Microsoft releases RC2 of 64-bit Windows XP

[Finetobe]

i have only teste 1289 in 4/5 days and not one bsod.
i only miss a logitech driver to my steering wheel.
1433 is maybe better .but i cant get it to boot. and i don´t now why.

[gazzacbr]

acronis disc director (incl OS manager) and acronis true image is the way to go for experimenting with beta versions. i have 3 primary partitions on my hd , old faithfull XP Pro 32 is my main system and win 32 server is on there for setting up and messing around with databases and on the third partition is win xp 64. OS manager will find and run any system loaded as required. i keep partition images of the systems as i set them up so if it all goes belly up i can just reload one and start again. (ps.. i dont work for acronis). my 2c

[Bring the Noise]

I guess I know what I'm upgrading 2 when I get home

Another one of those delete the Windows directory, probably just do that from the XP Pro SP2 drive.

Pull the driver folder (I always create one with the latest drivers), then format the drive, then reboot with the XP 64 RC2 CD and install.

Anyone know if Defrag is better or worse in 64bit? My Game drive is fragmented like crazy (due to patch's, maps, etc). Just wondering if it would work faster in 64bit mode

[GrahamGarside]

I can't see it being any faster seeing as the bottleneck will be the drives speed, something 64bit will do nothing to aid, not to any noticable degree any way

Are you planning on replacing your Win XP Pro SP2 installation with XP64? I don't recomend this as it's still a beta, it's best to run along side XP32 and use for testing really.

[dsio]

You have to report on what happened when you upgrade
features, performance, problems,
and most importantly, and most intangibly, how it feels. after all the feel is whats most important.

[Bring the Noise]

Well I wasn't planning on Frag'n the XP SP2 drive.

No instead I frag'd the XP 64 RC1 Partition (minus the driver folder).

Hmmm from start of download to finish of install (including firefox and mozilla 1.8a6 beta) was roughly 1:45 minutes (hour do download and burn, 45 to install and tweak).

Now if they would just release a set of drivers for the damn Microsoft Trackball Explorer that I'm using (I hate where the put the right mouse button above the wheel).

Anyhow its just like RC 1, haven't tried CS:S yet... I'll leave that for tomorrow, its bed time already.

[Daniel ~]

A few questions for my esteemed mentors:

1. Can XP 64 create multiple partitions as you install it of do you need to Fdisk before hand?

2. If you do a partition to partition in Ghost of your W2K install can you then just drop it into a partition after installing Xp64?

3. If your ghost of your W2K setup includes a completely useless w2k/Xp 64 boot loader, is that going to create problems?

4. Either way, is there a way, a simple country boy such as myself, can dump the boot loader from his current W2K installation?

Kind of getting tired of reinstalling W2K from scratch! ":O}

Please make your replies as you would to a little child.

[Bring the Noise]

I used PowerQuest's Partition Magic 7 (bought that and Drive Image 8 back in 03).

From Scratch on a drive...
Set 2 partitions

Very Important Note: format both in W2K and when XP64 goes to load tell it to leave the drive alone, or it will try to reformat it into a newer version of NTFS.

Build W2K up on primary partition and copy the boot.ini file.
Name it boot.ini.bak and leave it in the root directory of the primary partition.
Build up XP 64 RC 2 on the second Partition.
Once XP 64 is finished look at the boot.ini file and compare it with boot.ini.bak on the W2K partition.

Hopefully the boot.ini file is all XP 64 is messing with.

If you already have W2K built up on a drive you can try to use Partition Magic to resize the drive (make sure to defrag it first and do a backup of the drive to Disk if you have important data on the drive) and create a secondary partition.
After drive is resized boot back into W2K and format the secondary partition (should show up as the last drive letter).
If you had more then one drive in the system when W2K was built then the drive leter for the new partion should be the last one. If you want to remap the drive to become the "D" drive then you will need to do that in compmgmt.msc under storage\disk management. Note if you do this certain apps that look for data on the old "D" drive will not be able to find that data (as the drive leter will have changed).

Once the partition is formated copy the boot.ini (name it boot.ini.bak and leave it on the c: drive in the root directory).
Build up XP Pro 64 to the secondary partition then from within XP 64 (once it has finished installing and you can get into using the OS) check the settings in the boot.ini against the boot.ini.bak.

For a dual boot the boot.ini will need a listing for each OS and one to be set as the default.

Below is an example Boot.ini - line meaning in *'s

[boot loader] ***First line in Boot.ini***
timeout=30 ***How long to wait until it starts up the default OS***
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S ****Primary Partition of Disk 0***
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S ****Secondary Partition of Disk 0****
[operating systems] ***tells the bootload what to show for each OS***
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect ***Primary Partition=W2K***
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Professional 64" /fastdetect ***Secondary Partition= XP64***

Then again I need sleep, Hopefully XP 64 will not try to replace material on the primary partition (other then changing the boot.ini file).

Dual booting XP SP2 and XP 64 RC 2 on a single drive with 2 partitions works easily. I quit using W2K a while back (although I turn off the bells and whistles in XP so it looks like W2K, go figure).

[Finetobe]

i have just found a driver to Nforce3 that work.
is the F6 disk . i have just install win xp64 RC2 on my raid 0 and i can boot on it .
no reboot any more.
I will ul the driver an the name is Nforce3 raid disk to win64 Rc2 .rar
PS DON´T install nforce 6.25 64bit chipset driver. only audio and lan if you need it.
the driver is in win xp64 and they are newer .

