Help with HP Pavilion dv 7 1247cl Adding an additional Operating system

A friend gave me her laptop to put Windows me on.

I know a little about computers and can install operating systems on Computers. I've never did one on a laptop.

She has a HP Pavilion dv 7 1247cl and it is fairly new and has Windows Vista on it. She wants to keep that and asked if I can put another operating system on it because there are programs that she cannot get to run on Vista.

I told her that I don't want to put Win98se on it due to the fact that there are no more updates to it and there will be driver issues. So, I gave her the option to at least put ME on it for her to do what she needs to with her other programs.

Now, can I just create another partition and put windows ME there without any issues with Vista?

Please let me know and many thanks,
Rose

 

I wouldnt recommend putting Win ME on that thing. The laptop is way too new for ME to run properly and driver support will be non existant. The only possible option would be to Install Win XP on it for her. Even then since HP doesnt support XP you will have to find the necessary drivers online by yourself. You will probably need to slipstream SATA drivers onto the XP disc for it to even install and then look up each individual device and find any necesary drivers online.

Alternatively, you could try running either ME or XP in a virtual environment using vmware or MS Virtual PC. This is less disruptive, easier and should be a better alternative than doing a dual boot.

 

First of all - Thank you very much for your quick reply.

She don't want XP due to the fact that the programs she needs will not run on XP or Vista.

I didn't think either 98 or ME would be a good choice - but wanted to throw that in there as an option :-D

What is her only other alternative to get these programs she has to run? Any ideas or suggestions. Since these programs specifically state they will not run on these operating systems.

I wish companies would start making more programs available to Windows XP and Vista - this is just crazy!

 

Have you tried the compatibility mode for some of these programs? The compatibility mode will allow you to run the program under windows 95 ,98, me or 2000 etc. To run a program under the compatibility mode just right click on the program executable then properties and then select the "run this program in compatibility mode for" then select the version of windows you want to simulate for that particular program.

Try that first before you go to the extreme of trying to install windows ME or earlier on that dv7.

 

Evolution - Thank you!

Actually - No, have not tried that yet. I don't have any of her programs here to check to see if this works, so, I will be giving her a call and have her bring me some of her programs to test this feature out.

Thanks a bunch for all your help - it is so kind of you to give me free knowledge.

I will let you know if it works!

Peace!