Dual Boot Windows XP Pro, Win2000 Pro

Win2K needs to be installed first. If you want it on the 20 gig drive you will have to install that drive as the master and configure the 40 gig as the slave. Then install Win2k on the master and re-install XP on the slave. I don't know if Dell gives you a copy of XP or just a system restore disk but if it's a system restore disk then my idea won't work.

I want to have 2 hard drives, not do anything to the Windows XP Pro drive, install a new hard drive with windows 2000 Pro, and when I turn on the machine be able to choose between which OS to boot to. I do not want to do anything to the Windows XPdrive. I was thinking of disconnecting the XP drive, making the new drive a master and install win2k pro on it and than disconnect it and reconnect the xp drive as master and slave the win2k pro drive to it, will that work??

This should be relatively simple providing you have all the necessary drivers for Win2k. All you need to do is install the 2nd drive into your computer and set it up as the slave. Then partition it and format it with whatever disk format you choose NTFS/Fat/Fat32. Then place the Win2k Cd into the CD-ROM drive and allow the setup to run off the CD. Make sure during the setup that you change the location it specifies from the master drive to the slave drive. Once setup completes you will re-boot and you should get two options before the OS loads, one being Windows XP and below it Windows 2000. Just highlight and press enter for the one you wish to boot into.

Look sport, it ain't that easy. Read this:
HOW TO: Create a Multiple-Boot System in Windows XP (Q306559)

Saihib,

Thanks for the information. After reading the info in Microsoft's knowledge
base the info in the second paragraph seems to be the only information
pertinent to what I want to do. It says "In general" to install the latest OS
last, which is what you suggested, but how is the computer going to know if I
just slave the 20GB drive to the 40GB drive, partition it and load Win2k on
it? Wouldn't I be able to do this? I am not sure about if Dell gives a restore
disk or a full version of Windows XP. I am doing this for a friend and haven't
seen the setup yet or I would have already tried both your suggestion and the
other guy's on Techrepublic's web site. This is what Microsoft says:

Computers Containing Multiple Windows 2000 or Windows XP Partitions
Before installing Windows 2000 and Windows XP on the same machine, you need to
prepare your system with different partitions (a process that divides a hard
disk into separate sections that can be formatted for use by a file system.
Partitions typically have different drive letters such as C or D).

One OS per partition
It?s important to install each operating system on a different partition and
install the applications used with each operating system on the same partition
as the OS. If an application is used with two different operating systems,
install it on two partitions. Placing each operating system in a separate
partition ensures that it will not overwrite crucial files used by the other
OS.

Install Latest OS Last
In general, you should install the most recent OS last?after you have installed
all other operating systems on the target computer. In this case, you should
install Windows 2000 and then install Windows XP.

Again, thanks for your suggestions!!

Dave

swamptek@bellsouth

To setup the Dual Boot w/Windows XP already on the system

Install the second hard drive in the system as the slave drive by configuring the Pins located on the back of the drive

Using the W2K2 setupup disk,
Insert disk 1 in the floppy and follow the onscreen instructions,you will get to point of setup to insert the CD ROM in drive,during this part of setup you will be prompted the partition to install W2K you will then select the drive to install the second operating system,select the drive and continue to follow the onscreen instructions,once setup is complete you will reboot and see screen to choose which operating system to boot into

You can't put in the drive with windows 2000 allready installed on it. The computer will only recognize it as a second drive. If you are installing from the bootable CD or the floppies when it asks where you want to install just point it to your newdrive and let it install. After installing you will then get a menu at bootup asking you which opperating system you want to boot to.

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