Windows 8.1 Pro Install?

[bevills1]

Does Windows 8.1 Pro setup allow one to select where to install Windows like WinXP does? Also can it be installed to dual boot with WinXP? Previously I ran Win98 and WinXP dual boot with Win98 on the primary partition of the first hard drive (drive C) and with WinXP on the primary partition of second hard drive (drive D). In this configuration WinXP placed boot.ini and other boot files on the C drive. Can I keep this configuration and select another partition to install 8.1 Pro, or will I need to do some repartitioning to setup WinXP/8.1 Pro dual boot.

[Cornucopia]

It might be possible but I wouldn't chance it unless the existing partitions are fully and verifiably backed up.

I'm guessing, but it seems the party line from MS is that "you don't need to dual boot anymore - just use a VM!", so they could well have made things messier with Win8.

I'd get a smaller HDD and do a test W98 install, then add an XP install, then add an 8.1Pro install. If THAT works, then I might attempt the real thing.

Scott

[usually_quiet]

Dual booting with Windows 8.1 Pro is possible. Although I never tried that with XP, I have seen instructions for doing it online.

Until recently I had a dual boot system with Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center. The PC would boot into the Windows 8.1 Boot Manager with Windows 8.1 as the default choice, although it was possible to change it to Windows 7.

Note that this PC was an older AMD system without UEFI and Secure Boot. XP is incompatible with those features. If you want to try creating a dual boot system, back up the boot drive for Windows 98 and Windows XP first. Creating a dual boot system with Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 did make changes to the Windows 7 boot drive.

[racer-x]

You can boot multiple OS's. XP, Win7, Win8, Linux, all you need is a boot loader...........

[bevills1]

According to the link in post #2 at http://www.eightforums.com/installation-setup/16183-dual-booting-windows-8-xp.html it should work just like it did when I setup WinXP/Win98 dual boot. My situation is that in step 3 of OPTION ONE (WinXP installed first) at http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/8057-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-xp.html which is the link in post #2 from above link. BTW Win98 no longer boots on my current system because the system supports only WinXP and later Windows versions.

Another question just occurred to me. Can I install Windows 8 Pro 64 bit to dual boot WinXP which is 32 bit, or do both Windows have to be the same, i.e. both 32 bit since WinXP is 32 bit? Also what are differences in 64 and 32 bit Windows 8 Pro? Does 32 bit have better driver support for older hardware, or is hardware support same for both 32 and 64 bit versions?

[wulf109]

Separate HD's and select boot drive in BIOS?

[racer-x]

If I'm not mistaken, you can create up to 99 partitions on a HDD and theoretically boot up to 99 operating systems. I did this many years ago using "Rainish Partition Manager", only I just booted 3 OS's.

I currently dual-boot Wn7x64 and Linux Mint x64 on my laptop. Linux makes it real easy to multi-boot. If you plan to dual-boot XP and Win8, install XP 1st, then install Win8 on a 2nd partition. It should give the option to dual-boot. If not, then use a bootloader.

[usually_quiet]

Does 32 bit have better driver support for older hardware, or is hardware support same for both 32 and 64 bit versions?

Although Windows 7 drivers do not always work for Windows 8.X, I recall a few pieces of legacy hardware for which a 32-bit Windows 7 driver was released but not a 64-bit driver. I don't know how often situations like this happened.

[jagabo]

Separate HD's and select boot drive in BIOS?

Or a removable drive bay:

http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-5-25in-Trayless-Mobile-3-5in/dp/B000KS8S9W/

I use those in several of my computers.

[racer-x]

Removable drives are cool, but I think it's easier to just select witch OS to boot to in a boot loader.

If you want to get fancy, you could install OS's on thumbdrives, then plug in witch one you want to run.

[Cornucopia]

Don't currently have them, but have used removable drives to great success in the past, and installs are much cleaner with no worries of interference between the OSes. I'll be making sure my next Workstation has them.

+1 on the thumbdrive idea - it works as long as your bios/mobo allows for booting USB/externals.

And VMs shouldn't be discounted either. Particularly for older OSes like DOS, Win3.x, Win9x.

Scott

[bevills1]

And VMs shouldn't be discounted either. Particularly for older OSes like DOS, Win3.x, Win9x.

Scott

Do you mean Win98 might run in VM even though my system won't boot Win98 installed on hard drive because system doesn't support Win98? What drivers would be used by the VM for Win98?

[jagabo]

And VMs shouldn't be discounted either. Particularly for older OSes like DOS, Win3.x, Win9x.

Scott

Do you mean Win98 might run in VM even though my system won't boot Win98 installed on hard drive because system doesn't support Win98?

Yes. The VM presents virtual components to Win98. It doesn't matter what real hardware you have. I have Win98 running under VMware on a Win7 64 bit system.

