Apologies, if I am posting this in the wrong forum. Is it possible to dual boot Windows 2003 Server / Windows XP? If so, are there any directions on how this can be accomplished? Thanks in advance,

hello shiku, you can install windows xp & windows server 2003 both (dual boot) without any problems just install it on a diff. partitions

Hi Sherif, thanks for your reply. Do you know of any instructions that I can follow? I know that certain other dual boot configurations require that you install a certain OS first etc. Thanks,

In this specific case, it shouldn't matter which one is installed first. A good rule of thumb is to always install the "older" OS first. Typically, a newer OS will "understand" the older installation while the reverse isn't necessarily true.

You should install XP first, then install 2003. 2003 is a newer OS and it "understands" that there is an XP boot, so it works with it. If you install XP on a computer that has 2003 installed before, it is likely you lose your boot configuration. thats what happened to me once I tried to :)

Hi All, thanks for taking the time to read and answer this query. I have successfully installed XP & 2003 Server on the same machine. I did this based on the answers I received. The steps I took to achieve the goals were: 1. Install XP on a 15GB partition 2.Install Windows 2003 Server on a 15GB partition Works like a charm. Again, thanks to the contributors.

Just wondering if this has to be done on an NTFS or FAT partition? or doesnt it matter?

I installed both on NTFS. I am not sure if they would install on FAT. If I remember correctly I think the FAT optiopn was available. Hope this helps.

I don't believe it's possible to install Win2003 server on a FAT partition.

I had always thought that you had to use a FAT (or FAT32) file format to be able to dual boot O/S on a single hard drive. Is that correct?

FAT is not even an option, so NO. Thanks,

I have an existing Win 2003 and want to have a reboot with Win XP. So I installed Win XP and it messed up the ntdetect.com and ntldr, as a result I was able to get into XP but not 2003. I corrected this by copying the appropriate dlls from the i386 and now am able to go into 2003 but cannot go into XP. I thought I would write a batch file to get into either OS which I would run and restart the OS and then choose the appropriate option from the menu from the boot.ini. But this is not working for Win XP. Has anyone ever done this? I have both the OS'es on the same HDD but on different partitions. Thanks for any help, Ram

TDA2007 wrote:I had always thought that you had to use a FAT (or FAT32) file format to be able to dual boot O/S on a single hard drive. Is that correct? You had to have a FAT partition if you was dualbooting with a 9x installation since they dont natively support NTFSWin2k3 doesnt have the FAT option anymore.

I currently have W2k3 Server installed and running nicely. I want to run a dual-boot configuration with WinXP as the second O/S. I am curious about whether investing in another HDD is the reccommended option for running two operation systems on one machine. Any thoughts, input or reccomendations would be greatly appreciated.

Hi RamDid you find out any answer for your question?I have the problem with win2003 and win 2000My win 2003 was on C: and I then install win 2000 on D: and now I can not boot to win 2003.Any idea?

Hi Dualboot scenarios are common and it generally works very well as long as you have different partitions. be aware that the latest OS to be installed could overwrite boot files and make previously installed OS disapear from the boot menu. You will then need to edit the BOOT.INI file ; see this KB article on how to do that: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/323427/en-us(Windows Server 2003) http://support.microsoft.com/kb/289022/en-us(Windows XP) If you have OS and then want to dual boot with Windows Vista and/or Windows Server 2008 and you get into this problem you need to use a different tool called bcdedit from command prompt; KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919529/en-usand a Technet article: http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVista/en/library/85cd5efe-c349-427c-b035-c2719d4af7781033.mspx?mfr=true BCDEDIT is a commandline tool but there are graphical tools created and posted on the internet (be aware that these tools are not created nor distributed by Microsoft). Do a Live search for "How do I edit boot menu" and you should find some nice articles and tools. Brjann

your wrong sir, apparently when i installed server 2003 after i created a partition it said do you want fat32 or do you want ntfs.i just installed server 2003 and it is so annoying. i hate the fact you cant switch users you have to log off.i would install server first and then install xp. that way it defaults to xp instead of server.plus none of the hardware on my machine works with server 2003

Well, it's a server OS, so it's meant to be on a computer that just sits there with no user interaction.

Both can be installed on same machine and dual booted. You could also virtualise oneor more.Andrew Sword, MVP

If I want to do the virtualisation, is it also on 2 partitions? Of how does this works?

get vmware its alot better than the windows version of emulation. dont use the partition method, i tried that and ended up haveing reformat my entire drive, what it does is create a virtual drive kind of like an iso file. people been doing this since the 90s, i remember doing the same stuff when i was like 13. its kind of slow. i have 2ghz cpu and 2gigs of ram and running wmware server 2003 is slow. expecially when running two vmware server 2003s and windows xp.

If you have only Microsoft Windows Server 2003 on first partition (1st partition active, boot): 1) Prepare server 2003 boot.ini [boot loader] timeout=5 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows Server 2003" /fastdetect multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP" now we have: boot partition - first partition, active partition - first partition 2) Create second partition after first partition for Microsoft Windows XP , using any partition manager (example: hirens boot cd ->acrinis disk director) 3) Make second partition active , using any partition manager (example: hirens boot cd -> acrinis disk director) (if you don't make 2nd partition active installation procedure will rewrite ntldr, boot.ini, ntdetect.com of server 2003 on 1st partition) now we have: boot partition - first partition, active partition - second partition 3)Boot from XP installation disk, choose second partition for new installation , after that installation procedure will copy installation files to second partition, and restart 4)After restart - remove xp installation disk from cd-rom and Make first partition active , using any partition manager (example: hirens boot cd ->acrinis disk director) if you don't do it you will see error loading hal or kernel, becouse boot partition is not active now we have: : boot partition - first partition, active partition - first partition 5)Restart and insert xp installation disk to cd-rom 6)Continue installation also you can use fixmbr and fixboot commands, from recovery console, to chose from which partition system will be read boot record and dont forget change make active partition where boot record placed

Try: if you have only server 2003 and 1 partition 1) create second partition 2) make it active, using any partition manager (example: hirens boot cd this acrinis disk director) 3) install XP on second partition, it wiil not erase boot files (ntldr, boot.ini, ntdetect.com) because first partition is not active now. 4)after installing xp you can configure boot ini file in xp (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/289022/en-us) or if "4)" not work: make first partition(2003) active, using any partition manager (example: hirens boot cd this acrinis disk director) and configure boot ini file in server2003 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/323427/en-us), also you can use fixmbr and fixboot commands, from recovery console, to chose from which partition system will be read boot record (use for 1st partition server 2003 installation disk, for 2nd partiton XP installation disk, don't forget the administrator password) may be it help.