multiboot XP and W7

• Karl Townsend :

• Kelly D. Grills :

I 'spose I could be a touch more specific.

Download the (free) VMware Player & create a virtual machine with XP.

Karl,

Have you tried Windows 7 virtual pc? Pretty much run XP inside Win7.

The software vendor tells me that won't work. This is a CNC control that bypasses windows calls to go direct to the hardware.

Karl

It sounds as though you're running the XP setup from within W7 (?). You need to boot directly from the XP cd.

There are a bunch of tutorials regarding dual booting:

a) I'll second those whove said Microsoft Virtual PC. It comes with Win7 (or you can download it), and it gives you an XP machine inside your Win7 machine. Or, VMware, which I use ALL the time.

BUT...

b) If, as you said, you can't run your software in a VM, there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to dual boot. If you are receiving error messages from Windows 7 during your XP install, then the install is not booting from your CD. Check your BIOS settings to make sure that the CD drive is listed before the hard drive. You should never see Windows 7 booting during your XP installation.

c) If I were you (actually if you were me, and I'm not sure why you'd want to be), You'd get another cheap PC to run XP and the CNC software. You can probably pick up a junker for less than you'd pay for a new hard drive (which ain't much). I see them all the time on freecycle. Hell, if you were closer, I'd just tell you to come by and pick one or two out of the pile of stuff I need to get rid of.

d) completely random thought: Have you ever done a CNC setup to peel and core an apple? It seems like you're the guy to do it, having an infinite supply of apples and all, and it would make a helluva good youtube video.

W7 Pro or Ultimate have XP mode available...but not your Home Premium. You could download Virtual PC or VMWare but for what you want to do I would:

remove your W7 drive install an old, small hd install XP reinstall your W7 drive and chose which drive to boot from from BIOS

I got your CDs just a few minutes ago. Thanks

I'll take your advcie and get another hard drive.

Karl

Thanks for the advice. I've been trying all day. The install error I'm getting is from the CD. I found a step by step guide and I'm doing it right. My old CD has a bad spot.

This may be dangerous, I'm downloading a new bootable CD from pirate bay. I'll try it with my licence tonight.

I do have a second old 'puter here. It runs XP and has my control, ACAD, mastercam, and some special visual basic apps on it. The second two are home copies from when my son had legal access. None of this stuff runs on W7. My goal here is long term - I need to be able to run my shop stuff on new computers as the old ones die.

Thanks for the advice

Karl

Thanks. I found one for exactly what I'm attempting.

Karl

• Karl Townsend :

Sounds as though you'll be working in XP for the most part. I'd install XP as my base OS, & run W7 in a virtual container. That would provide simultaneous access to XP & W7, with no futzing around rebooting. Also when you move to a new box in the future you can simply copy over the W7 virtual container.

Well, here's something else to chew on. More than once, I've had computers fail in the middle of installing XP, complaining that they couldn't read some file or another off the CD. Well, they may not have been able to read, but it wasn't the CD's fault at all. In at least four cases, the culprit was faulty RAM. Replaced the bad RAM, and the computers loaded up right away. Go figure.

Before you go much further, you should get a good memory test - Memtest86, or there's one from Microsoft that's less extensive, but still pretty good. Both of those are free, and may save you a lot of hair pulling.

One more thing: There will be computers capable of running XP pretty much forever. There are a lot of people in your boat, and there will always be machines to run that stuff on. They may not be cheap, but they exist. Meanwhile, you ought to go to the local salvage yard or Goodwill or Salvation Army and pick up a couple of machines for a rainy day. Again, you could come here and take your pick - actually you could take them all, my wife would thank you for it.:-)

But I'm still waiting to see the cnc apple peeler video.

You've missed it by a mile. Download virtual PC (it's free) and install XP as a virtual machine under W7. Might even be able to install Hyper-V - also free from Microsoft. If you have W7Pro the VM is already provided.

VMware is about as brain-dead a system as you could ever think of. Can't run a tape backup on it. Cannot connect to a UPS for auto shut-down. No capability to pass though USB.

When someone sells you VM Ware (or Cisco, for that matter) all they are selling you is "billable hours"

Hyper V from Mickey-Soft is a better product - and that's saying something!!!

Likely the best answer, given the application

XP and 7 could be installed on interchangeable HDD sleds that pop into a case in a CD bay. Plug in the drive with the OS you want to boot. I put older Acronis backups on them and use them as restore points when testing downloaded software. They are unlikely to work properly on a different PC, even of the same model.

I've set up my laptop to multiboot four ways, from the C: drive, a USB stick, a CD/DVD and the F12 key (by hacking the Utility partition).

jsw

Gunner Asch on Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:33:30 -0800 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

Primary rule of Microsoft product - buy the "odd" number release, and wait for Version 3 at least. Which means you want to skip vista (an even count) and go for Win 7, and then wait a while for the inevitable first round of bug fixes.