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Win 7, XP mode, & other first install queries

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Stoic Joker:
 :huh: You really don't like the 100MB boot partition? Given the new breed of scareware rootkits and their tendency to infect the MBR ... I'm thinking the system is best left in control of that one.

Otherwise the Windows install partitioning is super easy to use. Hit advanced, set C: as X, and worry about the rest later when you start moving in.


[Just thought to check]
On my office machine I went with a 40GB C:, and it's rather cramped these days(mentioned before). Here at home I went with 85GB and that's been much better. So ideal is probably somewhere between that and Carol's 100GB. Anything smaller = bad.

Carol Haynes:
If you are going to dual boot XP make sure you install XP first and make sure you use the tool to align the hard disk at the format stage (Win 7 does this automatically so use that to create the other partitions - in fact you could use the windows 7 set up disk to create one partition for windows XP, allow it to format the drive and then abort the installation and install XP on it). If you install XP first it will sort out a multiboot installation when you install Windows 7 - if you install XP after 7 you will have to build a new bootrecord.

Also if XP is installed first you won't get an extra boot partition - the boot stuff for windows 7 will be placed on the XP partition to allow dual booting.

Not sure if Windows 7 Backup will backup both the XP and the 7 partition - but I can't see why not.

I would suggest:

Part 1: Windows XP (80Gb)
Part 2: Windows 7 (100Gb)
Part 3: Data (Shared between both) (Rest of the Disk)
Part 4: Recovery backup - 50Gb (to allow enough space for the whole initial install)

Both system will assume the currently running Windows is drive C (sol long as XP is installed first) - then you can use disk management to make sure that the data drive has a consistent drive letter in both versions of WIndows.

cranioscopical:
will be installing some spacehoggers like adobe illustrator.
-tomos (July 18, 2011, 03:49 PM)
--- End quote ---
Don't  forget to decommission the license for that, if you still can, ready to go on the new machine.

cyberdiva:
Hi, Tomos.  I recently bought a computer rather similar to the one you've described: Win 7 Professional 64-bit, 8 GB RAM, i5 2400.  Like you, I have some programs that date from the 1990s, and I was afraid that they wouldn't run on this machine and so I would have to figure out how to use XP mode.  Well, to my surprise, almost all the programs I have will run under Windows 7.  Every now and then, I'd be asked whether I wanted to run the program in "compatibility mode."  If I said yes, I was given a choice of various earlier versions of Windows.  I didn't have to install anything to make the computer give me this choice.  It seems to be a feature simply built into Windows 7 (or perhaps Windows 7 Professional).  Whether this is what is meant by XP-mode, I'm not sure.  I didn't expect the process to be so seamless.  Anyway, I think you too may find that all or almost all your programs will run on Windows 7 without your having to do much to make that happen.

Deozaan:
If I understand it correctly, the XP-Mode is basically a free copy of Windows XP installed in Microsoft Virtual PC.

So if you already have an XP license, you might as well install it in your VM software of choice.

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