Because I'm a sucker for a good-looking operating system in beta, I downloaded and installed the publicly-available Beta 2 of the next generation of Windows, called Vista, this weekend.
Now, Microsoft says only developers, testers and those "experienced in PC troubleshooting" should install this on a spare machine. But I'm young, stupid and reckless so I installed Vista on my main PC which is the only machine I have souped up enough to handle the Vistage. I didn't want to let go of XP, though, in case everything went to hell. Thankfully all turned out well: I now have a single dual-boot PC that can run either Vista or XP.
Now, Microsoft says only developers, testers and those "experienced in PC troubleshooting" should install this on a spare machine. But I'm young, stupid and reckless so I installed Vista on my main PC which is the only machine I have souped up enough to handle the Vistage. I didn't want to let go of XP, though, in case everything went to hell. Thankfully all turned out well: I now have a single dual-boot PC that can run either Vista or XP.
First you have to download the Beta 2 of Vista available at Microsoft.com. Last time I checked everyone and their sister was downloading the 3.12 GB file from the Microsoft servers, so for awhile there they took down the download link and you could only order the DVD kit. I got in on the download early which took me several hours to complete. Don't do the download with your browser, folks - use a download manager or wget. It's a monster file and you will hate yourself if it fails halfway in and you have to start from the beginning. UPDATE: If the download is unavailable on the Microsoft site, give the torrent a try after you get your Product key. It's an .iso file, which you have to burn to DVD. (So, obviously, you need a DVD burner.)
Next I started up the install and found that Vista will only install itself on a primary partition. If you choose the C: drive where XP is already installed? Vista asks if it can rename your Windows folder "Windows.old." Uh, no thank you Vista. To get dual-booting to work, you have to create another primary partition where Vista can live alongside XP in peace and happiness.
Free partitioning utilities (like the one on the XP setup disk) delete all the data on the disk when they create new partitions. That's not very convenient. Norton's commercial product called PartitionMagic, which you can purchase at Amazon for $43 (after rebate), however, can create a new partition out of free space on your C: drive without killing the rest of the files. That's what you want. UPDATE: Astute reader Barron says that the GParted Live CD also works and it's free. Thanks Barron!
Free partitioning utilities (like the one on the XP setup disk) delete all the data on the disk when they create new partitions. That's not very convenient. Norton's commercial product called PartitionMagic, which you can purchase at Amazon for $43 (after rebate), however, can create a new partition out of free space on your C: drive without killing the rest of the files. That's what you want. UPDATE: Astute reader Barron says that the GParted Live CD also works and it's free. Thanks Barron!
Using PartitionMagic, I created a "primary" partition on drive C: made up of 20 gigabytes of free space. I assigned the drive letter V: for Vista. When you apply your partition changes, PM will make you reboot. Then you hold your breath and pray while PartitionMagic rejigs things on your hard drive. If the gods are smiling upon you, you'll boot up into XP with a shiny new disk parition all set up. Here's what the PartitionMagic console looked like after V: was created.
Note about the screenshot: The newly-created partition, V:, is on the right of C: in Disk 1. I took this screenshot after Vista was installed, so I'm not sure what the ?h? characters in the disk name are about. In Vista, the disk is called "Vista."
Now, once Windows XP is fully booted up and you can see your new 20GB drive, pop in the Vista DVD and run the install from there. Choose your newly created V: drive as the installation location, and let 'er rip. Vista will spend lots of time copying files and restarting your machine. All goes well in installation-ville, and you'll set up your first administrative Vista user and go from there.
Now, once Windows XP is fully booted up and you can see your new 20GB drive, pop in the Vista DVD and run the install from there. Choose your newly created V: drive as the installation location, and let 'er rip. Vista will spend lots of time copying files and restarting your machine. All goes well in installation-ville, and you'll set up your first administrative Vista user and go from there.
Note: Vista didn't have the drivers for a whole bunch of the devices on my machine, like the sound card, video card, USB Wifi adaptor, dialup modem or Ethernet card, so be prepared to have all the driver disks that came with your computer (you did save your driver disks, didn't you?) to get your machine fully functioning with Vista.
Now, once you restart your computer, you'll get a choice to boot into XP or Vista.
Now, once you restart your computer, you'll get a choice to boot into XP or Vista.
"Microsoft Windows" refers to Vista, and "Earlier version of Windows" refers to XP. The default choice is Vista, and you have 25 seconds to make another choice. Otherwise it boots into Vista automatically. (I'm sure one can change this behavior; something to research.)
Official full version will be available by Jan 30, 2007(not sure)
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