i have bought new laptop with windows vista installed on it ,but wen i come to install xp the setup did not run.and the CD did not boot.

The Answer by Paul B :

“In short, the steps for dual-booting Vista on an XP PC are:

0. Back up ALL your PC’s important data.

1. Partition your hard drive. In Windows XP, using the $50 PartitionMagic or (according to one of our readers) the free GParted Live CD, create a new “primary” partition to install Vista on. Make it at least 20 gigabytes in size.

2. Install Vista on the new partition. Pop in the Vista CD and point it to your newly-created partition as the installation destination. Installation will restart your machine at various points.

3. Choose your operating system on boot. Once Vista is installed on your newly-created partition, on boot up, you’ll get a choice to start XP or Vista. The default is Vista. However, this can be changed using Vista’s boot manager.

When you’re up and running with Windows Vista, be sure to check our our Vista upgrade power tips.

The original article appears below for posterity, and it’s still got relevant screenshots and other info for those of you looking to dual-boot XP and Vista.”

i am using an acer apsire and i want to format my drive then install windows Vista as my OS, what are the steps to do it?

The Answer by flakblas :

Just pop the DVD in your drive and reboot (assuming your boot order is set to boot from CD-ROM first). Then just follow the onscreen instructions. During the installation you will be given the option to format your HDD.

Basically I want try out Linux without effecting windows someone told me to boot from a disc but I not really sure what to do. I have yet to seleect a version of Linux either.

The Answer by Steve M :

The latest version of Ubuntu linux is actually all of the things you might want to try, and more: It is a live CD, which means you download (free) the software, burn it as an .iso image file (instructions are available at ubuntu.com), and reboot to test the features before installing. Then if you don’t want to install (which can be dual boot, or not) right away, or at all, you reboot your computer, and are right back into windows. Ubuntu is also currently using a program called WUBI (Windows _UB_untu Installer) which will actually give you the above options, as well as the option to install as though ubuntu is an application (meaning dual boot without needing to re-partition your harddrive- technical jargon meaning to create a wall between the different Operating Systems). I suggest trying this, as there is no better, i.e. completely easy and non-destructive way to test linux.