[pccromeo]

My sister recently bought a Dell with Vista Home Premium installed. She had me install a copy of XP Pro to dual boot with Vista. I created a new 50GB partition to install XP onto and after installing XP, XP is now the default operating system and loads automatically without any actions by myself. I was wondering how I could choose which operating system I wanted to load when I first turn the system on. I've Googled the topic several times but haven't found anything.

I'm a Mac user and not used to the difficulties associated with dual booting on a Windows system

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Just to be clear I don't want to change the default OS from XP to Vista, I just can't get Vista to boot. I am able to press F8 while the computer is loading and select which OS I want to load but Vista isn't on the list. I know Vista is still there as it's drive is still showing in My Computer...

[pccromeo]

Just to be clear I don't want to change the default OS from XP to Vista, I just can't get Vista to boot. I am able to press F8 while the computer is loading and select which OS I want to load but Vista isn't on the list. I know Vista is still there as it's drive is still showing in My Computer...

[Angelboi]

Okay well.. I can't fix your current issue but if you are able to start over by installing XP first THEN vista, that is if you have a install disc for vista, you can try these links:

http://lifehacker.co...ista-179906.php
http://www.howtogeek...ual-boot-setup/

[pccromeo]

Thanks for the reply.

Unfortunately, Vista came preloaded and I don't have an install disc, only an install disc for Windows XP.

I've read the tutorial available from this forum but Windows Vista just isn't showing up on the boot menu. The boot menu doesn't even come up automatically as it's supposed to.

[Angelboi]

Unfortunately you will have to download an ISO of Vista otherwise you have no choice.
I have an even better guide here, it shows how to fix the XP start up issue, by reinstating Vista start-up, but it requires you to be-able to 'Repair' Vista.
http://apcmag.com/54...ng_vista_and_xp

Try to borrow one from a friend or torrenting one

[Angelboi]

Give this one a try
http://www.mininova.org/tor/732356
Just mount it and attempt an installation, but since you already have a copy installed, see if there's an option called 'Repair' then follow the link above.

[pccromeo]

Thanks for all the assistance Angelboi, but I think I'm just going to completely remove Vista from her machine and install only XP. My sister loathes Vista, as neither her printer nor camera will work with it, and Lexmark nor HP are yet to update the drivers, so she won't miss it. Thanks again.