Problem Installing Windows XP Pro on System With Windows 7 and 10

Wanting to install Windows XP Pro (SP2) on a computer that has Windows 7 and Windows 10 already installed.

 

Computer has three physical hard disk drives and has multiple partitions as shown in the screenshot below.

 

 hdd_annotated.png   48.91KB   0 downloads

 

 

Boot up computer and select CD/DVD disk with Windows XP on it. OK.

 

Select partition to install Windows XP on. OK.

 

Windows XP installs some files and then restarts/reboots computer. Problem is, now get error message that the boot.ini file is invalid and system tries to boot from c:\windows. But can't seem to boot into any system, so computer restarts again, and again etc in an infinite loop!

 

I thought the Windows XP boot loader would (temporarily) override any existing boot setup? But apparently this is not the case.

 

Basically the continuation of the installation of Windows XP is not possible as the system fails to boot into Windows XP.

 

So. How to get Windows XP installed please (without having to remove existing operating systems first)?

 

Thank you.

Edited by meeshu, 24 October 2023 - 09:44 AM.

Until someone more expert weighs in...

 

Did you try disconnecting the other internal drives before trying the install?

(Doing so often helps for a trouble-free install for Win10/11, but I don’t know if it also helps with XP.)

Download and install Speccy - https://www.ccleaner.com/speccy

Run it, and then go to File and Publish Snapshot. Post the resulting link in your next reply

Wanting to install Windows XP Pro (SP2) on a computer that has Windows 7 and Windows 10 already installed.

 

 

Boot up computer and select CD/DVD disk with Windows XP on it. OK.

 

 

Been a long time but I do remember that SP 2 does not have the required SATA drivers and to be able to install it back in the day before SP 3 landed you had to slipstream SATA drivers into SP2 before you could install it.

 

You have not told us anything about your hardware so we can`t be specific so go here and look at the related threads.

Good catch, @PhillPower2!

Because the HDD I'm wanting to install Windows XP on also has Windows 7 on another partition, disconnecting HDD's with Windows 7 and Windows 10 on it will not work here in this case.

 

I should add that currently, on booting the computer, a black screen with white text appears with multiple boot options, namely -

 

Windows 10

Windows 7

Windows XP

 

Selecting either Windows 10 or Windows 7, the computer boots into the respective operating systems without issue. But on selecting Windows XP, the system goes into an infinite boot cycle loop with the message invalid boot.ini and booting from c:\windows.

 

The fact that Windows XP failed to load is not surprising as Windows XP had not finished being installed to begin with.

 

My copy of Windows XP SP2 disk has SATA driver already slipstreamed into it. So there shouldn't be any SATA issues here.

 

Regarding computer system details via Speccy. I note that there may be some sensitive information contained within the details provided by Speccy. So I'm reluctant to provide full Speccy details.

 

However, here is a screenshot for the system summary -

 

 system_summary.png   24.35KB   1 downloads

My copy of Windows XP SP2 disk has SATA driver already slipstreamed into it. So there shouldn't be any SATA issues here.

 

 

Sorry but no mention of that in your OP else it would not have been suggested 

Oops.
I read in your original post that you had 3 hard drives.
So, I mistakenly assumed XP was going to its own drive, not to a partition on a drive that already contains an OS.

Well, I'll defer to the others who are more expert than I.

I hope you solve it!

Cheers

Because the HDD I'm wanting to install Windows XP on also has Windows 7 on another partition, disconnecting HDD's with Windows 7 and Windows 10 on it will not work here in this case.
 
I should add that currently, on booting the computer, a black screen with white text appears with multiple boot options, namely -
 
Windows 10
Windows 7
Windows XP
 
Selecting either Windows 10 or Windows 7, the computer boots into the respective operating systems without issue. But on selecting Windows XP, the system goes into an infinite boot cycle loop with the message invalid boot.ini and booting from c:\windows.
 
The fact that Windows XP failed to load is not surprising as Windows XP had not finished being installed to begin with.
 
My copy of Windows XP SP2 disk has SATA driver already slipstreamed into it. So there shouldn't be any SATA issues here.
 
Regarding computer system details via Speccy. I note that there may be some sensitive information contained within the details provided by Speccy. So I'm reluctant to provide full Speccy details.
 
However, here is a screenshot for the system summary -
 
system_summary.png

Please post a link not a picture.

Go to File then publish a snapshot. You'll get a link.

Hi meeshu,
1. When you had Win 7 + Win 10, which was your Active Partition? Name and size of the Active Partition?
2. The Win XP you try to install, it's 32-bit or 64-bit?
3. The CD you try to install XP from, is it good (not scratched)?
4. Name and size of your Active Partition now, after "installing" Win XP?
5. Does GeForce GTX 1650 support Win XP? Let's hope it can, but I don't have a confirmation for that yet.
I just checked: NO official GTX 1650 drivers for XP on nvidia.com, maybe unofficial ones exist for XP.
6. Assuming your Win XP CD is good, if you use the CPU iGPU, does that make a difference?

Edited by we3fan, 26 October 2023 - 02:12 PM.

Speccy link - http://speccy.piriform.com/results/bWzCWcmDzSSbnIRnXLgtphK

 

 

Hi meeshu,
1. When you had Win 7 + Win 10, which was your Active Partition? Name and size of the Active Partition?
2. The Win XP you try to install, it's 32-bit or 64-bit?
3. The CD you try to install XP from, is it good (not scratched)?
4. Name and size of your Active Partition now, after "installing" Win XP?
5. Does GeForce GTX 1650 support Win XP? Let's hope it can, but I don't have a confirmation for that yet.
I just checked: NO official GTX 1650 drivers for XP on nvidia.com, maybe unofficial ones exist for XP.
6. Assuming your Win XP CD is good, if you use the CPU iGPU, does that make a difference?

 

1. Windows 7. Disk 2, partition 1. W7-64bit. 119.8 GB.

 

2. 32 bit

 

3. Disk is good.

 

4. Windows XP attempted install to disk 2, partition 5. Drive M: 35.82 GB. Windows XP not fully installed due to invalid boot.ini followed by constant rebooting loop.

 

5. No. nVidia driver is unfortunately not available for Windows XP systems.

 

6. Will have to use the integrated video in order to use under Windows XP. This is not really an issue.

Edited by meeshu, 27 October 2023 - 04:14 AM.

Late to the party, but I don't see any report of success, so I'll jump in as though I'm writing "in a more timely manner."

Have you tried, in addition to disconnecting the other drives, disabling all other partitions on the target drive, than the one where you want to put XP?

If things are really extreme, you could try deleting the existing other partitions on that target drive (after backing each one up independently) so that the only target partition available on the entire machine is the one where you want to put XP.  Then re-create the other partitions and put their contents in from the backups you made in the first sentence of this paragraph.

You could also image the target partition, use something like QEMU to install XP into it in emulation/VM land, then image that install back into the target partition on the real drive.  (The only problem I would then have is that I, personally, don't know how to inject a specific OS name and partition-of-residence into the boot-time menu that gives you the choice of operating systems.  I don't even know where that "lives."  You?

I can probably think of more tricks but these are what pop to mind immediately.

 

Oh, and if you already solved it, I'd be interested in hearing what worked for you.

First issue that you will come across is that newer hardware will not have old XP drivers.