Installing second operating system on a separate partition

[Nick Terry]

I have a Dell Latitude X300 which came with Windows XP preinstalled. I want to install Windows Server 2003 on the laptop and have the option to boot into either OS when necessary. Using Disk Director I took some space from the XP partition to create a new partition with which to install Windows Server 2003 on. I then booted up using the W2k3 Server CD and tried to install the new OS on this new partiton. The W2k3 Server setup program said it couldn't install the OS on this partition. Looking through the user's guide for Disk Director it seems you need to boot into the selector, mark the partition which the OS is being installed on as active and then, from the selector, boot into the W2k3 Server setup CD. However, I can't see the CD drive as being an option to boot from in the selector. I have tried both the CD drive in the media slice and the CD drive in an external media bay but with either I can't see the CD and therefore can't boot from it from the selector. I assume this is fairly 'standard' kit and it wouldn't require the use of any non-standard drivers for the CD drive.

Is what I've outlined the correct way of going about installing W2k3 Server or is there something I'm missing?

Thanks for any help you can give.

[Acronis Support]

Hello Nick,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Partition and Disk Managing Software (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/diskdirector/).

Actually, the way to install a new operating system that you have described is correct.

We need some additional information in order to investigate why your CD-ROM was not recognized by Acronis OS Selector automatically.

Please create Acronis Report and Windows System Information as it is described in Acronis Help Post (http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=55317).

Please create an account (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/my/registration/), then log in (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/my/) and submit a request for technical support (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/my/support/) with the subject indicating that you wish to contact Kirill Omelchenko.

Please clarify your CD-ROM model and attach all the collected files and information to your request along with the step-by-step description of the actions taken before the problem appears and the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with the solution.

Thank you.
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Kirill Omelchenko