Direkt zum Inhalt

Cannot install second OS

Thread needs solution

Just bought Disk Director 11 (and OS Selector) last week for my Dell XPS with Win7. Created a new partition, planning to install WinXP as second OS. Can't get WinXP to install! Keeps saying it detects disk errors and shuts down to prevent system damage.

I opened a case with Acronis support, but since help is not immediately forthcoming, and the clock on the return period is ticking, can anyone help?

I think the problem is that I can't get to the new partition at startup. I can only choose from already-installed operating systems...What exactly do I have to do to be able to select the new blank partition (not Win7, not the Recovery portion of the disk, and not the Dell disk utilities section) at startup? It seems that forcing partitions to be hidden and setting the new partition as active has absolutely no discernable effect at all.

I'm terribly confused by this - can't figure out what Acronis is doing for me that many other (unsuccessful) freeware programs haven't already done (i.e., partition my disk and that's it).

Thanks in advance for help with what may be a dumb newbie question.

0 Users found this helpful

Margotbean:

Windows XP is a relatively old operating system and the install CD does not contain SATA drivers for modern chipsets. Therefore, when you start the XP installer it probably can't find a disk to install to.

Try looking in your PC BIOS for an "IDE Compatibility" mode setting for the disk. If there is such a setting, select it and then try the Windows XP installation again. Don't forget to hide your existing partitions, unhide the WinXP partition, and set the WinXP partition as active before you install, as you have noted above.