# Setting up xp / vista dule boot as a blind user?

Category: Geeks r Us

## Post 1 by b3n (I'm going for the prolific poster awards!) on Friday, 14-Nov-2008 18:24:30

Hay.
I now have a computer that should be semmy capable of running vista and scene as i'm starting to get tech questions about it I figgured i'd give it a shot, even if it doesn't run overly well on the system.
I've red guides about how to do this which all seem logical, basicly you have to do some partition stuff, install vista and then play with the bootloder to make things nicer. However, the majoritty of the guide takes place in win pe 2.0 (no speech) or a linux partitioning live cd (again no speech).
This leaves me wondering if any blind user has been able to set up a xp vista duleboot with out any sited help and if so, how was this done?
I don't really mind if I have to remember hotkeys, but there really is very little room for error as the drive I plan to host the os on also has about 100 gig of very important data on it which is impossible for me to back up at the current time. Because of this, i'm looking for a way where I can script most of the install and partitioning so that I don't accidently press deleet on the data partition.
If anyone has any suggestions as to how this can be done more easily from the point of view of a total then I will be glad to here them.
Thanks for reading, BEN.

## Post 2 by Squiggles (Account disabled) on Sunday, 16-Nov-2008 19:06:25

Bottom line here is this is a bad idea. Vista lays down 11 gigs itself then add all the updates. If you don't have a proper machine, a beast, to run it on, forget about it. I'm being serious here and I'm being honest. Regardless of what version of vista you install it will still lay down 11 gigs. Even if you isntall starter edition it will install the entire thing so that is why it makes the anytime upgrade more efficient or so I've heard. yeah right.
If you have any important data, DO NOT even attempt. vista is known to fuck with partitions, crash machines and on laptops I've worked on, don't like the hd's at all. Windows 7, even in build 6801, yes I've started using it, works much better on a single core than vista ever did. the number one rule, never do anything without backing up data.
Windows 7 will be out shortly, vista, as microsoft has regrettingly mumbled, has given up and knows they have made a terible mistake.
What you do is your choice, but I highly advise you listen to me on this topic. If you lost that data it might be priceless depending on the data, and buying a cheap acer even though it is junk will prove useful if you are only going to be doing some testing. Maybe not the best of all systems, but it will do what you want.

## Post 3 by blindndangerous (the blind and dangerous one) on Monday, 17-Nov-2008 10:31:23

Again, I agree with Cody on this one. I say wait until u have a way to back up your data, then go and try it if that's what you would really like to do.

## Post 4 by The Lil Dark Piggy (This site is so "educational") on Saturday, 29-Nov-2008 23:21:24

Used an Acer, and boy, are those things a pece of crap! Had two many many problems, and stupid applications... Ga, they just need to stop making PC's!! I'd like to know how to dual boot vista and XP. I'm a computer techy, so I'd like to know how to do that. Is there a way for blind people to accomplish this task? n Might do it in the near future or maybe reformat or something.

## Post 5 by Jesse (Hmm!) on Saturday, 29-Nov-2008 23:46:09

Get a drive caddy, and make your hard drive removeable. Buy a blank hard drive, and install Vista on it. When you wanna switch operating systems, switch drives. I'm being serious. Have a sighted friend nearby for the Vista install, too.

## Post 6 by Coldshadow (supreme commander of the shadow fleet) on Sunday, 30-Nov-2008 1:08:54

Hmm, I would say just have two internal drives, accept you might have a master drive conflict.

## Post 7 by Squiggles (Account disabled) on Sunday, 30-Nov-2008 12:37:43

Post 4, yes, I know Acers are nothing more than plastic toilet paper, but if it only for testing purposes, thats really all you need. Or do as 5 and 6 said and get a HDD caddy. If you whipe this install or even partition and find later that you can't back and you hate vista, then you are essentially screwed. Simple terms, do, not, do, it!

## Post 8 by rat (star trek rules!) on Sunday, 30-Nov-2008 22:03:30

vista dual boots are tricky, my laptop used to have that set up. for one the software is a little mean, and another it seems like my laptop was slower than. so cody, i agree with you, dont dual boot vista or xp. however, i'm not saying to toss vista, on it's own it's reasonably good. sure, it has problems, but what OS doesn't have something wrong with it, even if it's small.