Hi, Jerry.
> I have two each 1Tb drives already partitioned into four pieces each and
> formatted in FAT32 - each partition has a drive letter and name.
Why FAT32 in this day and age? Unless you have a valid special reason, make
it NTFS all the way!
> convert two of these partitions first to NTFS - one for 32-bit and one for
Why convert? Just use Disk Management to format them NTFS. Or let Win7
Setup handle the formatting as a first step in installing Win7. You're
going to be doing Clean Installs, so let Win7 Setup handle the formatting.
> I used Partition Commander rather than
> Disk Management to set these drives up and Partition Commander will make
> changes from FAT32 to NTFS.
I've never used Partition Commander, and seldom needed anything other than
Disk Management since it appeared in Win2K. And the built-in command
"convert" will easily and quickly convert from FAT32 to NTFS - if you don't
simply format volumes in NTFS to start with.
> In 3 below you said to run the Win7 install from within XP
Yes! Boot into WinXP, insert the Win7 x86 disk and run Setup.exe from that
disk. It might just Autorun Setup if you wait several seconds. Then reboot
into either WinXP or Win7 x86 and do it again with the Win7 x64 disk.
> I do know you
> cannot upgrade XP to Win7
I didn't know that. I think the word is that upgrade to the RC is possible,
but not supported, but that upgrade from WinXP to the final Win7 will be
supported. But, in my experience, even going back into the Win9xes, most
users who upgraded later went back and did a clean install anyway because of
all the niggling little problems that never seemed to go away after the
upgrade. Also, at least one Vista-to-Win7RC upgrader reported that it took
several hours, compared to a half-hour for a clean install.
> so I'm assuming here that the Win7 install
> routine will point to a separate loction to install Win7?
No. YOU will point to a new location. Win7 Setup will show you all the
available partitions and allow you to choose. It will also show you any
unpartitioned space and offer to create a partition there and format it for
you, if it is a large enough space.
> Also, will this process
> edit boot.ini, or whatever it is Win7 calls it, to establish a dual- then
> multi-boot configuration as I first install the 32-bit version then the
> 64-bit version?
Not exactly. See my original point 4. When the first Win7 is installed,
Setup will not destroy the WinXP boot system, but will install the Win7
system alongside those files in the system partition. On each reboot
thereafter, Win7's BCD will present the OS menu choices. One (or more) of
those choices will be Win7; another will be "An earlier version of Windows".
When you choose the "earlier version", the BCD will kind of step back out of
the way and turn control over to bootsect.dos, the saved version of the
WinXP boot sector, which will find NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and Boot.ini. From
this point, the computer will forget about Win7, except that something is
taking up a lot of disk space. When you choose Win7, the system will ignore
the WinXP files, again except for something taking up disk space.
When the second Win7 (x64) is installed, it will just update the BCD to add
the additional Win7 installation. One hassle is that you will have two
identical menu choices of "Microsoft Windows 7". The computer is happy to
work with the duplicate entries, but you will need to use the built-in
BCDEdit.exe - or a friendlier third-party utility - to edit at least one of
those entries so that you can tell them apart. You'll probably want to make
one say something like Win7x64. (This is not new behavior; multi-booters
often had to choose between identical "Windows XP" options until they edited
Boot.ini.)
You've already done the hard part: bought the HDDs. And you've already
partitioned them, which Win7 would have been happy to do for you. Now, all
you have to do is boot into WinXP, insert the Win7 x86 DVD, run Setup - and
follow the prompts. Choose which partition to use for 32-bit Win7 and let
Setup install it there, including reformatting that partition. Then reboot
into either WinXP or Win7 x86, insert the Win7 x64 DVD...lather, rinse,
repeat. ;^)
The hardest part of the transition will probably be breaking out of the
WinXP mindset. Win7 (and Vista) look a lot like WinXP on the surface. But
there are many differences under the hood. If you try to use Win7 like you
do WinXP, you'll have troubles and frustration. But if you take the time
and make the effort to understand how and why Win7 is different, you will
soon "stop trying to find the clutch pedal and let the automatic
transmission do the shifting for you". And like so many who have tried
Vista or Win7 for more than a week or two, you won't dream of going back to
WinXP. ;<)
If you run into any problems, post back. But thousands (millions?) of users
have done it already. I'm sure you can, too.
RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
Microsoft Windows MVP
Windows Live Mail 2009 (14.0.8064.0206) in Win7 Ultimate x64 RC 7100
"Jerry" <> wrote in message
news:...
> R.C. - thanks for all the info.
>
> I have two each 1Tb drives already partitioned into four pieces each and
> formatted in FAT32 - each partition has a drive letter and name.
>
> My understanding is Win7 requires NTFS - so I would assume I should
> convert two of these partitions first to NTFS - one for 32-bit and one for
> 64-bit - and format and name them as I want. I used Partition Commander
> rather than
> Disk Management to set these drives up and Partition Commander will make
> changes from FAT32 to NTFS.
