Win 7 dual boot

[ozarkopa]

I see a lot of info on dual booting vista/XP:

Win 7/XP, but I don't see anything about dual

booting Win 7 32bit and 64 bit.

My computer came with 7 home premium installed,

64 bit, with a 750 Gb SATA HD. XP doesn't recognize

the hard drive, also popsup a message saying the

system I am trying to install is older thatn the

current operating system. Yes it is!

Wanted to dual boot XP, in order to use some of

my older applications. Due to the above, I got

7 Ultimate so as to be able to use the XP Mode

feature.

I installed a second SATA drive; did a fresh

install of Ultimate with hopes of having a dual

boot system. No such luck. I have to go to F12

to select boot option, now computer doesn't boot

to the second hard drive when it is selected.

I want to retain the original 64 bit syatem

until I'm sure I can get SATA drivers for XP

sllp streamed to my original XP disk. Then

will go to Ultimate 32 bit and XP Pro.

If anyone out there can give me some eastily

understood advice (I'm 76 years old) I would

be forever grateful.

My computer is an eMachines ET1331G-03W,

serial number PTNBA020019350C2332700.

Mother board is MCP61PM-GM. BIOS is AMI PO1-AO.

Thanks for looking.

[ChiefZeke]

The procedure usually followed in installing operating systems for dual- or multi-boot is start with the older operating system first and work your way up. Assuming no operating system installed and you have one or more hard drive installed do this:

Partition the drive(s) in enough pieces for the number of OS's to be installed. Boot from the XP CD and install it to a drive/partition of your choosing. When satisfied with that installtion boot from the Win7 32-bit DVD and install it in a different partition of your choosing. When that is done succesfully boot from the Win7 64-bit DVD and install it in another partition of your choosing. If you created three when you started it should be the last available partition. When satisifed and you now reboot you will be presented with a menu; Win7 twice and Earlier Version of Windows (selecting this one gets your XP).

Find and download EasyBCD and use it to label the two Win7's, i.e. Win7 32-bit and Win7 64-bit so the menu will offer a selection.

I have XP Pro w/SP3, XP Pro x64 w/SP2, Win7 32-bit, and Win7 64-bit installed.

[cannie]

My computer came with 7 home premium installed,64 bit....

If your computer came with any preinstalled 64 bits Windows 7 version you won't most probably find any SATA drivers at all for XP, not even for Windows XP 64 bits or any Linux OS, I'm afraid. IMHO the manufactured hardware is made just and only for Windows 7.

Edited August 8, 2010 by cannie

[cannie]

My computer came with 7 home premium installed, 64 bit, with a 750 Gb SATA HD. ....Wanted to dual boot XP, in order to use some of my older applications.

I forgot suggesting you the possibility of trying the Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bits version. Compatibility is much wider than on 64 bits.

Good luck!