Considerations When Multi-Booting Windows Vista
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Multi-booting is the process of installing two or more operating systems on a single computer. Since there are some problems that can creep up in a multi-boot configuration, there are a few pointers you need to follow.
First consideration is the order of installation. It is generally recommended that you install the operating systems in a specific order. If you are multi-booting Windows Vista and an older version of Windows, the older version should be installed before Windows Vista. Generally, the rule of thumb to follow is: install the oldest version of Windows first followed by each newer version in order. So if you plan to multiboot Windows Vista and Windows 98, Windows 98 should be installed first.
You also need to consider compatibility issues. If you are multi-booting Windows Vista with an older platform such as Windows 95, you must address compatibility issues in regards to the file system. When you install Windows Vista, you can use either the FAT or NTFS file system. What you need to keep in mind is that NTFS is not supported by all versions of Windows. Therefore, any partitions that are formatted with NTFS may not be accessible when you boot under another operating system. For example, any NTFS partitions on the local computer will not be readable under Windows 95.
Yet another point to consider is basic and dynamic disks. Windows 2000 introduced the basic and dynamic disks which have been carried over to Windows Vista. Dynamic disks are not a feature that is supported by pre-Windows 2000 operating systems. When multi-booting any of these platforms with Windows Vista, they must be placed on a basic disk that is formatted with FAT. Also, any dynamic disks on the local computer will not be readable under these older versions of Windows.
So if you can remember these few points you should not run into any problems with multi-booting Windows Vista.
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6 Comments
Karl
January 13th, 2009
at 6:46am
What about with other operating system like Ubuntu or red hat fedora? I have done it many times with installing windows vista first on the primary hard drive. Then have a secondary hard drive in the same machine if it permits it. and installs ubuntu or fedora. Take a look at http://www.distrowatch.com there are at least the top 100 of linux oin that page with their links for downloads included.
Regards,
Karl
Stephen Auerbach
January 13th, 2009
at 7:21am
I tried dual booting Vista and Ubuntu. Ubuntu came up first and was the default. I wanted it the other way. I could never figure out how change that so I reformated my machine.
Never again.
Michael S.
January 13th, 2009
at 4:54pm
To make vista the default with grub as your bootloader, you must edit (/boot/grub/menu.lst). You can change the default entry to boot at startup. Also, you will need to change it after each kernel update to make vista to be the default again.
Matt Hartley
January 13th, 2009
at 5:44pm
And while the actually editing of Grub is not difficult per se, doing so without hosing it means spending some time being comfortable with .config styled files. Most people are not unfortunately and this is why I would suggest Super Grub to the newbie. If you do hose something, fixing it is not all that difficult using this tool.
http://www.supergrubdisk.org/
Michael S.
January 14th, 2009
at 10:07am
That would work too. :)
Though I’ve never used it, I’ve always just read the files to try to understand what they do and modify them according to what’s already. I never really add anything to them, just change a few settings here and there. I’ve hosed grub once or twice but I always had a live cd to get me back up on my feet so I could fix my mistake.
Live CDs are your friend. :)
Karl
January 14th, 2009
at 1:01pm
Stephan is it like what Michael had said here just change it in the bootloader and you would have been fine for that. Gor me I usually leave it as is for me my systems that I have here that I have both windows vista or Windows XP and ubuntu on it. It takes only a second or so to change it manually when it comes up in grub. and highlight which one you want to sued. For me it is just perfect as it is. I’ve always used ubuntu and windows since I need to be in either one at any given time. Or at least with Windows and what version of linux that I need to use and that includes on sun solaris as well which is also another free OS made by Sun Microsystem.
Karl