dual boot win XP 32 bit with existing Vista 64 bit

ok have a customer that has a system running her embroidery business that is over 10 years old. She is wanting to upgrade her system but does not have a large amount of money to put into it. We have ordered a system with Vista 64 bit on it and want to do a dual boot with the win XP 32 bit that her software uses and the Vista 64 bit already pre-installed on the system. I know that usually you need to install the XP first then install the Vista on a separate partition but is it possible to do the opposite (keep the pre-installed Vista 64 bit and install the XP 32 bit on the other partition)? This would give her the compatability of XP with her current software (upgrading the software would cost her $6000 which she does not have) but also allow her the benefit of running Vista 64 bit for any new software she may get later on.

Any help would be appreciated.

Yours,
Jack

 

it's possible, but when installing xp, the boot manager/loader may not recognize vista, and you may need to tinker with it a bit from within xp. a quick search and i've found this:
http://forums.techguy.org/windows-vista/558994-how-install-xp-after-vista.html

It mentions vista boot pro. i've used it to mess around with my system that had 3 different boot options, and it worked flawlessly.

also, keep in mind, you will need to create the partition for xp from within vista before booting the installation disk.

 

I'm sure there are a number of ways to do this but the one I use, and which has proved simple, straightforward and completely reliable, is to install Grub4DOS to the boot sector. This will allow any operating system to be installed to any partition in any order.

I needed no more than this super guide from MudCrab to get it all working.

http://www.themudcrab.com/acronis_grub4dos.php