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Subject: Vista/XP Dual Boot

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Steven O'Neill User is Offline

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8/21/2007 09:15 PM
I have a client who has purchased a number of new machines (Vista based) only to discover that the main software they use isn't Vista compatible just yet. So they've asked me to take the machines back down to XP (using the Dell reversal route to allow you to move down from Vista to XP) but I was wondering if it would be best to either have a dual boot system or to install Virtual Workstation 2007 and install XP Pro in there. They are properly licenced (purchased box versions of XP a while back) so there shouldn't be a problem doing this either way. I just don't see why they should lose the potential of Vista by wiping the machine and dumbing it back down to XP (as they obviously won't be able to upgrade without purchasing a Vista licence at a later stage). Anyone have any thoughts on the best way forward with this one?

Stewart Brown User is Offline

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8/21/2007 11:41 PM
I haven't tried Virtual Workstation 2007 yet, need to do that. But we use virtual PC on several machines around here because of some programs which are incompatible with each other. All things equal, I would prefer the virtual stuff over the dual boot. You always run into a problem of what happens when people go running off doing things unauthorized in a dual boot scenario - they want to go installing programs, etc, and soon no one knows which OS has the program they want to run, they find their way into drives reserved for the other OS, etc. Pretty soon things get all fouled up royally. The only problem with the Virtual PC for us has been that is is significantly slower than the real PC. Maybe a really fast new machine and the newer VWS 2007 would help resolve that problem.

Steven O'Neill User is Offline

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8/22/2007 10:03 AM
Thanx Stewart. The other problem I think this client will have is that the software in question is CAD based and thus requires a lot of processing cycles due to the rendering so it may be better to have this as a seperate OS rather than a VM.

Stewart Brown User is Offline

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8/22/2007 08:16 PM
Definitely agree with you about the CAD situation. Another scenario that seems somewhat painful is when the virtual machine needs to access significant data on a server. We have found this to be the case with large Quickbooks files and with Access files. And this is especially noticible to users who are used to gigabit connections from their desktops to the servers. Applications that are mostly local, that don't use tremendous resources, that don't need to access remote data, and that spend a lot of cycles waiting for human intervention, such as spreadsheets and wordprocessing, don't seem too bad on virtual machines.

Steven O'Neill User is Offline

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8/22/2007 09:08 PM
Currently at the clients and I'm attempting an install of XP on the machines but they have an Seagate st380815as HDD (SATA) installed in them and the Dell discs don;t appear to have the drivers for getting this to work (typical). Any suggestions as to how to get this install going? I was think about nLite but I've not used this before to create a slipstream disc... Any advice appreciated.

Steven O'Neill User is Offline

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8/23/2007 01:10 AM
I figured out that there is a setting in the BIOS to allow me to use the drive in ATA mode and this has allowed me to install XP properly. Problem solved.

Stewart Brown User is Offline

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8/23/2007 02:03 AM
Usually the SATA drivers are supplied by the mgfr of the SATA controller. If you have a separate SATA controller board in a slot on the motherboard, not manufactured by Dell, you should be able to download the driver from that mfgr's website. If the SATA controller is an embedded controller on the Dell motherboard, it could be obtained from the Dell site. How are you doing this? Are you talking about having a dual boot scenario where Vista boots up on a SATA drive in SATA mode and XP boots up on a drive using ATA mode? Is this the same drive?

Steven O'Neill User is Offline

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8/23/2007 07:39 AM
The client stated they'd prefer the Vista be blown away completely and a nice new fresh install of XP went onto the machine. I've not opened the case so I'm not sure about a seperate controller board (nothing mentioned on Dell site using Service Tag) so I assume the board controls the SATS functions. Problem is that Dell only supply Vista disc and they're generic Device Drivers & Diagnostic disc and this doesn't have it. The website, having more choices, also doesn't appear to have the driver that I needed and business support is only open until 18:00 here so couldn't ask anyone there what we should do. We got it working just now but we'll need to look into getting the SATA drives working as they should at a later stage.

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