Guys, currently running a Panasonic Toughbook CF19 with XP Pro on it. I have an 80gb hard drive at the mo but will be buying a larger one.

Thinking of dual booting with XP Pro and Vista Home Premium.

I was thinking of setting 2 partitions, installing XP Pro to the smaller one (need this to run work programmes that arnt Vista compatible) and Vista on the other. As I have the restore disks for XP Pro that isnt a problem. Im thinking of buying a Vista "upgrade" disc and using the XP restore disk to validate that im eligible for an upgrade.

Would this work from a legal point of view. Does using the XP restore disc as a base for an upgrade on one partition does that then invalidate that COA for the other partition. Im hoping not as I can only use 1 partition at a time.

With thanks.

Steve

IIRC officially as you are using the license of the first one to get a cheap(er) upgrade, the answer is that using the license in that way means the original license is replaced by the new one.

However, I would seriously not worry about it IMHO

I am not sure how that would work, but you might be cheaper going and buying an OEM of Vista.

I would have thought that if you used a Vista upgrade from and XP Pro license then the XP PRO license would cease and you might not be able to upgrade it, by that i mean windows or microsoft update.

I done it the other way. I bought a notebook that had Vista preinstalled. I bought an OEM XP and made two partitions and XP installed and activated fine no bother.

You'll need to remember that if you install Vista first then XP, XP will overwrite the bootloader. Although there is various ways around this using VIistaBootPRO, modyfying boot.ini and/or bcdedit. Theres a lot of tech guys on here so i am sure a few ( manyo etc ) will be along soon to help you out and prove me wrong.

Edited 13 February, 200917 yr by Guest

You'll need to remember that if you install Vista first then XP, XP will overwrite the bootloader. Although there is various ways around this using VIistaBootPRO, modyfying boot.ini and/or bcdedit. Theres a lot of tech guys on here so i am sure a few ( manyo etc ) will be along soon to help you out and prove me wrong.

Well thanks for that, but that is complete and utter gobbledegook to me!!

I would probably install XP Pro first from my recovery discs and then Vista on the second partition, would that make things easier?

Also, while we are here, would a "boot menu" show automatically or does that require something 'extra' ?

TIA

Steve

The answer is no, you would not be legal.

Nor can you buy an OEM version of Vista, as you wouldn't be legal using that either as you are not building the system from scratch.

Well thanks for that, but that is complete and utter gobbledegook to me!!

I would probably install XP Pro first from my recovery discs and then Vista on the second partition, would that make things easier?

Also, while we are here, would a "boot menu" show automatically or does that require something 'extra' ?

TIA

Steve

Sorry for the Tech language. What you suggest, installing XP first, then Vista second would workd and it would come up with a windows bootloader. If you done it the other way around Vista then XP, then the XP bootloader would overwrite the Vista one and you wouldnt be able to boot into Vista without modyfying files or installing a third party program.

The problem arises because the bootloader, the part which tells windows were to go is always installed on the first part of the hard drive partition. Vista knows all about XP but XP doesnt know Vista exists. Therefor is Vista goes on first and then XP, XP rewrites the MBR ( Master Boot recored ) and to the computer Vista doesnt appear to exists at boot time.

If you do a google search for dual booting xp and Vista a website called lifehacker should be available. This has a lot of good info on it.

I hope this helps but if it doenst feel free to drop me a PM and when i have more time i will try to help further.

Although i am still looking forward to someone answering your original question about using a Vista "upgrade" on your original XP Pro license.

Although i am still looking forward to someone answering your original question about using a Vista "upgrade" on your original XP Pro license.

Already did, look above

So I would have to buy a full version of Vista (oh joy) then? Whats the best price to expect?

But I thought you only had to buy "hardware" with OEM, even a keyboard is classed as Hardware?

Steve

I'd avoid all these questions over dual-boot legality and just buy an OEM copy of Vista, as mentioned already. Just buy the cheapest stick of RAM you can, to go along with it

Cheap Laptops, Hard Drives, LCD Monitors, TVs and more at Ebuyer or Computer Hardware - All - Scan.co.uk are usually the cheapest for Vista OEM, I find.

Steve

OEM is only applicable if YOU are assembling the system from component parts. Yes computer companies will sell you OEM if you buy a stick of RAM or a processor fan, but that doesn't mean that it's legally use afterwards.

OEM is only applicable if YOU are assembling the system from component parts. Yes computer companies will sell you OEM if you buy a stick of RAM or a processor fan, but that doesn't mean that it's legally use afterwards.

And how would they know?

Right, OEM it will be. Just read a guide about OEM and vista. The buying hardware bit was with XP and before. It even said in the licence on XP that you had to buy hardware, but it didnt state been a complete system from scratch. Vista's OEM licence doesnt even have this.

BUT..........OEM versions of Vista tie themselves to that particular computer and so cannot be installed on a 2nd machine, nor can they be re-installed on the same machine if the CPU or Motherboard is upgraded. So, for a laptop that cant really be upgraded (other than RAM, HDD etc) then thats ideal. Even some users are lucky, in that the product activation cant fully tie iteself to that PC and can easily upgrade, but that seems the minority.

Steve

Edited 14 February, 200917 yr by Tomo1971

And how would they know?

