Run Win XP and Vista on same machine...

Daily-TranscriberDaily-Transcriber
edited April 2008 in Science & Tech
I want to run Windows XP and Vista on the same machine. I have Vista installed. I want to install XP along with Vista and have it be fully functional. Should I install Windows XP on VMWare Virtual Server, install on a new hard drive, or....?

What is the best and safest way to do this? Both will be used for business.

Comments

  • fatcatfatcat Mizzou Icrontian
    edited March 2008
    why?
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited March 2008
    If you need to run them both at the same time you have to install one inside of a Virtual Machine, I would recommend VMWare for that.

    If you need the full functionality of both systems, but not at the same time then you should setup a dual boot situation. But unless you really - really - need both it's kind of pointless to dual boot between both.

    What is it that your doing that leads you to think you need both systems on 1 machine?
  • Daily-TranscriberDaily-Transcriber
    edited March 2008
    kryyst wrote:
    If you need to run them both at the same time you have to install one inside of a Virtual Machine, I would recommend VMWare for that.

    If you need the full functionality of both systems, but not at the same time then you should setup a dual boot situation. But unless you really - really - need both it's kind of pointless to dual boot between both.

    What is it that your doing that leads you to think you need both systems on 1 machine?

    One company that would like for me to work with them tells me that their "platform" will not work with Vista and has not been tested on Vista. So, in order to begin working with this particular company, I need to have Windows XP, so they say.
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited March 2008
    So in that case I'd recommend running XP inside VMWare and not bother with the dual boot route.
  • Daily-TranscriberDaily-Transcriber
    edited March 2008
    kryyst wrote:
    So in that case I'd recommend running XP inside VMWare and not bother with the dual boot route.

    Perfect! I will try it.
  • Daily-TranscriberDaily-Transcriber
    edited April 2008
    Another question for this same situation: I have another PC with XP installed on it plus the one with Vista. Would it be possible to run two PCs side by side with one monitor and just turn on the PC with the OS that I needed to use at that time? I don't need to use XP and Vista at the same time anyway. How would I set this up with one monitor?
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited April 2008
    you need a device called a KVM switch. They range in price from about $20 to sky is the limit depending on the features. However in this case the $20 one will do what you need.

    So in this case you have 2 computers, they both connect into the KVM switch then you plug in 1 keyboard, 1 mouse and 1 monitor into the switch and that way you can control both machines.
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