Dual booting a Dell Vostro

Hi guys

I'm looking at buying a Dell Vostro (either a 1500 or 1700).

I want to dual boot XP and Vista. The machine will come with Vista preinstalled and I'll upgrade it to Ultimate (from home premium) - mainly for the complete PC backup function.

What I'm wondering is - are there any issues with Dell laptops and dual booting Vista and XP that I need to be aware of.

Dual booting is one thing I really want to do as I use XP for gaming and Vista for other bits and pieces so I don't want to buy the notebook if I'm going to have hell and all trouble dual booting it.

Thanks in advance for any advice

 

Check this thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=230123

 

It's a good laptop for dual booting........

the main issue is that you'll need the sata drivers for the hdd for the xp installation. There are several similar threads in this forum if you do a search and numerous guides on the net- just Google for them...

Since Vista is pre-installed, you may have to repair the Vista installation after you install XP as it will corrupt the Vista boot record. You'll need a vista install disk for that. Easy to do.

 

Ah ok. I know about dual booting and having to repair the MBR so that's not a problem.

Would I be better in taking XP preinstalled and installing Vista as the second OS, or would I still need the SATA drivers?

 

You will need the SATA drivers when installing Windows XP or Vista (unless installing from a Dell disc). Or you will get a blue screen when Windows tries to start up.

It is better to install Windows XP first and then install Vista, a newer OS won't let you install an older OS over it.

 

Ok I dispute your last sentence cos I installed XP on my Acer which already had Vista installed and then just repaired the MBR using the Vista install disk.

I didn't need to install vista again, odd thing is I didn't need the SATA drivers for that...

But thanks for the advice. I guess it's time to learn how to add the SATA drivers to the Vista install disk.

Is there a quick idiotproof guide anywhere I can use?

 

Funny, when I tried installing XP over Vista to make the dual boot it didn't let me. The older OS simply refused installing over the new one.

I simply wiped the HDD, made the respective partitions and went from there.

You can use the guide for nLite for integrating SATA and other drivers for an XP installation at the link below:

http://www.nliteos.com/guide/

It's quite simple to follow.

For integrating SATA drivers on a Vista installation disc you will need to use vLite.

You can find the guide for vLite here:

http://www.vlite.net/help/drivers.html

They both work pretty much the same.

Some drivers are provided only as an .exe file. You can extract the .INF files needed by nLite or VLite with right click and choose Extract To... (using Winrar for that).

After extraction, find the folder with the INF file(s) in it and select the ones you need.

 

If you have an ultimate disc then get XP preinstalled. Then dual boot w/ your Vista disk. Check out Paul's super site for windows for how to do it with an upgrade disk.

 

Thanks for that.

It is on an Acer not a Dell that I have XP and Vista which I installed XP with Vista preinstalled so maybe because it's an Acer it didn't need the SATA drivers.

I think I'll get the Dell Vostro with XP - it's another £30 but from what I've been reading the Dell drivers for XP aren't as easy to find as the ones for Vista so the £30 may well be worth it.

And I have a Vista retail disk, so I've got all versions, but obviously I'll be putting Ultimate on

 

Strange, they're easily available on the Dell Support site at this link.

You can find both Windows XP and Vista drivers. Perhaps some people are complaining that the drivers are hard to find because they wipe their machines first and then try to guess its internal hardware, especially the wireless card which tends to change.

Before wiping the hard drive or attempting to install an OS from an installation disc make sure to go into Hardware Manager and make a list of your computer's internal hardware.

You can also search on the support site by service tag, this will give you the exact hardware that was installed at the factory.

 

and, you DO not HAVE to slipstream/integrate the sata drivers- put them on a usb flash drive and point the installation to it when prompted........

 

Ah ok, I don't have a USB flash drive, I guess I'll have to go out and get one...

Is "when prompted" the bit in the XP installation where it says press x key to use 3rd party sata drivers?

I haven't actually looked for the XP drivers, just based on what I read it seemed difficult to find them.

Why would I need to wipe the HDD first though? - I didn't do that with my Acer.

Although I did get rid of the Acer Recovery partition to get the 10gb space I wanted for XP, not that I need the recovery partition seeing as I have Vista ultimate and make regular full PC backups...

 

ravenmorpheus,

My name is Jesse from Dell Computer. I would just like to also add something to this thread. If you are planning on gaming with the laptop system you plan on buying make sure you get a video card that will support newer games. The onboard video cards on these systems are really not suitable for high graphic games.

 

True, true.

 

Well I'm looking at getting the one with the 8600M GT 256MB. Afaik it'll cope better than my Nvidia Geforce GO 6100 for my gaming needs (Dawn of War, Oblivion, GTR 2, Company of Heroes to name a few).

By the time I start playing more recent games I'll probably be looking at buying a new laptop anyway...

And I wouldn't touch Intel GMA's with a barge pole unless I wanted a laptop for basic web surfing, dvd watching and the occasional bit of artwork...

Plus I can't really afford a laptop with anything higher than the 8600M GT 256MB as I've only got around £700 to spend and haven't been able to find anything other than the Vostro with as good a spec for the price...

 

Make sure you use NeoSmart EasyBCD version 1.7.1 instead of the current 1.7.2 as the new version has two key files missing in order to add additional boot entries to the MBR.

You can still get 1.7.1 from their website.

 

Yep already have that. I used EasyBCD 1.71 to do the dual boot of my Acer. Thanks for the tip though