Vista and XP Dual Boot?
 

I've just ordered a new high spec Toshiba laptop which will come with Windows Vista pre-installed. There are however no original Windows CDs or recovery discs supplied; the operating system files are on a separate partition on the hard drive.

First of all, what are the implications of providing the operating system like this? Do many other manufacturers do it this way?

I've heard some horror stories about Vista and as I've been quite satisfied with XP I'm tempted to install XP alongside Vista. According to Rick Maybury in today's Telegraph, I can't just install XP. I would have to uninstall Vista, then install XP, it being the chronologically earlier system, then re-install Vista. Although I would be inclined to stop when XP was installed and not re-install Vista. Is this possible when the Vista files are already sitting on the hard drive? And why aren't the Vista files deleted when the hard drive is re-formatted?

Sorry if these are elementary questions but grateful for any advice/comments.

Yes - just remove any existing partition and re-format, then install XP. No Vista.

They would be.

A dual-boot requires a 2nd partition for the 2nd OS.

It may be possible to install multiple OSs on the same partition, perhaps someone else can advise?

But it IS possible to install XP AFTER Vista - see here for details. You will have to repair the Vista bootloader after installing XP, however.

SD

While playing with my first Vista on a Fujitsu C2 Duo Centrino 2gig ram laptop, I set about trying to get more space on C: drive with the partition program that came with the OS.

I managed to reduce the large D: drive, but still could not expand C:

While I was doing this, I discovered a 'secret drive' that clearly contained OS files. It appeared to be 'above' C:

All did not go well with my efforts.

According to my pal...(lifetime on mainframes) It seems that I 'lifted' D: up from the bottom, rather than 'lowering' it from the top, Another analogy would be: Doing this, left the C:drive lower boundary against the D: drive top end...if you know what I mean. Anyway, I couldn't get more than about 150 gigs out of a 250 gig drive. A preposterous waste.

(I had a deal with Staples that I could return it since the box was opened when I got it. I did so...for no other reason that the keyboard was English, and I have used American layouts for 15 years and found the change very tedious.) I was very sorry to see it go, in all other respects it was superb with 4 1/2 hours of battery life seeming a reality.

BTW, back in Texas, I went to several of the main stores. Nothing, but nothing compares with the English deal at c two buck to the pound, given that VAT was included in the sub £400 price.

My (professor) son here has been alloted a Toshiba running Vista. He has considerable experience with computers, but has dis pared of this purchase. He accepted the name and the vendor's name as an indication that it should run okay. Its one gig of ram is perhaps the reason that One could take a lunch break while things load. I'm going to offer to put XP on it.

As for loading XP. I'll start another thread because there is a major legal issue that I want to address.

If you have the partitions on the machine, you could always set one up with XP while leaving the other with Vista. Then use Grub and a tiny third "control" partition to boot whichever one you choose.

It is common practice not to provide Windows disks these days for preinstalled OEM Windows, the manufacturer is usually the one that will take care of reinstalling the OS in the event of problems during the warranty period.
This was certainly the case with my IBM (Lenovo) notebook.

I wouldn't be so worried about Vista, but if you already have an XP CD handy then installing it on a separate partition is easy if you follow the guide in Saab's link to APC mag website.
That way you can keep Vista and use it, but if you need an XP fix it will be there waiting for you.
I highly recommend using Gparted to create and modify partitions as suggested in the article.