Ah, but that wasn't the question was it? The question was about legality. If the OP had the "it doesn't matter because they wouldn't know" attitude then they wouldn't have asked the question

Right, OEM it will be. Just read a guide about OEM and vista. The buying hardware bit was with XP and before. It even said in the licence on XP that you had to buy hardware, but it didnt state been a complete system from scratch. Vista's OEM licence doesnt even have this.

Point 1a of the OEM System Builder License says otherwise: http://oem.microsoft.com/public/sblicense/2008_sb_licenses/fy08_sb_license_english.pdf

BUT..........OEM versions of Vista tie themselves to that particular computer and so cannot be installed on a 2nd machine, nor can they be re-installed on the same machine if the CPU or Motherboard is upgraded. So, for a laptop that cant really be upgraded (other than RAM, HDD etc) then thats ideal. Even some users are lucky, in that the product activation cant fully tie iteself to that PC and can easily upgrade, but that seems the minority.

XP did that also, it's not new in Vista. However it isn't so clear cut as that as the system information hash looks at several things (video card, processor, chipset, hard disc, motherboard ID etc etc) and if 7 of the 10 things match it shouldn't prompt for reactivation.

Hope that helps

Thanks Shark,

Looking at results from Google, the consensus of opinion is that OEM is a way of saving a few quid and no one is any the wiser. I did see Vista HP upgrade at £57.50 last week in Costco but I guess that could lead to issues in the future.

As Its going onto and staying on a laptop its unlikley to get upgraded any more than I have done already. A new MotherBoard will cost more than the laptop probably (even though the retail of the laptop is £3000, I could get a replacement for about £1200 if i was a little canny)

So, ordered a copy of Vista Home Premium and a 250gb SATA 7200rpm Hard Drive, should get them on Tuesday.

A further question then, hoping your still following.............

I will be using XP Pro for Work (need that to run product control programmes) and Vista for Home use. I would like to have Outlook running on both partitions. I'm assuming the other partition will be visible in windows explorer so can I share one datafile between outlook on 2 partitions so that which ever I am on at the time gets access to all my mails/contacts etc?

Steve

Cor blimey.. I wouldn't fancy doing that! Which version of Outlook is it?

I think it would want to rebuild the datafile everytime you changed installations.. if you want to do that the best (albeit not free) solution would be to have a hosted MS Exchange account somewhere for a few quid a month, that way you're safe to access the mailbox from as many places as you want and also get very good webmail capabilities and even Direct Push if you use a Windows Mobile phone or iPhone.

But there's no harm in giving it a go I suppose

If you want to dual boot XP and Vista, then follow the following steps. You can use a Vista upgrade install disk if you follow my simple instructions.

1) Install XP onto the new drive, when prompted for the install drive dont forget to select the option to add a partition to the disk. If you hit enter at this point XP will take the whole drive to itself. Allow the XP install to complete.

2) Now the clever bit. Get your Vista Upgrade CD and boot the laptop from the DVD. When prompted for the product key DO NOT enter one and click next. On the next screen select the version of Vista you have, most likely home premium and tick the "i have purchased this version" box. Allow the Vista install to complete. Vista will overwrite the XP bootloader and give you a multiboot (XP/Vista) menu.

3) Boot from the Vista DVD again, now during the setup enter the vista upgrade product key. Vista will locate your previous Vista install and ask if you want to upgrade it, now run through the vista install upgrading your vista home premium to vista home premium and your all done.

For outlook, you can share the datafile between both vista and XP as long as both outlook versions are the same. You may need to play with NTFS permissions and add the everyone group to the folder containing the data file.

If you want to do that with Outlook, I'd have a 3rd disc partition for data, and place your PST file for Outlook in there. Then both XP and Vista can reference that when you run Outlook in either OS. Like Manny says, it's going to be far easier if you run the same version of Outlook on both OSes. Will avoid any potential pitfalls further down the line.

Steve

If you want to do that with Outlook, I'd have a 3rd disc partition for data, and place your PST file for Outlook in there. Then both XP and Vista can reference that when you run Outlook in either OS. Like Manny says, it's going to be far easier if you run the same version of Outlook on both OSes. Will avoid any potential pitfalls further down the line.

Steve

Thats actually the way I was going to do it, have ordered a 250GB Sata HDD so plenty of room, Probably use this 3rd partition to store all documents etc so that I can re-install XP or Vista at my leisure if I screw things up. Yes, will be using same version of Office on both partitions.

Thanks all.

Vista Home Premium and 250Gb HDD SATA ordered for £136 from Scan.

Steve

If you want to do that with Outlook, I'd have a 3rd disc partition for data, and place your PST file for Outlook in there. Then both XP and Vista can reference that when you run Outlook in either OS. Like Manny says, it's going to be far easier if you run the same version of Outlook on both OSes. Will avoid any potential pitfalls further down the line.

Steve

Thats what i was going to suggest to. Albeit a bit late!

Thats it all setup and working.

Partition 1, 35gb and has XP Pro on it, P2 is 99Gb and for storage, P3 is 99Gb and has Vista Home Premium on.

The outlook .pst file has been set to the P2 and works fine between the 2 OS's.

The XP install went fine as it was from a restore disk, the Vista was a pain in the rear though as I had to download about 20 drivers. As its a Toughbook, needed all sorts of drivers for Touchscreen, hotkeys, display rotation tool, HSPDA modem, WLAN and goodness knows what else!!

Mostly working now though, hope I dont have to do that too often though!!

Thanks for advice.

Steve

Glad you've got it all sorted and its up and running.