m4rk's dual boot (XP / 7) laptop project

[m4rk]

Evening all,

Just registered after ending up here from the nLite "forum" link.

I have a story to tell ..........

My old laptop is on its last legs so I decided to by a new one.

I am now the proud (?) owner of a HP Pavillion g6 running Windows 7 Home Premium.

All was well until I started looking into installing some of the software that I currently have on my old laptop. I then discover that some of it will not run on Windows 7 !

So I then thought I would be clever and create a "dual boot" laptop. I could have XP and 7 installed, put my old XP software on the XP part and then any new software I buy can be installed on the Windows 7 part. Easy ! erm .... no !

So I stick my old XP CD in the CD drive, re-boot the laptop, the XP installation fires up and then BANG, the old BSOD !

So a bit of googling later and I find out that this is probably because my new laptop has a SATA HDD and there are no SATA drivers in XP. No problem as the web page I am reading tells me to boot into the BIOS setup and tick a box to enable / emulate (I can't remember the exact term) the old IDE HDDs of the past and hey presto all will be OK.

But .... it turns out that my laptop has a special "locked down" version of the BIOS which prevents access to any meaningful settings at all.

More googling later and I end up at the nLite website. I think that this is my only hope to achieve what I am looking to do.

If I have read things correctly, I believe that I can create a new bootable XP CD that contains the necessary SATA drivers that will allow me to continue on my quest !

Before I go any further, can someone confirm that this is the case and that this is the way that I should be heading to save me from any further disappointment (or at least lessen the impact a bit !).

I also understand that I should "integrate" SP3 at the same time as my CD is only SP2.

Oh and the SATA drivers are the AMD ones not the INTEL ones but that is a step further down the line.

If this is the correct path to follow I will document my project here for others to reference. I hear that you lot are very friendly so please be gentle with the latest "noob".

Thanks for reading !

m4rk

[puntoMX]

Look for ACHI in the BIOS, that could help, but you might need to do some tricks to to get XP installed when Seven is already there. Integrating ACHI drivers could work too if you don't have the BIOS option to set ACHI to IDE.

Now, you can run some older apps in compatibility mode as well in Seven, did you try that?

[GrofLuigi]

@m4rk:

This might be the topic for you (in the nLite forum): Integration of AMD / ATI SB7XX textmode RAID / AHCI drivers on an XP. Take the drivers from this post.

For a more detailed explanation of the procedure, look at the first post of the sticky topic Integration of Intel's SATA AHCI and RAID drivers. Of course, disregard all references to INTEL.

But it would be nice if you can post more details about your pc than just "HP Pavillion g6" (I see there are many different models). Is there any other number after it? Or can you find/share any other details about the chipset?

GL

Edited August 11, 2011 by GrofLuigi

[hotpants]

I would personally install Windows XP Mode on Windows 7. Through the windows xp mode you could run your legacy applications in Windows 7. Have a look at this website for more info:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx

Cheers

[jaclaz]

If I have read things correctly, I believe that I can create a new bootable XP CD that contains the necessary SATA drivers that will allow me to continue on my quest !

Before I go any further, can someone confirm that this is the case and that this is the way that I should be heading to save me from any further disappointment (or at least lessen the impact a bit !).

Yep.

Most probably you will also need some other drivers integrated.

DriverPacks:

http://driverpacks.net/

provide a "wide range" of drivers (but of course size of install media will grow).

Or you can use nlite to integrate the single drivers that you need for your laptop.

About SP3, I would integrate/slipstream it manually before adding the drivers.

Remember that Rule #1 of nlite is:

NEVER run nlite using as source the result of a previous nlite session, always start from an "untouched-by-nlite" source and do everything in one "pass".

jaclaz

[m4rk]

Thanks for all the replies !

@puntoMX - BIOS is not an option, it is well and truly "locked down" pretty much the only thing i can edit is the boot order and the date & time ! Very frustrating ! The plan is also to wipe the new laptop, partition the HDD, put XP on it first, then install 7 which should give me the dual boot option.