[Daniel ~]

Originally Posted by Bring the Noise

I used PowerQuest's Partition Magic 7 (bought that and Drive Image 8 back in 03).

From Scratch on a drive...
Set 2 partitions

Very Important Note: format both in W2K and when XP64 goes to load tell it to leave the drive alone, or it will try to reformat it into a newer version of NTFS.

Build W2K up on primary partition and copy the boot.ini file.
Name it boot.ini.bak and leave it in the root directory of the primary partition.
Build up XP 64 RC 2 on the second Partition.
Once XP 64 is finished look at the boot.ini file and compare it with boot.ini.bak on the W2K partition.

Hopefully the boot.ini file is all XP 64 is messing with.

If you already have W2K built up on a drive you can try to use Partition Magic to resize the drive (make sure to defrag it first and do a backup of the drive to Disk if you have important data on the drive) and create a secondary partition.
After drive is resized boot back into W2K and format the secondary partition (should show up as the last drive letter).
If you had more then one drive in the system when W2K was built then the drive leter for the new partion should be the last one. If you want to remap the drive to become the "D" drive then you will need to do that in compmgmt.msc under storage\disk management. Note if you do this certain apps that look for data on the old "D" drive will not be able to find that data (as the drive leter will have changed).

Once the partition is formated copy the boot.ini (name it boot.ini.bak and leave it on the c: drive in the root directory).
Build up XP Pro 64 to the secondary partition then from within XP 64 (once it has finished installing and you can get into using the OS) check the settings in the boot.ini against the boot.ini.bak.

For a dual boot the boot.ini will need a listing for each OS and one to be set as the default.

Below is an example Boot.ini - line meaning in *'s

[boot loader] ***First line in Boot.ini***
timeout=30 ***How long to wait until it starts up the default OS***
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S ****Primary Partition of Disk 0***
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S ****Secondary Partition of Disk 0****
[operating systems] ***tells the bootload what to show for each OS***
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect ***Primary Partition=W2K***
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Professional 64" /fastdetect ***Secondary Partition= XP64***

Then again I need sleep, Hopefully XP 64 will not try to replace material on the primary partition (other then changing the boot.ini file).

Dual booting XP SP2 and XP 64 RC 2 on a single drive with 2 partitions works easily. I quit using W2K a while back (although I turn off the bells and whistles in XP so it looks like W2K, go figure).

"when XP64 goes to load tell it to leave the drive alone, or it will try to reformat it into a newer version of NTFS."

How do you tell XP NOT to format the second partition Bring the Noise?

So have W2K create the two partitions, but the exiy set up and setup 64 in 1st partition, then load XP into te second. Is a boot manger required? other than W2K or win 64?

[Bring the Noise]

When building RC 2 it will ask which drive you want the OS to go to.
Point it to the partition you want (remember the drive letter it was given when you set it up in W2K).
Their are a couple of option that RC 2 will ask about the drive.
Format Quick
Format Full
and a couple of others.
I can not remember what the option is but basicly it means leave the partition alone and install.
If you choose to format quick it will change the drive from NTFS 4 (W2K NTFS type) to NTFS 5, if you choose to do a full format of the partition it will also change it to a NTFS 5 partition.
When you choose to leave the partition alone and just install it will leave the partition as NTFS4 and install their.

I'ld have to go back into the RC 2 setup to see what it calls it.
Damn shame their isn't a txt file that list's the options.

[Daniel ~]

OK I'll give it a try! Need to be in the mood though...":O}

[IsuGuy]

Just an FYI for those needing CD Writing software for X64. Nero 6 work perfectly in x64. It recognizes my dvd burner and works like a charm.

-Mike

[RichardF]

That's handy to know - I was trying to use Nero 5.5 which doesn't.

I've eventually configured a dual boot using W2k on a SATA RAID0 using the the embedded Silicon 3114 controller. I could not get W2k to see the array on the NForce4 SATA controller. And I can't find a working (F6) installation driver to support the RAID0 in the Silicon 3114 under XP64, so installed that on a IDE drive instead. A bit of a bodge but it works.

I'm still looking for a working XP64 driver for SATA RAID0 in the Silicon 3114.

[Logan]

What's wrong with the xp64 download? Not working for me...maybe I'm just a schmuck and I haven't had enough sleep or something.

[Bring the Noise]

If Microsoft is still offering the XP 64 RC 2 you go to the link fill out the info get an email that points you to your download.

With Microsoft releasing XP 64 next month I am wondering if they are still offering the Beta/Release Candidates?

Just make sure you give em a valid email address or you will not recieve the link for the download (that should go without saying though )

[Logan]

I finally got it to work. Kept having trouble loading the registration page on my home PC, so I just registered from work with my home e-mail and then hit the link from home.

Only a 32 hour download time! Lol

[GrahamGarside]

32 hour! still on dial up?

[Logan]

No, but my broadband is not the fastest in the world.

That too and I was expanding my Weezer collection. I do have my priorities.

[psy^]

Originally Posted by GrahamGarside

Are you planning on replacing your Win XP Pro SP2 installation with XP64? I don't recomend this as it's still a beta, it's best to run along side XP32 and use for testing really.

That's what i planned to start with, but the more i used XP x64 the more i got to like it. My xp32 partition got nuked yesterday