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Dual Boot?

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Is anyone here running a dual boot set up? I have a program that just will not run on my Windows 7 Pro 64-bit OS, so my question is, can I set up a dual boot with say Windows XP 32-bit OS on it? and how is this done, can I still read my other hard drives once in Win XP? I do not even want to try this if there is even the slightest risk of losing what is on my other hard drives.

Thanks

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I don't know if this is feasible for you, but one way to "fake" dual boot is to simply have a separate boot disk that contains the other OS.  My tower is open and if for some reason I need to boot off another disk, I simply unplug my boot disk and plug in my other boot disk.  I know the ribbon cables aren't really intended for doing this on a regular basis, but it's not difficult if done relatively infrequently.

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 (Edited)

Check it out.

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

That's all you need. Your copy of Win7 Pro comes with a license to run a Windows XP VM. It runs as a full VM inside your Win7, and even integrates the app into your Win7 session's Start Menu. I use it at work.

I'm not sure it is what you want if your program is super graphics-intensive...

I know there's a way to boot to a VM, so you could look into that as a dual boot option.

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But won't XP Mode run in 64 bit? or can I make it run in 32 bit?

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 (Edited)

*checks his XP Mode*

Pretty sure this is 32-bit.

I should mention that I am running Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit, so I am replicating your settings for the most part.

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So you just download XPM and install and all is good, it seems like that is to simple LOL, but if it let's me run my 32 bit programs, well that is good.

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The only catch is you have to have Pro, Ent, or Ult. It exists for this exact reason.

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doubleofive said:

The only catch is you have to have Pro, Ent, or Ult. It exists for this exact reason.

Well I am good there, I have W7Pro64, I will give it a shot, but I just can't believe it would be that easy LOL.

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dark_jedi said:


doubleofive said:

The only catch is you have to have Pro, Ent, or Ult. It exists for this exact reason.
Well I am good there, I have W7Pro64, I will give it a shot, but I just can't believe it would be that easy LOL.
It is hard to believe, but I assure you that it is real, and it is spectacular.

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doubleofive said:

 

dark_jedi said:


doubleofive said:

The only catch is you have to have Pro, Ent, or Ult. It exists for this exact reason.
Well I am good there, I have W7Pro64, I will give it a shot, but I just can't believe it would be that easy LOL.
It is hard to believe, but I assure you that it is real, and it is spectacular.

 

lol, nice Seinfeld reference.

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TV's Frink said:


lol, nice Seinfeld reference.
I enjoy quoting things I've not actually seen.

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doubleofive said:

 

TV's Frink said:


lol, nice Seinfeld reference.
I enjoy quoting things I've not actually seen.

 

FAIL

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dual booting is the best in my experience. but if you do go with a virtual machine...vmware player is good and will run any os you want. i used it for ubuntu.  when i needed it.    but dual booting with windows 7 is easy.. "easy bcd".... plenty of tutorials on google for that but thats what i use to dual boot. i had a tower setup running windows 7 for my daily user. then a custom xp. and a third install of windows 7 32 bit.  then slap ubuntu in vmware player. versatility has its place.

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