XP Snapshot on Vista?

Is it possible? Has anyone done it? It seems I read about it a while back on the forum but I can't find it with search. It would be oh so cool if you could have both XP and Vista interchangeable snapshots (sort of like having your cake and eating it too!)

SourMilk out

 

Yes, you can! I have XP Pro x86 installed in one snapshot, and Vista Business x64 in another.
See this thread: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=191735

 

Yep you can, I've had a Vista snapshot for quite a while - Waste of space however as I never use it.
But it is indeed possible.

 

What happens if you're starting from VISTA and intend to install XP on an empty snapshot and your XP installation CD doesn't have XP drivers for an SATA HDD? Is this something to consider or will the existing drivers allow for such an installation?

Thanks for any advice.

 

Thanks for your replies.

I don't own Windows XP 64bit so going with ordinary 32bit XP Home and 32bit Vista Home Premium, I came up with this solution:

Using the latest FDISR Workstation build (not the Horizondata Sys crippled one) it was possible to use Vista as the host and XP as a guest but not in reverse order. I used existing archives for XP and copied them to Vista. It seems XP does not have the ability to use the preboot on my machine when using the latest build FDISR. When using Vista as host, I was able to boot to XP from the FDISR menu window but had to use the preboot to get back to Vista. If I used XP as host, I lost all the advantages of FDISR.

So, it is possible for me to use Vista 32bit and XP 32bit snapshots together if I start out in Vista.

SourMilk out

 

You'll have to slipstream the drivers into an xp install disk or else copy the drivers onto a floppy disk and load them during setup.

 

Hi SourMilk.

There is no 'host' or 'guest' in FD-ISR. OSes installed in different snapshots are completely unaware of each other. So it doesn't matter where you start, XP or Vista.

I am not quite sure if I understood your description here, but seems like something is not working as it should. I have 3 OSes in snapshots, preboot works as well as switching from Windows.
Are you saying that preboot is not working for you when only XP is installed? Or that installing Vista breaks preboot option? If the latter, try reinstalling FD-ISR in Vista (uninstall followed by a fresh install).

 

As for the host and guest, I knew that. I just could not think of a better way to describe what was happening.

You were right about something being wrong. My disk had some logical errors and somehow kept the latest version of FDISR from prebooting.

Thanks for your input,
SourMilk out

 

Greetings All,

I see Vista 64bit being used as a snapshot.

Just an FYI: As you probably know the current MS VSS that we support is 32bit only. We have not ported 64bit version to ISR as of yet. ISR works in a 64 environment, you are just not able to make a snapshot of the currently booted 64bit OS. So for the folks that have 32bit XP installed, just boot to that snapshot and then take a snapshot or archive of the 64bit OS.

I have using 32bit Vista, 64bit Vista, XP, and 2000 as snapshots and this method works just fine.

-Todd

 

What about where you stop?

Let's say I start with a pre-installed Vista on my laptop:
1. Install FD-ISR
2. Create empty snapshot, install XP to it.
3. Boot to the XP snapshot.
4. Fully uninstall FD-ISR.

Now, will this XP system act exactly as if I had just installed it clean, without Vista ever being near the machine? There may be a little MBR/boot fixing to do, but will this work, so I could image the XP partition as a backup? This is just an interesting thought I'm having to create a stand-alone "recovery dvd" of XP for my laptop which shipped only with Vista on a recovery partition. Since getting correct drivers and working out a stable install order for XP was a real pain.

This will work, won't it?

 

Greetings Janger,

Yes, you are correct. If you had fully uninstall ISR (Vista snapshot would be removed, since you are currently booted to XP), there would be no remnants of Vista even the XP Boot Record would be there since you just installed XP.

Just make sure that XP will run on your laptop with all necessary drivers.

-Todd

 

Todd, thanks!

I don't really understand how the bootstrap etc is reverted to the XP version etc, but if you say it works, I believe you.

This is just another great thing for using FD-ISR for.

BTW, yes I've got XP working and it wasn't too painful. Once again due to using FD-ISR to revert back when a driver wasn't the correct one!

