2HDD DualBoot - W8 (already installed) + XP (newly cloned)

merlo

New Member
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3
Location
Czech Republic
Hello,

i need to help with this problem. I am using Windows 8 as primary OS (SSD). Until now i was using VirtualBox to run Windows XP. Since i want to play few older 3D games, which are totally incompatible with new systems, i decided to fully install XP on my external drive (eSATA).

So i cloned existing XP partition from VB's .VDI to newly created partition on external drive. Now i need to make it bootable with option after PC's start which system i want to choose.

I was wondering that i can use some boot-repair utilities to make XP's partition bootable, but i dont want to risk if that can mess up W8's boot...

Thanks in advance for any hints.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
Welcome. Not an easy thing to do, although I have seen claims it can be done. Google on "bootable external drive xp."
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win7 Ult on DIY; Win8 Pro on MBP/Parallels; Win7 Ult on MBP/Boot Camp; Win7 Ult/Win8 Pro on HP
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    DIY Rig; MacBook Pro (MBP)/Parallels/Boot Camp; HP Pavilion dv6500t Laptop
    CPU
    Intel i7-2600K (sometimes OC'd to 4.8 GHz)
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8P67 Deluxe Rev B3
    Memory
    16 GB Corsair Vengeance
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA 570 SC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Gateway
    Hard Drives
    Dual Boot:
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on OCZ Revo x2 and
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on Caviar Black SATA 3's
    PSU
    Cooler Master Silent Pro 1000W
    Case
    Cooler Master 932 HAF
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS9900MAX-B CPU Fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
    Mouse
    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
    Internet Speed
    20 Mbps Download/2+ Mbps Upload
    Other Info
    Pioneer Blu-ray Burner/DVD Burner
Thanks for your reply, but note that its not USB external drive that i am using, but eSATA. Which is fully usable to install and use systems on it.

I just need to know how to add that cloned XP partition to the W8's boot manager.

OR if i can use boot-repair software to make XP partition bootable then switching between systems by selecting particular drive to boot in BIOS.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
You are welcome. I said nothing about USB. Anyway, I have not done what you want to do (maybe someone who has will reply), but there are quite a few pages that show up when I google "bootable esata drive xp." There appear to be quite a few "issues" WRT eSATA/xp even though you say "... eSATA .... Which is fully usable to install and use systems on it." Maybe, however, one of these pages will help you do what you want.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win7 Ult on DIY; Win8 Pro on MBP/Parallels; Win7 Ult on MBP/Boot Camp; Win7 Ult/Win8 Pro on HP
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    DIY Rig; MacBook Pro (MBP)/Parallels/Boot Camp; HP Pavilion dv6500t Laptop
    CPU
    Intel i7-2600K (sometimes OC'd to 4.8 GHz)
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8P67 Deluxe Rev B3
    Memory
    16 GB Corsair Vengeance
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA 570 SC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Gateway
    Hard Drives
    Dual Boot:
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on OCZ Revo x2 and
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on Caviar Black SATA 3's
    PSU
    Cooler Master Silent Pro 1000W
    Case
    Cooler Master 932 HAF
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS9900MAX-B CPU Fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
    Mouse
    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
    Internet Speed
    20 Mbps Download/2+ Mbps Upload
    Other Info
    Pioneer Blu-ray Burner/DVD Burner
Well after searching what you typed it found mainly informations about USB external drives. Anyway its true that i used it for running Windows 7, not XP, but AFAIK if you have native eSATA port (which i do) there should be no problems.

I hope its ok to quote user from another forum:

Anyhow, yes, you can boot XP from an eSATA drive. Many notebooks only have eSATA drives. My desktop boots from an eSATA drive, and I did not need to do anything special to make that happen.

It all depends on what type of SATA controller you have and how the BIOS handles the SATA drives.

The general demarcation is if the SATA controller is part of the motherboard chip-set, or a separate controller.

If the SATA controller is part of the chip-set, you should have no problem installing XP to a boot drive connected to a SATA port. You do need to verify that the SATA controller is in the boot sequence, and that the correct drive is set as the boot drive. You may not even need to install drivers.

If the SATA controller is on a separate controller chip or card, then you do at a minimum need to install the driver. For some of the on-board SATA controller chips, you need to enter the controller BIOS (after the normal POST) and configure the drive as a RAID volume. Even for just a single drive.

