Install XP home (32 bit) alongside XP Pro (64 bit)?

Question

I built my first computer earlier this year and chose a dual core processor which led me to choose a 64bit OS. Being as a lot of my software is fairly elderly I thought if I stuck with XP pro rather than Vista it would help. It didn't.

I've now bought another version of XP home 32 bit and am planning to try out dual booting. I was just going to put it into a spare partition but need to know whether it is essential that I put XP Home on first. I ask because I have finally got the XP 64 at least running and what drivers I can find installed, I'd rather not have to scrap it but I read that if you're wanting to dual boot you should put 32 bit on first.

I don't understand the nitty gritty of operating systems well enough to know if this is necessary in my situation and would appreciate some guidance.

Thanks

Several months later I'm still unable to really use the new computer due to 64 bit problems.

Answer 1

XP x64 works really well when its installed right on the correct hardware, I have it on an cheap AMDx2 with 8GB and its been silky smooth, the only drawbacks are things like Flash doesnt always supports it.

People choose XP64 bit because they all think the bigger the number the better.

You should install XP32bit first, then install x64 on a separate partition for dual boot.

Answer 2

it doesnt matter which is installed first however, the boot.ini will only be written to one of the two installation partitions.  I believe the second install will see the first and take the boot ini.