XP/win 7 dual boot

Running win 7 64 bit but want XP to run legacy programs and my scanner.

I can run XP visualised but runs slow and with connectivity limitations. So can I use my win 7 installation to create a XP OS on a separate partition? Or do I need a whole other XP OS disk set to install this second OS for duel booting?

 

For dual boot you'd need a genuine XP installation disk.
What are your PC specifications, RAM, Processor etc and how much memory is assigned to virtual XP? Also what networking options are enabled for virtual XP?

 

I have my previous computer's OEM XP disks... I'm guessing this isn't going to cut it.

i7 3400 MHZ
12GB RAM
Not sure how to discover/adjust memory assigned to virtual XP nor the networking options

Biggest problems are my scanner (USB) which won't work on win 7 nor XP virtualised but works on my lappie which is XP and my previous XP desktop. Also I have some legacy software which runs only under XP and while I can run it under virtualised XP it's CLUNKY.

 

That's quite a high spec machine so it seems a bit odd that XP apps are clunky in XP Mode. Have a look at the Performance tab of Task Manager to check that all your memory is being recognised and is available. Win 7 will allocate memory to XP Mode as required, so you don't need to adjust anything yourself. But as well as XP Mode, Win 7 can also run apps in compatibility mode for earlier versions of Windows so have you tried that? (You invoke it via the Properties of the program's executable)

To run the scanner in Win 7 you would need suitable drivers so check the makers website to see what's available. Even if there is no Win 7 driver, very often a Vista driver will work. But installing the scanner XP drivers in XP Mode should sort that problem. I've only taken a brief look at XP Mode and then uninstalled it, so can't now recollect whether you need to tell it to connect USB devices currently connected to Win 7 or whether XP Mode connects them automatically. Take a look at that too.

 

From the Start Menu, clicking on Windows Virtual PC should take you to Windows XP Mode.vmcx
Right click and select settings and you should see:

 

Yes but it didn't work. The software will only run in XP virtualised.

Have done as you suggest but, despite comments to the contrary on the HP website, the driver didn't work... at least not on my machine. The device is an HP all-in-one. The printer function works fine just not the scanning function... as mentioned it still works when I plug it in to an XP machine so it isn't the device itself.

I have to manually have XP virtualised recognise USB devices and again can print from here but it won't scan.

 

OK Thanks. XP mode has 3712MB allocated. My understanding is that is close to the max XP can use. I did note that there was warning stating "If you allocate more than 3340MB of RAM to this virtual machine, the computer might experience performance issues" SO I have manually adjusted the amount of RAM XP mode uses to 3340MB and will see if this makes any difference to stability.
I am not using XP MODE for any really demanding functions like video etc. mainly it's just an accounting package...and if I could get my scanner to work through it that would be good too. But I don't imagine this small reduction in available RAM will have much of a negative impact... but I'll let you know how it goes after a couple or tries.

 

Turn on your HP All in One, then in Windows 7 go to Devices and Printers and double click on your printer. Do you see similar to the following picture? If so try scanning from there.

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=179629&stc=1&d=1338864957

Another alternative to try is to open Paint, select the menu drop down in the top left corner and select 'From Scanner or Camera'.

In XP Mode, do you have any security software installed?

 

Attached jpg for previous post. (ran out of edit time)

 

Thanks _nullptr. I have upgraded to the best driver available from HP and it seems inconsistent at best. Using your suggestions I was able to scan both from the interface and from paint. But had much less control over the output type than the HP software gives my in XP... but better than nothing. Yesterday...with no difference other than restarting I couldn't even do that. XP MODE still can't scan but can print.

In the WIN7 list of printers and devices, the scanner is marked with a "!" which I assume there is still something wrong.