important query regarding dual boot of win 8 and win xp

[gagan_kumar]

hi i m running win xp in c drive and planning to go for dual boot of win 8 with it in d drive
ok that's the easy part
my question is can i remove win 8 later by formatting the d drive and restoring the backup of d drive??
will my system work if i do that or is there any other method to remove win 8 from dual boot

 

[Naxal]

I think you can install and then remove by formatting the D drive. but one problem that you have to solve manually is removal of the dual boot menu since that data will stay written in your c drive.

 

[topgear]

to get back the XP's old boot menu Op just needs to place the win8 install disc on DVD drive and use this command :

DVD Drive letter say it's E::\Boot\Bootsect.exe NT52 All

 

[gagan_kumar]

Thanks.... But I'll stock to xp only changed my mind cause it will involve complexities and I have my licensed software at xp only
I don't have their licensing keys they came factory installed.... So if something goes wrong I'll have to buy them again

 

[Naxal]

I don't have their licensing keys they came factory installed....

Name the software in Google for product key viewing software.

Product key can be retrieved I guess.

Email software support pages also, they will also guide you for the same if no 3rd party help is available.

 

[gagan_kumar]

well i have original windows xp (i got the key for this one)
microsoft office 2007
symantec endpoint protection
these are the main softwares...

 

[Vyom]

If you have just one OS on your PC (XP), and you only need to recover its boot entry, you can do so by inserting any XP disc, going to "Recovery Console", and typing these two commands one after the other:

1. fixmbr
2. fixboot

That would replace the damaged MBR with a new master boot record and your computer should now be able to boot properly.

 

[Naxal]

well i have original windows xp (i got the key for this one)
microsoft office 2007
symantec endpoint protection
these are the main softwares...

Try this, see if it helps

Belarc Advisor - Free Personal PC Audit, for software, hardware and security configuration information on your computer. Software license management, IT asset management, cyber security audits, and more.

 

[topgear]

Thanks.... But I'll stock to xp only changed my mind cause it will involve complexities and I have my licensed software at xp only
I don't have their licensing keys they came factory installed.... So if something goes wrong I'll have to buy them again

if you install win 8 in a dual boot mode there won't be any harm to XP - if you are paranoid about removing the win 8 boot loader after removing win 8 well, just don't remove the win 8 boot loader - even after you remove win 8 you can still use that boot loader to boot into XP - you just only have to select XP using the KB that's all or set Xp as the primary OS using easybcd app.

 

[gagan_kumar]

@topgear thanks dude....

thanks everyone for the same.....