This guide tells you ‘How to dual boot Windows 7 and Windows XP’ with Windows 7 installed first. This case is applicable for users who have Windows 7 pre-installed on ‘C’ and want to install XP on their ‘D’ partition.
The process for this is same as we did for Windows XP & Vista. Follow the simple steps below to install XP after Windows 7.
1) Make a clean Install of Windows XP on ‘D’ partition of your hard drive. Assuming, Windows 7 is installed on ‘C’ partition.
2) After restarting system, you will directly boot into Windows XP. That’s because XP writes its bootloader over Windows 7. So, we need to restore the Win 7 bootloader.
3) To restore 7, you need to Boot from the Windows 7 DVD and “Repair your computer”. Check this article “How to Perform a Startup Repair in Windows 7” to perform repair.
4) After repairing, your system will restart and boot into Windows 7.
5) Download and Install EasyBCD on your Windows 7 to add boot entry for XP.
6) Launch the app and go to Add/Remove Entries. Under “Add an Entry” open the Windows tab and select the Type as “Windows NT/2k/XP/2k3”.
Give it a name like ‘Windows XP’ and click on ‘Add Entry’. Then select Save.
That’s it. Now restart you PC and you’ll be presented with two options, Windows 7 and Windows XP. 
Select the one which you want to work on.
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
thx a ton, it worked here, i made a clean install of xp after having a dual boot with xp and 7 thinking that it wouldn’t mess up with the dual boot… how wrong i was
anyway it’s fixed now, just as a side note, in step 3 i had to do it 3 times before finally boot win 7, the first two times while it said it was repaired it would always boot xp instead
Very useful tips
Thanks alot
Interesting. Just pulled up your blog post doing a search for XP repair.
I like XP but it can be tough to fix sometimes. (But it is still easier for me to understand than NT!)
Thanks for posting.
How can i install xp when windows 7 is all ready running on my p.c?
I pop the xp disk in, and restart my computer! Then i boot from the xp disk and it goes through until it says (LOADING WINDOWS FILES) and i get blue screened! WTF! I already have my HD D: partition. Can anyone out there help? I need XP for my music programs!
Hi Zackary,
I was having the same problem, but I later found out that it was because of my hard drives which were on a raid 0 configuration. If this is your situation too, then go to your motherboard website and download raid (or SATA) drivers (make sure it’s 32-bit if your os is going to be 32-bit; or 64-bit if you’re installing a 64-bit xp).
First of all, you want to go to computer management (right click on computer and select ‘manage’). There is a partition listed before the c partition. this partition has no drive letter. right click and select ‘change drive letter/path’ accept the first drive letter offered. Now you can proceed.
when you download the drives they’re usually in 2 folders. open the corresponding folder (32-bit or 64-bit), there is another folder (driver), open this folder and copy the contents, paste in a floppy disk (if you save it with the folder, window will not be able to access it during installation. That’s why you need to save the files without the folder) You’ll obviously need a floppy drive. As soon as the xp disk boots, you get a message on the white bar (bottom screen) to pres F6 for blah blah blah. Press F6 and wait. At some point it will tell you to press ’s’ if you want to blah blah blah. Press ’s’ and it will list a number of files. Select the one that is already highlighted and press enter. You get the message that windows already has that file, and to either press ’s’ to use the one on the floppy or ‘continue’ to use the one on windows xp disk. You have to press s to use the one on the floppy. Go on with normal installation of windows.
Hope this helps
Hi Chidiebere,
I have the same issue. In steps that you mentioned I have couple to questions ….
1. I have an HP pavilion laptop, so where do get the info about which motherboard I am using …
2. I have a usb floppy drive and my guess is that wont work here .. so any other alternative apart from using a floppy.
Please do reply.. Thanks
Hi,
I’ve read what you posted and I think I understand a bit more but I still have many questions about this.
1. How do I check what configurations my new laptop has? I have this laptop that I bought from Best Buy (http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0926INGFS10132464&catid=25254&logon=&langid=EN&dm=DEBUG)
2. Can I install Windows XP Pro 32-bit? (Even if my OS right now is Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit)
3. Where do I find the Drivers I need for Windows XP Pro 32-bit? (or 64-bit if I can’t get 32-bit)
4. Do I have a floppy drive on this laptop? I’m not sure how I can connect a floppy disk to this laptop. If not, is there any other method?
hi…
i follwed ur steps properly….
but wen the windows 7 repair process starts its showing error…
i couldn repair my windows 7 installed
HELP********** PLEASE . Did all you said But when i finally add an entry in EASY BCD it says It cannot detect the Files For booting into XP @
Uh I’m NOT A GENIOUS BUT THOSE FOLLOWING THESE INSTRUCTION ADD THIS INST as 5a Inbetween 5 and 6
Works fine now
)
AFter You Do STEP 5 , Go to Start , Right click My Computer , And Press manage
Then Go to disk management and then there will be an Empty Drive without a drive letter . Give a drive letter to this by right clicking and after you have done that Proceed to step 6
thanks zackary_ziviski@myspace.com got this from your comment above
I can’t assign a drive letter to the hidden partition. The option is greyed out and it won’t let me select it. I also do not have a floppy drive. Looking for help. thank you.
thanx thanx thanx i dont know what to tell u becz i searching for this thing many times and now i found it thanx
dear sir i have windows 7 preinstalled on my pc, i like windows 7 a lot but i cant seem to play most of my games even when using compatibility trouble shooter, ive found out about dual booting with windows xp so i can play my games on xp , anyway i boot from windows xp disk everthings fine it says setup is loading files, then when it gets tosetup is starting windows, i get blue screen of death, before this i also created a partition in windows 7 for when i install xp, please help and try make it simple as im a beginner in computers regards martin