Simplyguides | How To Dual Boot Windows XP With Windows XP

Once the second installation has completed you will have the choice of which operating system you want to start.

If you are installing Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional you will have the following to choose from:

• Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition

This type of dual boot allows you to easily select which operating system to start. As the two operating systems are easily distinguishable.

However if you are using the same version of Windows XP, for example...

• Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
• Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

Or...

• Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition

You may find the above a little confusing when trying to select the operating system that you want to use. Although all it would take is a restart of the computer and you can then choose the correct operating system to start.

However it is possible to change the way the operating systems are displayed, for example...

• Video Work
• General Stuff...

To change the way operating system are displayed, a file known as boot.ini will have to be edited. The boot.ini file is important so it's critical we only change what is needed.

Important: Editing the boot.ini file is potentially dangerous. It is possible to prevent your computer booting correctly. Please only change what the following describes.

You can edit the boot.ini using notepad, however, you will need to know exactly what you are doing. There is an easier way through the control panel where the options are clearly laid out, easy to follow and require less user knowledge. We will be using the control panel method for this guide.

To begin the editing click Start, Control Panel, Performance and Maintenance and finally choose System.

In the System Properties window click the Advanced tab.

Under Startup and Recovery click Settings.

Under System Startup click Edit.

You should now be able to see the contents of the boot.ini file. This file contains the locations of the installed operating systems, the default operating system and a timeout setting.

To change the way the operating systems are displayed we will need to edit a specific part of the following lines...

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

and...

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

As an Example:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Video Work" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="General Stuff..." /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

You will now have to save this file for the changes to be made so just click File and choose Save.

It is possible to change the default operating system that will start when your computer is booting and you can also change the time in which you will have to choose an operating system to start.

You can do this by editing the boot.ini file, but there is an easier way.

If you go back to the Startup and Recovery window we can change these options. To change the default operating system click on the arrow under Default operating system: and select the operating system you want.

To change the recovery options time, change the time in seconds either by clicking the arrows to raise or lower the number, or just enter a number yourself next to Time to display recovery options when needed:

Click OK when you are finished.

When you restart your computer you should see the changes you have made to the descriptions of your operating systems.

You will have by default 30 seconds to choose your operating system otherwise the default operating system will start.

Summary...

As you can see creating a dual boot environment is easy. As all you are doing is performing two installations to different locations. Windows XP will do most of the work and as long as you have an idea on how to go about installing Windows XP you cannot go wrong. You can take it further by adding custom operating system descriptions by editing the boot.ini file.