the second partition I have Win7. The third partition is FAT32 to be used mainly for transferring of data (between linux and windows) and installing of programs. The last partition is reserved for Ubuntu, currently is still not set up.

There are a few programs that I have installed on the third partition, which XP and Win7 are sharing. For now, all the programs are installed while I was in XP, and then created shortcuts in Win7 partition to make use of the programs. I do understand that not all programs can work this way. Question: Is it possible to install MS Office 2007 on the FAT32 partition for such sharing?

My apologies if this has been answered before. I tried googling but was unable to find any answers.

Edited March 1, 2010 by tech_girl

[nitroshift]

Short answer: No.

[Ponch]

I do understand that not all programs can work this way.

Most programs don't work this way. Thoser who do are called "portable" or "portable versions".

[jaclaz]

Short answer: YES.

The point is that you need to install the same program TWICE, one from XP and one from Windows 7, using the SAME "target" (the third partition).

The files copied to the third partition will be overwritten by the second install by an identical copy of themselves, but each OS will have the right settings.

Each "system" volume (and Registry) will have the appropriate "general entries" and the "mass" of the program will be installed on the "OS agnostic", "third", FAT32 partition (though of course if we are talking of dual booting XP and 7 there is no need for it to be FAT32, it can be NTFS as well).

Most, if not all, programs will work this way.

jaclaz

Edited March 1, 2010 by jaclaz

[tech_girl]

Thanks for your input. Hmmm...but just to confirm will MS Office 2007 install and work alright on FAT32 then?

Edited March 1, 2010 by tech_girl

[jaclaz]

Hmmm...but just to confirm will MS Office 2007 install and work alright on FAT32 then?

Sure , why shouldn't it?

... unless of course you are planning to create an Excel or Word file exceeding 4 Gb in size ...

jaclaz

[Ponch]

Jaclaz you're a bully.

Things may work the way you describe, but not "this way" as described in the original post.

all the programs are installed while I was in XP, and then created shortcuts in Win7 partition to make use of the programs. I do understand that not all programs can work this way.

[jaclaz]

Jaclaz you're a bully.

Sure I am, and a pretty darned tough and picky one, if you want to know.

Wanna make something of it?

You can see how in the OP there is one question (you can see it is a question by the fact that it has "Question:" prepended to it and has one of those strange little hook signs we technicians call "question marks" at the end:

Question: Is it possible to install MS Office 2007 on the FAT32 partition for such sharing?

We use, as a sign of courtesy and politeness to other members to answer their questions, which is what I did .

Try looking at it again:

Question: Is it possible to install MS Office 2007 on the FAT32 partition for such sharing?

Short answer: YES.

The point is that you need to install the same program TWICE, one from XP and one from Windows 7, using the SAME "target" (the third partition).

The files copied to the third partition will be overwritten by the second install by an identical copy of themselves, but each OS will have the right settings.

Each "system" volume (and Registry) will have the appropriate "general entries" and the "mass" of the program will be installed on the "OS agnostic", "third", FAT32 partition (though of course if we are talking of dual booting XP and 7 there is no need for it to be FAT32, it can be NTFS as well).

Most, if not all, programs will work this way.

Is it starting to make some sense to you, now?

And no, though the last character in the above is again a little hook sign, you don't have to answer, it is a rhetorical question:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_question

for which I don't want/need your answer.

jaclaz

[tech_girl]

Hi guys,

Thanks for taking time out to answer my question(s)...

I certainly did not think of installing twice! Im grateful that jaclaz has clarified and more on his part.

But thanks to Ponch for answering my question too.