XP and Vista, same computer

I am going to put XP and Vista on 2 different hard drives (getting a second drive for vista ultimate). I plan to swap the drives when I need XP (which may be twice each year, max).

I want to set up both OSs to use the security chip/client security solution. Someone suggested that might not be possible.

Anyone who installed both XP and Vista (on partitions or with 2 hard drives) able to use the security chip/client security solution for both OSs simultaneously?

Thanks.

 

Sounds like a lot of trouble. If your laptop will run Vista Ultimate, I don't understand why you would ever need XP. My Thinkpad came up more than a little short (mainly on the video side) when I tested it with Vista Advisor. So, I have Vista Ultimate on my desktop and XP Pro on my laptop. Works for me although I really like Vista.

 

There are some softwares like iTunes which are not compatible with Vista. I am dual booting with XP and Vista Business. There's a Linux partition in there somewhere as well. I don't use the TPM chip, but dual booting seems like a better option than constantly swapping your drives. You could try it. Worst case scenario is it won't work.

 

How did you partition the hard drive? I was initially going to do a dual boot, but I do not know how to partition the hard drive once it already has the factory XP/recovery partition on it. I read about GParted, but do not know anyone who has used it.

Also, how did you solve the Vista Restore Point issue that seems to plague dual boots?

 

I have a XP OEM disc, well actually several. I partitioned the drive during the the XP install which I installed first. If you want to try gparted, you can partition your drive without having to re-install. I installed Linux last which controls the boot process. I wasn't aware of any Vista restore issue. I haven't had any problems. I always turn off system restore, be it XP or Vista.

 

That's part of my problem - I don't have any XP OEM cds and would need to buy another copy. As far as I know, there is no way to use the Lenovo XP copy and then get Vista on there, is there?

 

http://www.howtohaven.com/system/createwindowssetupdisk.shtml
You can create xp install disc from i386 folder that came with the machine, there is suppose to be a thinkpad specific guide on how to do that over at thinkpad forums, but that link is down.
The link I provided is the closest thing I suppose, take a look, and decide if you want to do that, it never hurt to make the cd, but it could hurt if you use it. However the worst case is that you have to use recovery cd set from lenovo again, which isn't all that bad, only time consuming. Make sure you backup your datas before you do that.

This is the link from thinkpad forum, you want to read it and maybe wait 'til the link comes backup, you could. That thinkpad specific method works, because I have tried it a while back for experimental purpose, even though I have my own oem and msdnaa xp discs.
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=3827&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

good luck