I have plans to purchase a laptop soon. Looking at the local Staples
(office supply store) noticed VISTA is already coming preloaded. I need
XP installed (at the very least, preferably Win98SE) for backward
compatibility with software.

My questions are:

1. Does anybody know if XP can be installed on a PC with Vista
preinstalled without reformatting?

2. Can dual-boot be setup for an older OS (i.e. XP) if Vista is
preinstalled?

TIA
Vic

No, you'll have to reformat if you want XP to be the only OS on the system.

You can dual boot with XP - but this'll be difficult with Vista already
installed.

You can run XP or 98SE in a Virtual machine inside of Vista. There's a
Virtual Machine Express feature that comes with the higher end versions of
Vista that will enable this (I'd suggest getting the Ultimate version for
this).

I run XP in a beta of VM 2007 on my system without any problems.

- John

"Vic" wrote:

> I have plans to purchase a laptop soon. Looking at the local Staples
> (office supply store) noticed VISTA is already coming preloaded. I need
> XP installed (at the very least, preferably Win98SE) for backward
> compatibility with software.
>
> My questions are:
>
> 1. Does anybody know if XP can be installed on a PC with Vista
> preinstalled without reformatting?
>
> 2. Can dual-boot be setup for an older OS (i.e. XP) if Vista is
> preinstalled?
>
> TIA
> Vic
>
>
>

"Vic" wrote

>I have plans to purchase a laptop soon. Looking at the local Staples
>(office supply store) noticed VISTA is already coming preloaded. I need XP
>installed (at the very least, preferably Win98SE) for backward
>compatibility with software.
>
> My questions are:
>
> 1. Does anybody know if XP can be installed on a PC with Vista
> preinstalled without reformatting?
>
> 2. Can dual-boot be setup for an older OS (i.e. XP) if Vista is
> preinstalled?

Contact the computer manufacturer such as Dell or HP, etc, to get a machine
with XP pre-loaded. You can still get them.

No, to install XP and have that as the only OS, you'll need to do a clean
install.

Yes you can dual boot XP and Vista. The normal procedure is to install the
older OS first then the newer, but it can be done the other way around.
Install XP to it's own partition or drive, then use VistaBoot Pro to restore
the Vista boot loader. This will have entries to boot Vista or the legacy
OS. Choosing the Legacy OS brings you to the XP boot loader where you can
boot into XP.

You should post to one of the Vista newsgroups if you want to do this and
need more help such as
microsoft.public.windows.vista.general.

--
Rock [MVP - User/Shell]

Thanks for your informative reply!
___
"Rock" <rock@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:ubxGn1#QHHA.3500@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> "Vic" wrote
>
> >I have plans to purchase a laptop soon. Looking at the local Staples
> >(office supply store) noticed VISTA is already coming preloaded. I
need XP
> >installed (at the very least, preferably Win98SE) for backward
> >compatibility with software.
> >
> > My questions are:
> >
> > 1. Does anybody know if XP can be installed on a PC with Vista
> > preinstalled without reformatting?
> >
> > 2. Can dual-boot be setup for an older OS (i.e. XP) if Vista is
> > preinstalled?
>
> Contact the computer manufacturer such as Dell or HP, etc, to get a
machine
> with XP pre-loaded. You can still get them.
>
> No, to install XP and have that as the only OS, you'll need to do a
clean
> install.
>
> Yes you can dual boot XP and Vista. The normal procedure is to
install the
> older OS first then the newer, but it can be done the other way
around.
> Install XP to it's own partition or drive, then use VistaBoot Pro to
restore
> the Vista boot loader. This will have entries to boot Vista or the
legacy
> OS. Choosing the Legacy OS brings you to the XP boot loader where you
can
> boot into XP.
>
> You should post to one of the Vista newsgroups if you want to do this
and
> need more help such as
> microsoft.public.windows.vista.general.
>
> --
> Rock [MVP - User/Shell]
>

You're welcome.

"Vic" wrote

> Thanks for your informative reply!

> "Rock" wrote

>> "Vic" wrote
>>
>> >I have plans to purchase a laptop soon. Looking at the local Staples
>> >(office supply store) noticed VISTA is already coming preloaded. I
> >> >installed (at the very least, preferably Win98SE) for backward
>> >compatibility with software.
>> >
>> > My questions are:
>> >
>> > 1. Does anybody know if XP can be installed on a PC with Vista
>> > preinstalled without reformatting?
>> >
>> > 2. Can dual-boot be setup for an older OS (i.e. XP) if Vista is
>> > preinstalled?
>>
>> Contact the computer manufacturer such as Dell or HP, etc, to get a
> machine
>> with XP pre-loaded. You can still get them.
>>
>> No, to install XP and have that as the only OS, you'll need to do a
> clean
>> install.
>>
>> Yes you can dual boot XP and Vista. The normal procedure is to
> install the
>> older OS first then the newer, but it can be done the other way
> around.
>> Install XP to it's own partition or drive, then use VistaBoot Pro to
> restore
>> the Vista boot loader. This will have entries to boot Vista or the
> legacy
>> OS. Choosing the Legacy OS brings you to the XP boot loader where you
> can
>> boot into XP.
>>
>> You should post to one of the Vista newsgroups if you want to do this
> and
>> need more help such as
>> microsoft.public.windows.vista.general.


--
Rock [MVP - User/Shell]