Chazzer3 said:
Does dual boot functionality automatically start once it is installed or do I have to make it start, and whats the difference between a 'logical' partition and a normal one, do I need special software?
Sorry if I sound noobish, but this is a section of Windows I haven't ventured into yet!
Thanks a lot,
Charlie -
Windows will automaticly configured the boot.ini so you can use the boot manager when your computer starts. Take alook at this screen shot.
http://www.grosse.is-a-geek.com/pcplus/hd206sd/images/hd206-f.gif
The bottom one would probably be Vista on your machine.
Anyways, the difference between Primary and Extended partition is that primary partition are bootable and extended are not. Logical partition are after the extended and is a part of it, so they are not bootable either, they are mainly there for storage.
But how can Vista boot if it was on that extended partition? Because Vista will modify the boot.ini, ntldr, ntdetect of the Windows XP machine located on the primary partition so you can load and detect or redirect it to the Vista loader.
You do not need any fancy software but just some experience with partitioning. You can use fdisk to create the extended and logical partition. Fdisk is included with Windows 95/98 boot disk(floopy disk):
http://www.onecomputerguy.com/install/fdisk.htm
Fdisk
Making the Extended DOS Partitions and Logical DOS Drives
1. Select 1. Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive
2. Select 2. Create Extended DOS Partition
3. Typically you can use the rest of the hard drive size which will be shown and press the Enter key
4. Press Esc to continue
5. You will be prompted to create logical drives in the Extended Partition. This is where you divide up the extended partition into multiple drives. For now I'll just assume one extra drive letter of D:
6. Use the full remaining size for the logical drive size
7. Press Esc to continue
I'm not sure if Vista has any tools for creating partition, but you can use Windows XP CD by booting with it and going into recovery console then using the diskpart program:
DISKPART
diskpart /add /delete device_name drive_name partition_name size
Use this command to manage the partitions on your hard disk volumes. You can use the following options:
/add : Creates a new partition.
/delete : Deletes an existing partition.
device_name : The name of the device that is used to create a new partition.
drive_name : A drive-letter-based name, for example D:.
partition_name : The partition-based name for deleting an existing partition.
size : The size of the new partition in megabytes.
You can determine the device name from the output of the MAP command, for example, \Device\HardDisk0. You can use the partition name instead of the drive name argument, for example, \Device\HardDisk0\Partition1. If you use no arguments, a user interface for managing your partitions appears.
Warning If you use this command, you can damage the partition table if the disk has been upgraded to a dynamic disk configuration. Do not modify the structure of dynamic disks unless you are using the Disk Management tool.
More information on the Recovery Console can be found on this link
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314058
You'll need to burn the Vista ISO file to a DVD disc. Make sure which ever program you use that you burn the ISO as an image so it can be bootable. Anything you're not sure about don't hesitate to ask, there's a bunch of tech's here that has some experience with installing Vista.
