How to Dual Boot Windows 7 and XP

This guide assumes you already have XP on your AAO.

1. Download the program Partition Magic and the Windows 7 build 7000 beta ISO, from your favorite *cough* torrent *cough* site.

2. Install Partition Magic and create a new partition from 10000MB to as big as your HD can handle, I recommend 15GB. It'll restart then shrink your main partition, and create the new one, then restart again into XP, then XP will say new hardware need to restart, so restart for the 3rd time so far.

3. Extract the contents of the Windows 7 ISO by mounting it in a disk mounting program like Alcohol 52% or Daemon Tools then copying them to the new partition. I think some compression programs like 7Zip or WinRAR can just extract a ISO too.

4. Plug in your AAO, as the installer refuses to work on battery alone, then run the installer (yes in XP run the 7 installer). When it asks, say you want to to a custom install, and it'll ask you what HD you want it to install to, pick your new partition, then let it install. It'll restart a few times but you can just leave it for about 30 minutes.

5. Input your information like country and username, skipping the asking for a serial (just press next). If everything is right you'll be at your new betta desktop. (get it, its a Beta of Windows and the desktop is a Betta fish :lol: ) Restart then it should show a Windows bootloader saying boot to older Windows or Windows 7. Obviously the older Windows OS is XP and 7 is 7.

Really easier than I expected, as I had never installed an OS before, let alone a second one. Once you get to your desktop, you'll probably have to install drivers for the Atheros and the touchpad, though it worked fine for me on ethernet cable and just using the buttons instead of tapping. Have fun tweaking your new secondary OS! :ugeek:

 

Super helpful ty much ^^

 

Excellent Tutorial, worked perfectly for me.

Just need to figure out how to reinstall Acer softwares (like the soft thatmanges the Fn button)...

 

Can you explain more about Step 3?

Does the partition you create need to be formatted somehow? I'm assuming that you mean:
1. Mount the image in Alcohol/Daemon Tools
2. Explore the image using Windows Explorer
3. Copy the files to the partition you created earlier.

So does that partition need to be formatted or can you copy files to an unformatted partition?
Or do you mean that you should just run the setup from the .iso after you've mounted it (no need to copy files over)?

Thanks.

 

Noob question... I deleted my windows 7 partition and reallocated the space back to my xp one.. but it still asks me which windows version i want to boot to when i start up.. how do i get rid of this so that it just boots up normally again?

 

Follow these instructions:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/289022

 

That is what I meant. I don't think it needs to be formatted, Partition Magic probably asks if you want it or not, I don't remember, but I do know I never formatted it and it is formatted so who knows. I don't know if just running it from a mounted disk would work because it reboots and in order for it to read from the disc Alcohol/Daemon would have to be open. I'd just copy it to the new partition to be safe.

 

Could someone please help me, I'm trying to dual boot Windows 7 with XP, I downloaded it from Microsoft's site and now I can't find the file on my computer. It took like 7 hours to download to. I tried searching for it but still nothing.

 

You might have had it set to open it instead of save it, which means it was just in a temporary folder until your browser was closed. There is pretty much no chance of recovering it, so you'll probably have to redownload it. I know the feeling, I'd download huge files only to have me parents close all the Firefox windows in the middle of them downloading. ><

 

I would just like to say thank you so much for posting this how to, as I am now currently a Windows 7 Beta user. Thanks a lot your guide was great.

Just one question, how do I make sure my 30 days doesn't go out?

 

Under the Control Panel there should be an activate icon somewhere, go through the steps using this key:
GG4MQ-MGK72-HVXFW-KHCRF-KW6KY
(Don't worry they only gave out 10 different keys, this is one of the five 32 bit keys)

That will last you until August 1, but by then there might be a new beta or even the real Windows 7 out.

 

How much drive space is required for Windows 7?

I've got the 8GB SSD version, with another 8GB in the expansion. Would this be enough for me to install Win7? And would I be able to dual-boot with Linpus?

Thanks for the help. I've seen lots of guides, but they all assume XP and a 120/160GB HDD. My RAM is 1GB, think that's a bit more than the standard USA Linpus models.

 

Stock unmodified beta is approx 7 Gb installed. And uses approx 700Mb of memory with browser open and AV (Avira) running...Worse than XP, but way better than Vista...

Not complaining at all, it is an awesome experience...just letting you know...

 

Have tried to download my Windows 7 from Microsoft many times only to get to 2.44gig and 99% and then it sits for hours. clicks on then pauses. Is there another location to get it I have my pin that Microsoft gave me for it.
Also having a dificult time with this dual boot my acer1 is set up not 32bit but NTFS is this a issue? Where and or how do I partition it with out messing with the XP on it?
Thank you for any and all help.
Love our new Acer1 very handy little thing.
Jenn

 

if i use partition magic will my xp reinstall partition be ok?

 

You can torrent it, install a torrent app like uTorrent (you might have to forward ports and stuff but that's a whole different thing) and open a torrent (google people that say ARRR and bay then search that site for torrents) with it.
I do not you what you mean by "set up not 32bit but NTFS is this a issue?" It is both, as they are very different things, 32bit is just the type of operating system you're running (either 32 or 64 bit) and NTFS is the file system of your hard drive (NTFS or FAT or any other one).
The guide is for dual booting Windows 7 and XP, so to partition it without messing with XP, follow the guide, you need to download Partition Magic.

It should last longer than 30 days, it should go to August 1. While there are programs such as Timernuke, who knows if Microsoft will sneak in an update that will stop those programs July 31?

Yes, it should be as long as you don't "accidentally" remove that partition.

 

Hey whaasup dudes , got a really newbie and dumb question , this is (believe it or not) my first Laptop , and I really really do want to learn , so here goes , I have already "bought " partition magic 8.0 , I have already downloaded Windows 7 (32 bit version) I am ready to start playing with my AA1 , but before I begin I will like to know this : if I make the partition using partition magic (of course) will it erase everything I have on my AA1 now ?? or will it just use the empty space ?? I have a 160gb AA1 , I have 90gb free , can anyone help me with this question ?? thanks . . .

 

It will not delete anything.

 

Thanks dude !! it worked I have now a double boot AA1 :shock: thank you

Hey dude . . . if it's not to much trouble , do you mind posting a screenshot of what to look for ?? for the life of me I can not find the freaking icon or where to input the code you are giving sorry for my newbines

 

Go to:
Start->Control Panel->Go to top right search box type in "Activate"->Under System there will be a link to Activate Windows after that there should be some steps, I don't remember because I did it a while ago, and mines already activated so I can't go through the steps past that again.