[racer-x]

Yeah I test Virtual Machine (can't remember which one) once in Linux. I ran XP and Win8 on it. It worked fine, but It wouldn't go full screen. It could have just been the version I was using though.

[Poppa_Meth]

Pull the XP drive. Install 8.1. Put the XP drive back in. Load up a Linux Live CD and install and configure Grub bootloader. Done. Maybe.

This use to work fine on XP and 7. I have no experience with using it on Windows 8 or 8.1.

[Poppa_Meth]

And if you want to use the Windows 8.1 bootloader here is a guide on setting up two Win installs. It's using Win7 and Win8 but should work for XP.

http://www.howtogeek.com/74335/how-to-dual-boot-windows-7-and-windows-8/

Now if you have a new system with UEFI and Secure Boot, you'll have problems with XP period. These BIOS options don't allow for booting non-secure OSs like WinXP. See some more info here:

http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/562963-dual-boot-windows-8-1-laptop-with-old-xp-install

[jagabo]

Virtual Machines are good for running old software that no longer works on modern Windows (or other operating systems). If you have some old hardware, say a scanner with a PCI card requiring a custom driver, it probably won't work because the VM doesn't give access to most physical hardware. The main excepting is USB devices where the VM gives access to the raw USB stream.

VMWare and VirtualBox are good for running older versions of Windows. DosBox is good for old DOS programs. I posted a standalone version of the old Doom Demo running on DosBox:

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/339237-Old-technology-running-on-new-equipment?p=21...=1#post2108691

I have lots of old DOS games archived this way.

By the way, the Internet Archive has a bunch old DOS and arcade games that you can run in a web browser (a custom version of DosBox). Here's one example:

https://archive.org/details/msdos_Starflight_1986

[racer-x]

Now if you have a new system with UEFI and Secure Boot, you'll have problems with XP period. These BIOS options don't allow for booting non-secure OSs like WinXP

Many BIOS will let you disable Secure Boot and let you switch to Legacy Boot instead of UEFI.

[bevills1]

What size drive/partition should Window 8.1 Pro be installed on? According to Microsoft requirements are 16GB (32 bit) or 20GB (64 bit), bit I find Google search results showing 60GB or more space taken up by Windows 8.1 Pro. I like to have approximately half the drive space used by the OS leaving room for growth over time as apps and updates are added. WinXP took only about 6GB when first installed but has grown to 20GB over years of use even though disk cleanup and defrag are run frequently. What size drive are Windows 8.1 users here using for their 8.1 systems? Also Microsoft says 1GB memory required, but a friend's laptop came with 4GB memory. My system currently has 2BG, and I would like to know if memory needs to be added and if so, how much to add.

[usually_quiet]

One of the benefits of installing a 64-bit version of an OS is that it allows using more RAM. It would be good to have 3-4 GB of RAM even if you were installing a 32-bit version of Windows 7. If you tend to run multiple programs at the same time, more RAM helps.

As a side note there is one downside to installing a 64-bit version of an OS that I don't think has come up yet. If you still have any old 16-bit programs that you use, they won't run. I still have a couple of those, but I need to run them on my 32-bit Windows 7 system or 32-bit Windows 8.1 system.

[bevills1]

As a side note there is one downside to installing a 64-bit version of an OS that I don't think has come up yet. If you still have any old 16-bit programs that you use, they won't run. I still have a couple of those, but I need to run them on my 32-bit Windows 7 system or 32-bit Windows 8.1 system.

That's the main reason I choose to dual boot WinXP/Win8.1Pro which facilitates use of 64 bit improvements and still be able to run older apps in WinXP.

[usually_quiet]

I forgot to answer part of your question. I divided the 500GB drive I use for Windows 8.1 into 2 approximately equal partitions. I use the secondary partition for data.

[racer-x]

What size drive/partition should Window 8.1 Pro be installed on? According to Microsoft requirements are 16GB (32 bit) or 20GB (64 bit), bit I find Google search results showing 60GB or more space taken up by Windows 8.1 Pro. I like to have approximately half the drive space used by the OS leaving room for growth over time as apps and updates are added. WinXP took only about 6GB when first installed but has grown to 20GB over years of use even though disk cleanup and defrag are run frequently. What size drive are Windows 8.1 users here using for their 8.1 systems? Also Microsoft says 1GB memory required, but a friend's laptop came with 4GB memory. My system currently has 2BG, and I would like to know if memory needs to be added and if so, how much to add.

I installed Win8.1 x64 earlier today on 78 GB partition. After about 80% of the programs I used were installed, 20 GBs were used in total. I do like to run my OS's lean and mean. I disable everything not needed such as: System Restore, Hibernation, etc, etc. No need for that crap when I have much better tools such as a bootable thumbdrive with more powerful features.