@puntoMX and @hotpants - I have been told by the software manufacturers that it will not work in Windows 7 or XP compatibility mode.

@GrofLuigi - Thanks for the links, this was just a first post so I was only being general with the laptop info. I'll post the laptop exact model no. etc. in one of my future posts I am sure, when I start the process and when I have more questions to ask (of which I am sure there will be plenty !)

@jaclaz - thanks for the "yep", and the other info.

OK so , next question .......

Is it correct that I should create an XP CD on an XP machine ? and that it won't work if i try and do it on my Windows 7 machine ?

Thanks again,

m4rk

[GrofLuigi]

Is it correct that I should create an XP CD on an XP machine ?

If you can, by all means YES.

and that it won't work if i try and do it on my Windows 7 machine ?

MAYBE. Some have reported it has worked for them, some it didn't. But it is almost certain that slipstreaming SP3 won't work if done on Win7. Also, the resulting CD might not accept your original product key. (Maybe also if slipstreamed on XP - Microsoft has blacklisted some product keys between SP2 and SP3. But for now, disregard this comment of mine and try. I don't want to add more confusion... yet. Most probably, everything will be OK if done on XP).

GL

[jaclaz]

Since you have the original XP CD and it's key, advised is to temporarily install it on any VM (for some reasons I use Qemu+Qemu Manager, but any of Virtual PC, VmWare, Virtualbox, etc. will do nicely as well) and do all slipstreaming and nlite operation in the VM. (you don't actually need to have SP3 installed to the VM, your plainSP2 will do nicely).

Then, test the the result in the VM first.

jaclaz

[m4rk]

@jaclaz :

OK I think I am confused already !

So I install Virtualbox (looks the most straight forward, and free !) on my Windows 7 machine ? then load XP from my CD as the guest OS ?

Now, will the CD install as I have this SATA issue with the windows 7 machine / XP drivers ?

If it will, I am not sure how I can then test the new CD that I create with nlite because that is the reason that I need to create the CD to make it work with SATA / XP ?

m4rk

[jaclaz]

So I install Virtualbox (looks the most straight forward, and free !) on my Windows 7 machine ? then load XP from my CD as the guest OS ?

Well, the most straightforward IMHO is Qemu (+Qemu Manager) stiil free:

http://www.davereyn.co.uk/download.htm

Now, will the CD install as I have this SATA issue with the windows 7 machine / XP drivers ?

A Virtual Machine, besides being "Virtual" is a "Machine", sporting it's own (Virtual) hardware, so you need to have in the OS you are going to install (the XP in your case) the actual drivers for the Virtual Machine Hardware.

Obviously all VM's have drivers for their hardware for XP, the advantage of Qemu is that it uses "standard" hardware for which the drivers are already inside the XP CD and you don't have to add anythng else.

Please note how Qemu is/will be slower than more "optimized" VM's, like Virtualbox or Virtual PC, but in this specific case speed (or lack of it) won't be a problem, when compared to the simplified setup.

The actual advantage of Virtualbox and other VM's is that it is easier with them to "exchange" data betwenn the VM and the "real" machine, as they provide some "extensions/apps" to that effect.

If it will, I am not sure how I can then test the new CD that I create with nlite because that is the reason that I need to create the CD to make it work with SATA / XP ?

Basically the idea is the following:

• you install Qemu (+Qemu Manager)
  
• you create a new virtual hard disk for it (it is a guided procedure) a size of 5 Gb should be adequate do use the RAW option as format for the virtual hard disk.
  
• you add the .iso of your XP CD as cd-rom device for the VM
  
• you select it as first boot device
  
• you start the VM and install XP in it "normally".
  
• you shut down the VM
  
• you mount the virtual hard disk through a hard disk image mounting program, IMDISK is advised for your case.
  
• you copy to the mounted disk image all you need, like nlite, the SP3 etc.
  
• you unmount the Virtual disk, start the VM and operate "normally" in it slipstreaming the SP3 and nliting whatever
  
• once you have created the .iso you test it in another VM until you are satisfied by the result
  

Once virtual tests are OK, you burn the .iso and test it on the "real machine".

jaclaz