I am going to turn off AHCI for eSATA port, then try to make that XP partition bootable, i just hope it wont mess booting capabitlity of my main (W8) drive...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
I hope it works for you. Let us know how it goes.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win7 Ult on DIY; Win8 Pro on MBP/Parallels; Win7 Ult on MBP/Boot Camp; Win7 Ult/Win8 Pro on HP
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    DIY Rig; MacBook Pro (MBP)/Parallels/Boot Camp; HP Pavilion dv6500t Laptop
    CPU
    Intel i7-2600K (sometimes OC'd to 4.8 GHz)
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8P67 Deluxe Rev B3
    Memory
    16 GB Corsair Vengeance
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA 570 SC
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Gateway
    Hard Drives
    Dual Boot:
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on OCZ Revo x2 and
    Win7 Ult RAID 0 on Caviar Black SATA 3's
    PSU
    Cooler Master Silent Pro 1000W
    Case
    Cooler Master 932 HAF
    Cooling
    Zalman CNPS9900MAX-B CPU Fan
    Keyboard
    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
    Mouse
    Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500
    Internet Speed
    20 Mbps Download/2+ Mbps Upload
    Other Info
    Pioneer Blu-ray Burner/DVD Burner
I don't know if this will help you, but this is what I did to rebuild Windows 8's boot records and detect and add Windows 7 to it. I had a successful Win 7 / Win 8 dual disc/dual boot setup, but broke it after restoring the Win 8 image from an Acronis backup.

Windows 8 Boot Issues? Try Fixing the Master Boot Record (MBR) or Boot Configuration Data (BCD) - TechSpot

The instructions at the link used the following commands to scan for existing Windows installations and rebuild the boot records.

bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /scanos
bootrec /rebuildbcd
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro x64
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell E520
    CPU
    Intel Q6700 Core 2 Quad - 2.66 GHz
    Motherboard
    Whatever Dell put in there...
    Memory
    8 GB Mushkin 800 MHz DDR2
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GTX 650 - 2 GB GDDR5
    Sound Card
    Integrated
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x 19" ViewSonic LCD's
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1024
    Hard Drives
    1 Intel X25-M 120G SSD, 2 WD RE4 2TB HD's
    PSU
    PCPower & Cooling Silencer 500 Watt
    Internet Speed
    100/10 Time Warner Cable
You should be able to add XP to boot menu by using EasyBCD.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo Y520
    CPU
    Intel Core i5 7300HQ
    Motherboard
    OEM Lenovo
    Memory
    4GB DDR4-2400
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 (2)
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Seagate 1TB 5400 RPM
    Keyboard
    OEM Lenovo
    Mouse
    Logitech G502 Proteus Core
    Internet Speed
    100 Mbps
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Other Info
    PC:

    AMD Athlon X4 760K
    8GB DDR3-1866
    AMD Radeon RX 460
    Seagate 500 GB 7200 RPM
Thanks for your reply, but note that its not USB external drive that i am using, but eSATA. Which is fully usable to install and use systems on it.

I just need to know how to add that cloned XP partition to the W8's boot manager.

OR if i can use boot-repair software to make XP partition bootable then switching between systems by selecting particular drive to boot in BIOS.


Hi there

1) Create XP partition on your external device -- you probably only need around an 8GB partition. Use DISKPART to create the partition. Use the rest of the disk as a second partition - will be accessible by both the XP system and the W7/W8 system if that's running at the time the device is plugged into the computer.

2) Create a GRUB boot loader on the esata device.

3) Create a VHD (Virtual Hard Disk -- note NOT a Virtual machine) of your Windows XP system.

4) Now get GRUB bootloader to boot, load the VHD and now boot XP from the VHD.

You should have a fully functioning XP system operating from your e-sata device.

However I found THIS old tutorial -- You need your Windows XP disk - but this appears to work -- uses BARTBE (still avialble) for installation. I haven't tested this myself yet as I don't have any use for an External Disk XP system. I use Windows to Go these days.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/g6i9t1b1wwxeebi/EmanuelTutorial.htm

Cheers
jimbo
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Linux Centos 7, W8.1, W7, W2K3 Server W10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 X LG 40 inch TV
    Hard Drives
    SSD's * 3 (Samsung 840 series) 250 GB
    2 X 3 TB sata
    5 X 1 TB sata
    Internet Speed
    0.12 GB/s (120Mb/s)
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