2 installations of windows xp, 1 hard drive

[Julius]

Hey, I'm restoring my pc because of unwanted programs, spyware, and no space. This time I wanted to do it different because of the number of users I have on my pc.

I was wondering if I could install two Windows XPs on my pc. Is this possible? Will I have to purchase two different XPs? Will there be a start up page, where I can select which XP i want to run? and last is there a way to password block a full installation?




I tried doing the user thing but it did not work out, I think this will be the best option if possible.


Thanks

 

[djBon2112]

Hey, I'm restoring my pc because of unwanted programs, spyware, and no space. This time I wanted to do it different because of the number of users I have on my pc.

I was wondering if I could install two Windows XPs on my pc. Is this possible?(1) Will I have to purchase two different XPs?(2) Will there be a start up page, where I can select which XP i want to run?(3) and last is there a way to password block a full installation?(4)




I tried doing the user thing but it did not work out, I think this will be the best option if possible.


Thanks

(1) Yes, but they need to be on two different partitions.
(2) I'm going to say yes, but I'm not 100% sure, since they'll never be running concurrently. I'm not an expert on Microsoft's EULA so someone else can fill in here.
(3) Yes, there will be a boot manager where you select which one you want. You can edit what they say by editing boot.ini on your C: drive.
(4) Maybe, with external tools. Windows XP can't do it by itself, but I believe there's ways to use TrueCrypt at the boot level, as well as other encryption tools. Vista Enterprise/Ultimate has BitLocker, but you're using XP so that's kinda moot.

 

[DeaconFrost]

There's no reason to run two XP installs on the same system. Just use different user accounts, as it will be much much simpler to manage and maintain. You can also use permissions and group policies to control user abilities. If you are more specific about "what didn't work out", and the overall situation, we can probably find a solution for that as well.