I'm getting closer and closer, but still need some clarification. Please help once more. I have a genuine version of XP 32 bit (with the MS XP Disk) installed on an Intel DX58SO MB, an i7 chipset and Insyde BIOS /ACPI 2.0 . SLIC Toolkit shows a valid PKey but in the Cert: block I get: No OEM Certificate found !(Run as Adminstrator). I'm also showing: Dump Error ! (SLIC Table Not found ! ) What I want to do is partition my drive and install Win 7 Ultimate x64 on the new partition using Daz's loader to activate, while keeping XP x86 on the "C" drive. I read here that someone tried something similar with Vista and it deactivated Vista. Will what I want to do work? I would like to have both XP & 7 available to ease the transfer of programs from XP to 7 if possible. I have an awful lot of "stuff" on my machine and getting it to work as it does now took a loooonngg time! If someone has a better way of getting all my settings into 7, I'm all ears, but please remember that I'm not a computer guru. Thanks.
Easy transfer will carry over settings and files but not programs. In the repository in Section 6-C is some info about dual booting atleast with vista. I think windows 7 must be the active partition for the loader to work. However, there is the windows 7 XP mode virtual machine offered by MS that allows people with certain XP software to still be used dude.
The Vista de-activation stuff was most likely people making mistakes and ending up replacing their installed Vista key with a 7 key (they're different) when using the key install feature of loaders - re-installing the Vista key manually while running Vista would fix it. Daz's loader should not affect your XP at all - 7 will add XP to the boot list - if you mess the boot list up somehow EasyBCD will easily help you fix it. Some Intel boards used to prove problematic with Vista activation by loaders so you may have to try it out to see - it can't be the problem it was otherwise we would be seeing lots of posts about it like there used to be. You shouldn't have any problems and I really think you should probably just image your XP with Acronis TrueImage, clean install 7 and try it out - I don't think you will even bother with XP after you set 7 up.
I'm not worried about being able to run my software under 7, I'm worried about transfering config settings from XP programs to 7. I knew about Easy Transfer but it just seems it would be easier to set up 7 if I could go back and see my settings in XP while I'm setting up in 7. Thanks much for your patience with my questions. I've found that it's a whole lot easier to do something right the first time instead of trying to fix my screw-ups!
Thank you also for helping. I'm sure your right about not going back, but I just think it would be easier to get set up if I could still see my old programs while doing so.
I take it you don't have a seperate partition already? All i think you need to do is shrink your current partition then create a new partition in the unused space! then install a clean copy of Win 7 on that partition using the advanced option from booting from the Win 7 DVD. That way you keep XP just with a smaller partition and a clean copy of windows 7. XP does not use a SLIC table to activate it uses SLP so i can't see any conflicts. If you have a spare partition just install win 7 as above. Hope that makes sense?
You should have no trouble with 7 recognizing XP - a new XP install will not recognize 7 so always install XP first.
I'm not sure I follow you here. Are you saying that I can't install 7 on a new partition of the drive I already have XP on? I also thought of something else last night. If I do install 7 on this new partition and use a dual boot setup, what happens after I'm done with XP? I can't think of any way to get rid of XP and have 7 become primary since everything in 7 would be referenced to drive "x" instead of "C". Am I right?
Can't what be renamed? Pardon me if that is a silly question, but my brain is starting to spin trying to sort out all this new (to me) stuff. I've always been pretty good with making my computer do what I want it to do, but I've never gotten into the nuts & bolts of just what makes things run before. And, it's been years since I've had to partition a hard drive. I know (I think anyway) that the BIOS will automatically assign the next available drive letter when adding a partition, but I've never tried removing a partition, yet alone one with an operating system on it. I've also never had need for "dual booting". I know this ain't rocket science, but I tend to very cautious when it comes to messing with my operating system. I'm going to have to do some more Googling this afternoon!
I was just saying can't a partition be renamed hence when booting it will look for C: Maybe a more experienced person here willl answer your questions I just keep it simple by only installing 7 since its so much cooler than XP Clean install is best dude
When you want to get rid of the XP partition just use vistabootpro 3.1 to copy the boot loader to the XP partition after you format it in Win 7. I have done it many times works a treat! To be honest i think you will find that when you install Win 7 as dual boot with XP it will class the drive as C: anyway. Trust me its a lot easier than you think it is. Back up first though just in case it goes nipples north!!! <edit> Typo