Vista and XP on same PC Vista Tips Discuss Vista and XP on same PC in the Windows Vista forums; Hi everyone. I have a HP notebook and have divided my partition. I now have ontop of Windows XP, Windows Vista Ultimate. When I log into Windows Vista Ultimate and ...

[mcmxc]

Hi everyone.



I have a HP notebook and have divided my partition. I now have ontop of Windows XP, Windows Vista Ultimate.

When I log into Windows Vista Ultimate and click on my music, it states that my folder is empty even though there is over 40 GB of music on my hard drive. If I log into XP though, I can view the files.

This is the same for all the programs like OUTLOOK 2003, POWER DVD, NERO etc, these I can access if im using XP but not on Vista.

I would be grateful if anyone could let me know how I can gain access to everything I have stored on my hard drive while using Vista Ultimate.

Cheers

Andrew.

[crabby]

You should be able to view the files by taking possesion of the folder. I forget the exact method But i think it is... right click the folder, go to properties, security... in there you can control access. Just make sure acces is full on everything and try again

crabby

[felix8406]

I was wondering about this, because of security factor. If your files are installed on the WinXP desktop, then I would assume that not being able to access your files through the Vista desktop would be a good thing, otherwise anyone with access to the Vista desktop would be able to access your WinXP files, even if your WinXP desktop was password protected.

For accessing your WinXP files, you can try Crabby's suggestion, and if that doesn’t work, go to the WinXP desktop and try sharing the folder. Then go to the Vista desktop and see if you can access the music files. If that works, then you can setup your folder so that Media Player can detect it as a music folder: right click the folder, go to Properties > Customize tab > under “Use this folder type as a template” select Music Details.

As for the applications, e.g. OUTLOOK 2003, POWER DVD, NERO etc, you must install these applications on your Vista desktop.

[Znod]

Originally Posted by mcmxc

Hi everyone.



I have a HP notebook and have divided my partition. I now have ontop of Windows XP, Windows Vista Ultimate.

When I log into Windows Vista Ultimate and click on my music, it states that my folder is empty even though there is over 40 GB of music on my hard drive. If I log into XP though, I can view the files.

This is the same for all the programs like OUTLOOK 2003, POWER DVD, NERO etc, these I can access if im using XP but not on Vista.

I would be grateful if anyone could let me know how I can gain access to everything I have stored on my hard drive while using Vista Ultimate.

Cheers

Andrew.

How many partitions do you have? Where are the files and installed programs you can't access. I never had such a problem with two drives, but I have never tried two or more partitions.

[jayaustin]

I would suggest creating a third partition for files you want to share between the 2 OS's. You can point your "My Documents" folder, as well as any others, to any location you choose. Just point it to a folder on your third partition.

[Snuffy]

I have XP SP2 Pro and Vista Ultimate on my main system, and Vista Ultimate and XPSP2 Home on my Laptop (1 HD 3 partitions).. I have had no problems like mentioned . Programs that is different, some programs I had to install for Vista and some I did not.
View Movies, pictures, txt - 100% not problems..

[felix8406]

I has been a while since I dual boot, but when I used to dual boot I didn't have any problems accessing the files through either Vista or XP. I never questioned it because I figured that the reason for that was that Vista was just a Beta. However, I think it will be a security issue if either OS allows the accessing of files through each other, if not granted by the user. What's the used to setup account passwords if they can be bypassed? That's what puzzles me.

[Znod]

Me too. He needs to provide us with more info. See my post above.

[jayaustin]

Most of the time you are not going to have an issue with sharing files between different OSs on a dual boot system. You might have an issue if you are using EFS or some other form of encryption. The reason that I suggest a seperate partition for files though is basically organizational. That way you only have to look in one spot instead of searching through each OS partition for the files that you want.

[felix8406]

I'm not really saying there are issues in sharing the files themselves as in errors. What I meant to say is that I'd rather not have one OS to access another OS files without desktop owner's consent. At least to me, it's a security concern. I know there are ways to prevent that, but it should be done automatically. That's my whole thinking.

I do think your suggestion about a separate partition is a valid one; it'll make files easier to access for sure. Great tip.