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  • #2186453

    Windows XP

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    by ray_willavise ·

    I have an external hard drive which I’ve formatted NTFS with 4 primary partitions. My laptop is running XP Home Edition. All I want to do is install XP Pro onto one of the partitions. I’m going to install Server 2003 on another partition as well but first things first.
    How do I install XP pro onto one of these partitions and sorry If I sound thick?

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    • #3151659

      Reply To: Windows XP

      by nilt ·

      In reply to Windows XP

      While you can dual boot 2003 and XP if you install 2003 *after* XP, I’ve never tried to have XP Pro and Home on a dual boot setup. I’d expect it would work oddly at best since they’re virtually identical from a booting standpoint.

      You don’t say what you’re trying to do this for but if, as I assume, it’s for the common “I need to tinker with them all so I know how to use functions in each” reason then you should instead run the alternate OSs in a virtual machine environment. You can use Microsoft’s Virtual PC for this or you could try VMWare’s product. HEre are some links to peruse:

      http://www.vmware.com/products/player/
      http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc

      • #3153036

        Reply To: Windows XP

        by nilt ·

        In reply to Reply To: Windows XP

        Quick note to HAL. The install for XP, at least, will recognize USB devices in some cases. On a client’s system a while back I found an internal USB card to work around a dead IDE controller. I was surprised to learn Windows installed happily to it, apparently because his BIOS would allow booting to USB devices.

        I think it also depends on the USB enclosure one uses. Some are designed to show up as permanent drives and some as Removable Storage. This seems to be key to Windows installing to them as well as some older imaging apps (Drive Image 6, say) wanting to deal with them.

      • #3160845

        Reply To: Windows XP

        by ray_willavise ·

        In reply to Reply To: Windows XP

        By way…i have posted another question about installing server 2003 onto a 40gb usb lacie ext drive connected to me laptop. Is it possible? Ive got so far but it gives an error message…which i posted on my other….post.

    • #3151599
      Avatar photo

      Reply To: Windows XP

      by hal 9000 ·

      In reply to Windows XP

      I don’t know if you can do this as the Windows Installer doesn’t reconise a USB or Firewire Drive in it’s setup. It may be possible to install the necessary drivers just like some SATS drives need by pressing the F6 key at the begining of the setup when prompted but I’m not really sure if this will work. If it was an internal drive it wouldn’t be a problem as you can install ans many copies of Windows or other OS’s to different partitions and generally not have a problem.

      Though I must admit that I’ve never tried putting XP Home & Pro on the same machine but I can’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work correctly if they are on different partitions.

      The only thing that you have to remember is that you [b]Have to keep the original Boot Drive[/b] in the computer when you have a multi Boot option setup as the first HDD has the code to point to each partition/HDD to allow itto boot if the first drive is removed or wiped you’ll be unable to use any of the other Partitions as they will lack the necessary Files to allow them to boot.

      Col

    • #3161025

      Reply To: Windows XP

      by ray_willavise ·

      In reply to Windows XP

      Both…thanks for your help and device. Think I will try the virtual PC.

    • #3160957

      Reply To: Windows XP

      by nilt ·

      In reply to Windows XP

      You bet. It’s a handy product; I use it myself daily for ensuring accurate steps and such. It’s also handy for testing possible spyware; check out the “Undo disks” function. You can essentially reimage a virtual machine simply by closing it and telling it to Delete Changes since .

      BTW, don’t forget to rate the posts here when they’re helpful. Some of us may need those for asking questions ourselves later. 🙂

    • #3160853

      Reply To: Windows XP

      by ray_willavise ·

      In reply to Windows XP

      Yes..did try doing a rating yesterday but it seemed to tell me that i have to close the question first. I dont look like there is a solution so will do so now. Again thanks for your ADvice (device!!).

    • #3160844

      Reply To: Windows XP

      by ray_willavise ·

      In reply to Windows XP

      This question was closed by the author

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