Dual Boot? (Home Premium)

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Maybe I am using the wrong words here…..

But, what I want to do is to have the choice to start my laptop the ‘normal’ way, with it loading everything, and then to have the choice to load ONLY what is needed to play a game. (flight sim X)

Is there a place to go for instructions for a (dual boot?) or having a choice each time I start up?

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Michael,

Dual Boot means to have TWO different Operating Systems available to you at boot up, ie: Vista and XP, not selective parts of an OS.

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Edited to fix mistakes

Bob,

Two different operating systems means two independent ones; they could be two Windows XP Professional, two Vistas etc.

Michael,

There are lots of online instructions about dual and multiple booting. For instance, KB306559.
But the basics are the same:

1. You have to create a different partitions for each operating system.
According to Microsoft, terminology is:
– System partition: a partition which contains system files for booting (for instance, ntldr file);
– Boot partition: a partition which contains operating system files (for instance, WINDOWS folder).
So you may create two or more partitions on one, two or more physical hard drives.
The first partition on the first hard drive will be system partition. You can use it as boot partition for the first operating system.
The second partition will be used as boot partition for the second operating system.

My practical advices:
– Remember, that if you want to keep already installed operating system, you must use third-party utility to create partitions. To save money, partition your hard drive during installation of the first operating system.
– Make each boot partition for Windows Vista not less than 30 GB (40 GB is better).
– Create an additional (third) partition for your documents, pictures, music etc. Make this partition as large as possible.

2. After you finish first Windows Vista installation, start the second one the same way:
– Boot from Installation CD, choose New installation (you can use the same Windows key), choose second partition as target for install etc.

3. When you finish second installation, you must configure dual-boot manager. For more information about Boot Configuration Data, see BCDEdit Command-Line Options. For step-by-step instructions, see, for example, How do I dual boot Vista?.

My practical advices:
– Start Command Prompt with elevated Administartor privileges (“Run as Administrator”) and type following commands:

bcdedit /set {legacy} description “Windows Vista for work”
bcdedit /set {current} description “Windows Vista for games”
bcdedit /default {legacy}
bcdedit /displayorder {legacy} {current}

Good luck!

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kaplinb,
>>two different or two independent OSs, have basically same meanings in this instance.

The key words are: [ not selective parts of an OS ]

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I think you are wanting a dual “Hardware profile” which I have never seen or heard that could be accomplished.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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