I have a question-
if you're running vista and XP on a system, say you have office 2007 installed on the XP partition. Can you still run it if you boot in Vista? and vice versa?

or is it that programs installed in vista can only run when vista is running and programs installed in xp will only run when xp is running/

I'm thinking applications that require registry entries may not run, but those that utilise ini files may run.

any answers? looking forward to replies from all y'all dual booting vista and xp out there.

Cheers.

VIsta is a complicated Os in these regards, things that runs under XP wont even start in Vista platform let alone run so my friend, the answer is NOP.

actually, u missed the gist of my question.

90% of 32 bit apps that run in vista will run in xp i know that as i use vista and xp.

whta i was asking about is based on something different: a large number of applications can be copied (ie their program folders) from one system to another and run without installing.

if you've ever reinstalled windows without formatting, you'll find that some leftovr applications in program files will run, some won't.

anyway, what i'm doing right now goes like this. i have 3 partitions on my hard drive - one for vista, one for xp, and one for my documents and applications that i can get away with copying program folders rather than installing. that way, i can save space by not installing an app in two partitions.

Most win32 applications requires much more than their files in the program file folder to run. They need specific registry entries and system environmental paths to retrieve configurations required for their correct operations.  Even when you are able to launch a .exe from a program file folder to load the app, without the correct registry entries, their is little chance that the application would run or behave the way it was originally intended. So yes, you would need to reinstall the applications under the new OS if you wish to make it available to that OS. Regards

paribus:

Most win32 applications requires much more than their files in the program file folder to run. They need specific registry entries and system environmental paths to retrieve configurations required for their correct operations.  Even when you are able to launch a .exe from a program file folder to load the app, without the correct registry entries, their is little chance that the application would run or behave the way it was originally intended. So yes, you would need to reinstall the applications under the new OS if you wish to make it available to that OS. Regards

Thanks mate,thats what I was trying to say, but he is answering hiss own question

b4 the advent of vista i had windows xp and windows 2000 on one machine but different partitions, and i was curious to know if i had to install the same application twice. but i found out that if i installed the application on the legacy O.S (2000), export the registry entries, then import it to xp,it would run smoothly when lunched. but would not work vise versa. So go ahead and try it with vista-xp. First install the program in xp, then extract the registry entries, go to vista and import the entries, run the program and see if it works. u also mite want to right-click on the software exe file and change the compatibility settings to XP service pack 2, and disable the vista visual effects on it,

If ur computer explodes or exhibites abnormal behaviour after this, don't blame me homie

actually, u're mostlt wrong there. applications from autodesk and adobe and microsoft may require a complete reinstall, but several smaller applications do not. you can simply copy winamp - which is what i do. you can do the same with google sketchup. ofetn, if a program takes up less than 50mb, you can simply copy the program folder. some programs add files to system 32 and common files folder, but you can tell from the install log. the only real probel woth doing this is that if you copy to a system and chnge to file/folder path, some apps wont work.

90% of games from game giveaway of the day can simply be copied between systems.


if u ever have to reinstall windows xp ( repair install) try it. of course it may be difficult because your start menu entries re all gone. if like me, you use an applauncher like 8 start, (which can also be copied) and which points to the progams exe files, you will easily find which apps will work and which wont. you'll find for instance that some apps automatically generate registry entries themselves. if you look, you'll see i started this thread in 2007. (before i began dual booting xp and vista) .

i have satisfactorily answered my questions a long time ago. thanks anyway