>
> In 3 below you said to run the Win7 install from within XP - I do know you
> cannot upgrade XP to Win7 so I'm assuming here that the Win7 install
> routine will point to a separate loction to install Win7? Also, will this
> process
> edit boot.ini, or whatever it is Win7 calls it, to establish a dual- then
> multi-boot configuration as I first install the 32-bit version then the
> 64-bit version?
>
> Again - thanks
>
> "R. C. White" <> wrote in message
> news:eBsCA4$...
>> Hi, Jerry.
>>
>> You got it! ;<)
>>
>> I've been multi-booting since WinNT4/Win95 and now have about a
>> half-dozen Windows installations (WinXP, Vista and Win7, both x86 and x64
>> versions of some). Each is In a separate logical drive in the extended
>> partition on one of my first 2 HDDs. (The last 2 drives are in a RAID 1
>> mirror reserved for data and a few apps, not operating systems.) The new
>> 1 TB Seagate that I got last year still has plenty of space left for more
>> volumes - but I'm running out of drive letters so I'll have to delete
>> some older OS partitions soon.
>>
>> You've already learned the Golden Rule of dual-booting: Install the
>> newest OS last. Each Setup knows how to handle earlier versions, but
>> older versions have no idea what to do with systems that didn't exist
>> when that Setup was written.
>>
>> A few other tips:
>> 1. Be well acquainted with Disk Management! This tool first appeared
>> in Windows 2000, but many users - even veterans - still haven't found it.
>> There are several ways to get there; my favorite is just to press Start,
>> type in "diskmgmt.msc" and press Enter.
>>
>> 2. Always NAME your volumes. That way, you'll not be TOO confused
>> when "Win7x86" is Drive C: when you are running Win7 x86 and Drive E:
>> when you are booted into Vista. It will still be Win7x86 in both
>> systems, even with different letters.
>>
>> 3. If you want to have consistent drive letters among the various
>> OSes, then first boot into WinXP and run Disk Management. Create all
>> your volumes and assign the letters you want - and they don't all have to
>> be sequential. (I'm currently running Win7 x64 RC in Drive X:, the 10th
>> volume on Disk 1.) Then insert the Win7 DVD and run Setup from the WinXP
>> desktop, so that it can "see" and respect the letters you've assigned.
>> If you boot from the DVD, then Setup will start from scratch and assign
>> C: to its own boot volume, requiring the system volume be changed,
>> probably to D:, and other letters to be reassigned, too.
>>
>> 4. Make the System Partition (see KB 314470 for the COUNTERintuitive
>> definitions of "system volume" and "boot volume", and get comfortable
>> with those definitions) small - 1 GB is probably more than enough - and
>> use it only for your startup files. For WinXP, these are NTLDR,
>> NTDETECT.COM and Boot.ini; Vista and Win7 use bootmgr, bootsect.dos and
>> the BCD (Boot Configuration Data) files in the hidden \Boot folder in
>> this partition. All the rest of each OS should go into the \Windows
>> folder on each boot volume. Then you'll be able to wipe out and reformat
>> any of the partitions without bothering any of the others. (If you have
>> multiple HDDs, it's good insurance to create a small System Partition on
>> each of them and install the latest Windows at least once while each is
>> the boot device so that Setup can write the startup files to it. That
>> way, if Disk 0 won't boot, you can still boot from Disk 1 - to fix Disk
>> 0.)
>>
>> 5. Win7 has a smaller on-disk footprint than Vista, since Windows Mail
>> and other features are no longer imbedded in it. But it tends to grow
>> after installation! While 20 GB might be enough to start, make those
>> volumes at least 30 GB each and even larger, since you have "plenty of
>> hard drive space".
>>
>> 6. Oh, one more. If this is your first 64-bit system, you might be
>> surprised to find a new folder in addition to Program Files, this one
>> named "Program Files (x86)". This new PF86 folder is NOT for 64-bit
>> programs, as I first thought, since it didn't exist in WinXP Pro. In
>> 64-bit Windows, the PF file is reserved for 64-bit apps; 32-bit apps go
>> into the new PF86. Windows uses these folders to select the proper
>> drivers and other support files, depending on the "bitness" of the app.
>>
>> I guess that's enough for now. If you have questions, please post back.
>>
>> RC
>>
>> "Jerry" <> wrote in message
>> news:#...
>>> Presently running XP Pro w/SP3.
>>>
>>> Have downloaded Win 7 RC 32-bit and 64-bit and have burned two DVDs.
>>>
>>> Would like to multi-boot XP, Win 7 32, and Win 7 64. My hardware is
>>> capable of 64 bit install, plenty of hard drive space also.
>>>
>>> Am assuming procedure would be to boot from Win 7 32 DVD and install in
>>> partition separate from XP - results in dual-boot.
>>>
>>> Then boot from Win 7 64 DVD and install to a different partition from XP
>>> and 32; resulting in multi-boot option: XP, Win7 32, and Win 7 64.
>>>
>>> Any reason this won't work?
>>>
>>> Thanks.
64 bit enabled 
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