How to make dual boot Windows XP and Windows Vista Ultimate

After almost a year launched, I decided to try Vista.

First thing that came to my mind was to make it dual boot. Simply because I still want to Window XP and at the same time I can learn Vista. I’ve done this with Win98 and Windows XP.

After doing same research, I found 3 most important things to make sure a successful Vista installation.

1. At least 512 MB ram – I GB is recommended.
2. Minimum 7 GB hard disk space – this is for Vista alone. Most people recommend at least 20 GB if you want to add programs, files or etc.
3. An ACPI compliance motherboard – Vista can’t continue with non-ACPI compliance motherboard.

The preparation and installation
1. Create Primary Partition – On my XP machine I have 3 partitions, 30 GB for Windows XP, 30 GB for my data and 10 GB free space. So, I decided to use the 10 GB free space for Vista installation. From Windows XP Computer Management -> Disk Management.
- Right click the 10 GB space and choose New Partition.
- Click next and make sure Primary partition is selected.
- Click next until the Format Partition screen. Make sure file system is NTFS click next then finish.

2. Pop in the Vista installation DVD and reboot from DVD – I cannot install Vista from Windows XP because my motherboard ACPI is disable during XP installation and Vista installer treat it as non-compliance.

3. A Vista install screen appears.
- Click Install Now.
- Under Installation type, click Custom (Advanced)
Actually there are two options here:
1. Upgrade – Upgrade from Windows XP and keep your files. (Enable if you install from XP)
2. Custom (Advanced) – Install a clean copy, select where you want to install and make changes to disks and partitions.
But the upgrade option is disabled if you boot from DVD

- On “Where do you want to install windows?” screen, Select the partition you’ve created and click next.

4. Vista installation will continue until installation is complete.

5. Once complete, Vista will reboot your computer and Windows Boot Manager will appear. It gives you two options,
Earlier Versions of Windows – This is you Windows XP
Microsoft Windows Vista

By default Microsoft Windows Vista is selected. Wait a few second or press enter…. Then…..Enjoy your Vista