2 GBs RAM is too little for Win8 in my opinion, you'll need at least 4 GBs.

Win 8.1 is OK, but Win7 is better in my opinion. I'll bounce back and forth for a while anyway. The reality is I spend about 90% of my time in Linux anyway...........

[bevills1]

Based on your recent Win8.1 install results I think I'm going to use a 200GB partition to be sure I have OS occupying around 50% of disk space for my install. According to http://www.pcworld.com/article/2450068/buying-a-new-pc-dont-worry-windows-8-is-just-fine.html the free Classic Shell download makes Windows 8.1 as good as Windows 7, and Windows 8.1 is faster than Windows 7 which makes it better. Have you tried Classic Shell, and do you disagree with the author's analysis?

[usually_quiet]

Based on your recent Win8.1 install results I think I'm going to use a 200GB partition to be sure I have OS occupying around 50% of disk space for my install. According to http://www.pcworld.com/article/2450068/buying-a-new-pc-dont-worry-windows-8-is-just-fine.html the free Classic Shell download makes Windows 8.1 as good as Windows 7, and Windows 8.1 is faster than Windows 7 which makes it better. Have you tried Classic Shell, and do you disagree with the author's analysis?

Yes, I use Classic Shell, although just for a Start Menu. I don't use it to alter the appearance and functionality of Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer. As I recall, it can set up Windows 8.1 to boot to the desktop so users don't have to change the setting manually. Windows 8.1 seems a little snappier than Windows 7. I don't notice a big difference.

[racer-x]

Yes, I'm running Classic Shell, I wouldn't run Win 8.1 without it. The OS is OK in most regards, but it has it's annoyances. For example AvsPmod doesn't work unless you run it in XP SP3 mode. It works just fine in Win7 however. Another annoyance is I'm constantly Right-Clicking to run as Administrator, I am an Administrator!!!

You'll have to decide for yourself.

[bevills1]

FYI the link to Classic Shell in reply #24 doesn't seem to work. Through Google search I found it at http://www.classicshell.net/ in case others may be needing or wanting it. Also there is as of 1-11-15 a 6 page thread about Windows 10 to be a subscription based version of Windows at http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r29719982-WIN10-Windows-10-maybe-a-monthly-subscription- for any who may be waiting for Windws 10 release currently scheduled for April 2015 I believe.

[bevills1]

Just installed Win8.1Pro, and I didn't see how to turn off the PC until after Classic Shell with Start button was installed; I chose the Win7 style Start menu but didn't see Add/Remove Programs in its Control Panel. Where is Add/Remove Programs in this Start menu? Also time was changed by 3 hours after Win8.1Pro install which likely means setup selected Pacific time zone automatically because I didn't see option to select time zone during setup. Where is time zone selected in Win8.1Pro?

Also during Win8.1Pro setup I chose Disk0 volume 6 partition to install it which is Drive I in WinXP, but in Win8.1Pro it assigned Drive C for Win8.1Pro, Drive D for Win98 (it's Drive C in WinXP) and Drive F for WinXP (it's Drive D in WinXP). All drives still appear as they were originally assigned when I boot to WinXP but appear as the a fore mentioned drive letters when I boot to Win8.1Pro. Can or should the drive letters be changed to appear as originally assigned in WinXP, or would it be okay to leave them as is?

[usually_quiet]

Also during Win8.1Pro setup I chose Disk0 volume 6 partition to install it which is Drive I in WinXP, but in Win8.1Pro it assigned Drive C for Win8.1Pro, Drive D for Win98 (it's Drive C in WinXP) and Drive F for WinXP (it's Drive D in WinXP). All drives still appear as they were originally assigned when I boot to WinXP but appear as the a fore mentioned drive letters when I boot to Win8.1Pro. Can or should the drive letters be changed to appear as originally assigned in WinXP, or would it be okay to leave them as is?

The drive with the OS you are currently running (Windows 8.1) should always be "C". You can change the drive letters for the others.

[bevills1]

I also tried to change volume label for Drive C, but it gives messaging stating must be administrator or something like that to change volume label. The Classic Shell Start menu seemed to work when first installed but was gone on next restart. I've tried to repair it, remove it and then reinstall, but it's never seen after that first restart following its install no matter what I try. Could it be some bugs in the Classic Shell program? Also can someone tell me how to change the password for Windows startup? In WinXP I changed password so that it starts up without having to enter a password. Can I do this in Win8.1Pro, and if so, how?

Edit: Finally got Classic Shell working properly and found how to change login by adding a 4 digit pin, but changing main password apparently changes login for hotmaiil as well which isn't a good idea. I suppose there's no way to startup Win8.1Pro without entering either a password or pin.