The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Windows 7 Dual Boot

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by McCool, Mar 15, 2009.

  1. McCool

    McCool Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    7
    Messages:
    54
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    16
    I'm running Vista 32 bit on my notebook and desktop and I have an xps 1640 on its way with Vista 64. I've always been very happy with Vista but I would like to try Windows 7.

    I haven't set up a dual boot system since Windows 3.11, so I was wondering if the process is pretty straight-forward? When I start up the Windows 7 install dvd, will there be an option to setup dual boot?

    I'd like to try this on my xps 1530 first, but I want to make sure that I don't do something that would crater the Vista OS currently on it. Would I be better off waiting for my 1640 to arrive to play with Windows 7?
     
    McCool, Mar 15, 2009
    #1
  2. Tinselworm

    Tinselworm Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    1,303
    Messages:
    1,307
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    make sureyou partition beforehand, when you install W7 it will set up the dual boot automatically
     
    Tinselworm, Mar 15, 2009
    #2
  3. whizzo

    whizzo Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    769
    Messages:
    5,851
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    206
    whizzo, Mar 15, 2009
    #3
  4. ahl395

    ahl395 Ahlball

    Reputations:
    3,867
    Messages:
    8,218
    Likes Received:
    72
    Trophy Points:
    216
    ^^^

    That Link. ;)
     
    ahl395, Mar 15, 2009
    #4
  5. rjbg84

    rjbg84 Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    245
    Messages:
    560
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    As mentioned before, just create a partition before installing W7. If you are just going to try it, create a partition of about 25-30GB. The link you were given covers the installation process, that was the one I used to make the dual boot. Good luck!
     
    rjbg84, Mar 15, 2009
    #5
  6. McCool

    McCool Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    7
    Messages:
    54
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    16
    Woohoo! Thanks for the info! Got about another 20 minutes on the Windows 7 download and I'll give it a try!
     
    McCool, Mar 15, 2009
    #6
  7. rjbg84

    rjbg84 Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    245
    Messages:
    560
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    How did it go????
     
    rjbg84, Mar 17, 2009
    #7
  8. McCool

    McCool Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    7
    Messages:
    54
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    16
    This was pretty smooth. I thought it was pretty funny that during the install process, my bluetooth mouse was recognized, but then after the install it was not recognized. No big deal to re-install the driver though.

    So far, W7 seems like Vista Lite. My 1530 gets a Windows Experience score of 5.1 in Vista 32 bit and a 5.6 in W7 64 bit.

    As soon as I get some time, I'll put VS2008, SQL Server 2008 and IIS to see how they behave. I tried VS2008 on a Vista 64 bit system right after Vista had been released and it was much slower than running on a 32 bit system; hopefully those issues are worked out by now!

    Woohoo! My sxps 16 is in the boxing stage as of last night!!!
     
    McCool, Mar 17, 2009
    #8
  9. JellyGeo

    JellyGeo Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    57
    Messages:
    603
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Mr Cool - I've got WIN 7 32-bit dual-booted (with Vista) on a Dell M90, Dell 1530 and my H-P (cheapie) desktop. I think we finally have an XP replacement in my opinion - my desktop boots WIN 7 in 30 seconds and I've only had a couple of minor issues with the beta. The only "big" problem I had was with the webcam software on the Toshiba U405 - so I went back to a Vista 64/32 dual-boot. I hope your sxps 16 shows up problem-free!!
     
    JellyGeo, Mar 17, 2009
    #9
  10. rjbg84

    rjbg84 Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    245
    Messages:
    560
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Congrats on your purchase...nice system if you ask me!!!! I am glad to know everything went smoothly, taking apart the bluetooth weirdness... :eek:
     
    rjbg84, Mar 17, 2009
    #10
  11. mitch002

    mitch002 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    @JellyGeo

    could you share to me where you got the drivers for your Toshiba U405?
    i have the same unit and planning to install Windows 7 here.

    thanks thanks!
     
    mitch002, Mar 21, 2009
    #11
  12. vpelton

    vpelton Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    59
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Newbie here. You can set up a dual boot with Vista 64/32? Are you saying you can boot to either Vista 32 or Vista 64? I just got an XPS 1530 with Vista 64. I have some very old printers & am afraid they won't work on Vista 64. Can I set up the dual boot now? There was a link shown in this thread but it dealt with Win 7. I only have the Vista 64 disk, not the Vista 32 disk.
     
    vpelton, Mar 22, 2009
    #12