Originally posted by: ricochet
Originally posted by: Bozo Galora
<snip>
Or, if you are going to dual booting with XP (on "C"), to be safe, let Vista do the partitioning and formatting for install space on HDD, not a partition already made previously by XP, or partition sw.
That's exactly my plan: to dual boot. Already have XP Home on "C". I have a second partition already formated by XP. Do you recommend deleting this partition prior to installing RC1? Would it install on an XP formatted partition?
Sorry, if I didn't understand your posts entirely and some of these questions may be redundant.
No, your questions are quite relevant.
My post is a bit muddy, because there are many dif reasons for HDD Vista config probs.
In fact, loading Vista on anything other than a freshly partitioned - by HDD manuf utility - primary partition can be a real mess. RC1 is a lot better than earlier betas in this regard, and I'm fairly sure that RTM will have all dual boot bcd.edit vs boot.ini probs solved.
I have seen a lot of posts on this forum and many others with folks who cant load the Vista at various stages of install - either right from the start - with the traveling bars -, or along the way at various points up until near the very very end.
The simplest solution that always seems to work (to test pre RTM's) is to use a VMWare type daemon virtual machine software. This makes nuking the O/S easy and lifts the install above the partition probs, since the "virtual machine" is self contained.
From reading many posts, it would seem that Vista likes a primary partition that is formatted by itself. There is another post here from a guy who left his frozen Vista install on overnight (8 hours?) and it finally loaded O.K. I'm guessing it was rebuilding the entire file system - like when you format a large drive it takes hours.
Using Partition Magic 8 (latest) or a third party bootloader to create the Vista partition also seems a working solution. Using these, you can create virtually any type of partition, including 2 primaries, or change any to a logical.
Now we get thiis contradictory blurb from the web (which I disagree with - one should differentiate between partition and format)........
(Quote)
DISKS & PARTITIONING
IMPORTANT WARNING FOR ADVANCED USERS: Windows Vista uses a new version of the NTFS file system; therefore third-party partitioning software can, sometimes, cause serious errors when combined with Windows Vista. Hard drives including Windows Vista system partitions should NOT be partitioned using third-party XP-era partitioning software such as Partition Magic or Acronis. Native Windows XP partitioning tools should be used instead, and are accessed through the Disk Management console.
Please note that while Windows Vista does have enhanced abilities to partition and format your HDD during setup, it has been pointed out that UNALLOCATED HDD SPACE ON AN EXTENDED DRIVE will NOT be recognized by Vista and users should create a Logical drive from within XP using the Disk Management console before continuing setup
(unquote)
http://www.vistamania.org/index.php?opt...com_content&task=view&id=403&Itemid=29
a couple of google links to show the probs........
(Dont miss the comments in below link)
http://www.lifehacker.com/software/top/...indows-xp-and-windows-vista-179906.php
heres a guy who used partition magic and he also says it must be on a "logical", not extended.
http://www.istartedsomething.com/200606...ll-vista-beta-2-for-dual-boot-with-xp/
The common factor so far as I can tell in successful dual boots is to use XP to format its partition on "C", which you already have, then create an unformatted Vista partition with Partition Magic 8 or HDD manuf. utility (NOT XP), and steer the Vista install to use and format that partition.
I didnt have a bit of trouble with my dual boot (except for order) on a 320 GB Seagate/NV vidcard, and you may also have clear sailing. But if things go wrong, your XP should be recoverable with a repair install, or bootcfg_/repair cmd
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=185301251
I also see that terabyte bootit manager (up to 200 primaries) supports Vista now.
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html
This may be best solution to keep Vista and XP apart while booting.
It basically boils down to which O/S is controlling its own mutually incompatible boot/filesystem, and when. Removing or redoing either O/S at any time will screwup the other.
I had a great MS forum link on this, but it doesnt seem to work anymore.
But, I saved the text tho -
😛
I'll see if I can find the working link.
Edit:
FWIW, the other reasons Vista doesnt install is printer/ATI Vidcard/USB/Firewire/Lan card-lan onboard chip non recognition issues.
Vista also tries to activate over internet during install - so non working Lan may hold things up. Ignoring serial input gives 16 day trial and may heelp with this.
Turn off USB and Firewire and printer ports in BIOS BEFORE install.
When vista is loaded and booted to, then go reset BIOS features back on and deal with them.
Also a nice tip from one of the above links;
I installed the beta without trouble. As suggested by you, it didn't have drivers for my video card, audio card, PCI wifi card etc.
Rather than looking for all the driver disks, I just made Vista look into my c:/windows (XP)folder. And guess what ? It found every single one of them !
