Installing two operating systems on a computer at once significantly increases the reliability of its operation. The second OS should be installed on a free disk - in this case, the operating systems will not interfere with each other. Installation of the second operating system is quite simple and accessible to almost any user.
Instructions
Step 1
The presence of two operating systems on the computer allows, in case of problems with the main OS, to boot from the backup, save important data and calmly start restoring the system. The operating system can be installed either on a separate physical disk or on a logical disk. Before installing Windows XP, it is advisable to format the disk on which the OS will be installed. This is especially important if Windows 7 was previously installed on this disk.
Step 2
Be sure to save all important data before installing the OS. After that, restart your computer, press the F12 key when the system starts. The boot device selection menu will open. Perhaps, on your computer, the menu is invoked by another key - carefully read the inscriptions that appear on the screen at the beginning of the download.
Step 3
If you cannot open the menu, go into the BIOS, usually for this you need to press the Del or F2 key at the beginning of the boot. Find the BOOT tab and select CD as the boot device. Save and exit setup, insert bootable CD. If everything is done correctly, the installation of the operating system will begin. To start loading, you may be asked to press any key - Press any key.
Step 4
Watch the download process carefully. When the menu for selecting the disk on which the OS will be installed appears, select the disk you need. Please note that the drive letters in the menu may not match the ones you are used to, so be guided by their size and the amount of free space.
Step 5
Leave the disk formatting as default (NTFS) or, if the disk is not formatted, format it using the NTFS file system. Start the installation by following the prompts on the screen. When installing the OS, the computer will reboot several times. If you changed the settings in the BIOS, after the first reboot, enter the BIOS again and set to boot from the hard drive. Save changes, further installation should go smoothly.
Step 6
At the end of the installation, you may be asked to select a language, time zone, username. This completes the installation, you will see the Windows XP desktop. Please note that you may need to install drivers for your motherboard and video card for proper operation - software discs are usually included with your computer when you purchase it.
Step 7
If for some reason these disks were not found, the necessary drivers can be found on the Internet - for this you need to know the data of the motherboard and video card. If the documents are not saved on the computer, test the system with the program "Everest" (or similar), it will give complete information about your computer.
Step 8
If you have two operating systems on your computer, you can select the desired startup by right-clicking the "My Computer" icon on the desktop and selecting the "Properties" section. In it, open the "Advanced" tab, in the "Startup and Recovery" section, click the "Options" button. A menu will open in which you can select the desired OS and set the time for selecting boot options - for example, 3 seconds. If you are not satisfied with the screen resolution, open the Control Panel, select the "Display" section, the "Settings" tab and set the desired resolution. Installation and initial setup of the OS is now complete.
