Win 7 Dual Boot With Win XP

[WalksInSilence]

When I first built my Win 7 (64bit) desktop PC my idea was to make it dual boot with WinXP and use the latter effectively to mirror my old laptop which had just died. The HDD was fine so I could copy all my data across or from other backups very easily.

Now I knew about the problems with WinXP dual booting with Win7 - in particular XP wipes Win7 restore points. That was and still is a big problem for me as the other uses for a secondary OS on the same machine is for data recovery and similar purpose in the event of a problem with the primary OS. Destroying the primary OS's restore points removes options - just what you do not want in such circumstances.

There were other issues with setting up this dual boot system ie. WinXP does not come with any native SATA Controller driver and I've never resolved that problem either: I have an installed driver, it saying it is working but...........it doesn't.  If I want to boot XP I have to swap the BIOS/UEFI to IDE support and then back again when I'm finished. Far from ideal but it is the restore points issue I'm most interested in.

There is a of of information out there about how to stop WinXP in dual boot system wiping Win7 restore points; problem is none of them work. Believe I've tried everything recommended: the OS systems were set up physically completely separate from each other on two different storage devices. The SSD and HDD concerned were disconnected for each OS install and each OS was then 'blinded' to the other's storage device post install too. I've done suggested registry edits too but nothing worked.

The only 'solution' which I came up with myself was to use mirroring backup software which allows you copy the Win7 System Volume Information folder and then reinstate it or at least the restore points from that (easier said than done). TBH I've never had the guts to even see if that works, it should in theory but it is another unwanted process I to have to go through when booting into XP. For this and other reasons I've not booted into my full XP installation now for over a year.

I installed XPMode on a VM when I realised I couldn't fix the restore point problem and that has provided most of the XP functionality I wanted with no hassle.

However I'd still be interested to read if anyone here has a Win7/XP dual boot set up and how/if they have resolved the restore point deletion issue. 

 

 

 

[Destro]

There are universal sata drivers for XP but you have to have compatible hardware.  if you do not than your issue is specific to you not to XP booting on modern hardware or to other users.  you either integrate the driver into a install source using nlite or you put it on a floppy and F6 the driver on install.  https://www.win-raid.com/t3024f45-Guide-Integration-of-AMD-s-AHCI-RAID-drivers-into-a-WinXP-W-k-CD.html

 

I dont use retore points so I never had this issue before personally I have no need to use system restore on anything because I know what I am doing.  But try this.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/127417-system-restore-points-stop-xp-dual-boot-delete.html

[WalksInSilence]

Thanks for the feedback.

That second link is pretty much the same information I found and tried to use at the time. I mentioned I used a recommended registry edit and that was it. As said it did not work.

On the other matter about the XP SATA driver - you are likely correct in that it is almost certainly an insoluble hardware (MB) XP support issue.

When I bought the Gigabyte MB (87 series) concerned I'd swear it said it was XP compatible in the listing. But I did not check and only when I started building the PC months later did I eventually notice that the instruction manual said it didn't support WinXP. However there was plenty of evidence in the manual that the MB did at one time support XP so I guess there was a base model revision at some point and I'd bought the newer version which did not.

All other XP drivers do work fine it is only the SATA Controller driver that does not; the one I finally managed to get installed was indeed one of those universal XP drivers you suggested. In fact I found it on the install disc from the previous generation of Gigabyte MBs (77 series) which did support XP and I used for my first PC build. I did not install XP on that machine.

It would have been best to integrate it with the XP OS install as you suggested. There is a point in the OS install where external drivers can be installed. The method of doing that mentions using a floppy disc but that, I assumed was just legacy matter and a more modern method, from an attached storage device or second DVD drive would have been possible. But I did not think to do that at the time.

Later I did investigate the idea of reinstalling the whole XP OS slipstreaming it and all MS  XP updates including the drivers. But the install from the earlier Gigabyte MB install disc worked. As said the Gigabyte 87 series MB PC shows it it is functioning correctly in Device Manager under XP. Consequently I thought it pointless to go through all that hassle just find out it still did not work and you'd still have to swap from AHCI to IDE before booting the XP OS or you get a blue SOD.

Conclusion: there is probably no solution because of the MB I'm using.