 

Everytime I've started with a Vista Machine, It's been impossible to install XP on another snapshot. Creating the empty snapshot and booting to it has caused no problems, However When Windows XP has passed through the stage of Copying files to the hard drive and then rebooting, It boots with:

"NTLDR" Not found "system files missing"

And thats as far as it goes, Vista has been destroyed, and theres no way of booting back So the Whole OS has Gotten "F'd" Up

Dont try it its a pain in the Ass, and not worth reinstaling a whole system over and over just to get this feature,

 

Hmmm, well I started with Vista and installed XP in an empty snapshot. And it's been working fine for a few weeks now. I can switch between them with no problems. I've heard of what you describe happening when setting up a true dual-boot system, but not in FDISR.

I do have a question about this if I want to remove Vista completely though. Several months ago I read a post here where someone said the primary (original) snapshot did actually differ from the other snapshots. Is this true, and if so wouldn't that mean the process I outlined above wouldn't truly give a system that acts like Vista had never been near the comp?

Edit: Ok I just read several threads about the problem. I did make sure to let the empty snapshot boot once before installing XP but I don't know if that's why mine is working fine.

 

All Snapshots are treated equally (of course I am talking about the original, multi-boot versions of FDISR). If you uninstall FDISR, whatever Snapshot that you are in at the time now comes your one and only c:drive.

Acadia

 

I think that message is normal, see step number four here:

http://www.raxco.com/support/kb_detail.cfm?kbid=408&prod=1&ver=2008

Acadia

 

Your mis-understanding me Arcadia Its not happening before I boot to the CD its After, I get windows XP to load into the empty snapshot and proceed with install stage where it asks you "leave current system files unchanged without reformatting" from that moment on XP copies its files to the hard drive and then reboots afterwards in 15 seconds (follow me on this so far?) Its when Windows boots to continue installing files is when everything fails, thats when I get the error NTLDR missing error in loading operating system, And thats when its a reformat job,and start installing the OS all over again. I was wondering if this is just an issue with the HorizonDataSys version 3.21.205 (NOT RESCUE VERSION) the FULL Version, or whether the Raxco version has the same issue. If someone is willing to test this theory from their images?

from within Vista Ultimate-to install XP Pro snapshot
I've tried 20 times now and never paseed the stage mentioned above

I just spent hours reinstalling and dont want to risk it again, so I think well left alone is the better option.

 

Oh, ok, sorry about that.

Acadia

 

After looking at previous threads, this is starting to worry me. My "XP on Vista" seems to be working fine. But it sounds like I shouldn't rely on it to stay that way.

DVD+R, are you sure you are booting to the empty snapshot once before rebooting again and installing XP? For some reason I don't understand, this seems to be a very important step.

 

You can also try it without using an empty snapshot, which would be an interesting test.
I don't have winVISTA, so I can't try it myself.

 

Step 1: Created empty snap and Named it Windows XP Professional
Step 2: Booted to Empty snapshot, receive NTLDR missing system file not found, rebooted again this time with XP CD in Drive,and booted from CD to install Windows XP
Step 3: Left current file system unchanged,and Windows proceeded to copy files.
Step 4: Windows finished copying files and does the rebooting on 15 seconds thing
Step 5: NTLDR not found Error loading operating system message

Thats what happens every single time If I try to install XP in an empty snap created while using Vista, I've formatted like 15 times last month due to this. Just cant get past step 4

 

Well I don't know what the go is with FDISR and Vista. After a few weeks of no trouble, things are starting to act up. Snapshots aren't being copied/updated correctly. Deleting snapshots gives a message that errors occured, but there's nothing significant in the log. And a few other strange things like the service not starting up.

Looks like I'll have to just keep Vista in an archive or backup image like others have done. It's not like I use it that much anyway.

 

It seems to me, I have to use WinXPproSP2 + FDISR much longer than I thought, even when I buy a new computer.
If it is true that FDISR isn't fully compatible with WinVISTA, who is going to adjust the terminated FDISR ? Leapfrog ? HDS ? Raxco ? Hopeless !!!

 

FDISR is compatible with win2000, winXP and winVISTA, so there shouldn't be a problem with installing those 3 Windows in 3 snapshots, but there IS a problem and again, who is going to fix this ? Probably nobody.