double operating systems (Win XP)

[slyons]

Is it possible to have Windows XP Home Edition and Windows 2000 on the same computer, and be able to select which operating system you want to be in at startup?

[Howard Kaikow]

I Should hope so.
I don't have XP, but recent versions of Windows will automatically create a multiple-boot system for you.

JUst tell XP to install on a different DRIVE that Win 2000. I expect that it will set up a boot.ini on drive C that allows you to choose which OS you wanna start in by default, and offers a menu each time you reboot.

I sure hope that MSFT left this capability in XP.

[WyllyWylly]

Yes. As Howard indicated, simply run setup, and install the alternate version into a different disk partition. If you don't, it's a recipe for disaster.

A sidenote to this, and for NT 4 users it's a major gotcha, is that XP silently updates NTFS partitions. They will still work, but under NT 4 most disk-level tools (defragmenters etc) will break. To my knowledge the file system in Win2000 doesn't get broken.

Lastly, I'd install 2000 first and XP second, for the reason mentioned above. You should be able to do it the other way around, but....as the adage goes....better safe than sorry, yah?

Have fun!