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Dual booting or '''dual-booting''' is the act of installing multiple Operating System s on a Computer , and being able to choose which one to Boot when switching on the computer power. The program which makes dual booting possible is called a Boot Loader . USAGE Dual booting is useful in many situations, such as those where several pieces of Software require different operating systems and cannot be run on a single system. A dual boot configuration will allow a user to use all of this software on one computer. Another reason for setting up a dual boot system can be that one wants to investigate or test a new operating system without switching completely. Dual booting allows one to get to know the new system, configure all applications needed and migrate data before making the final step and removing the old operating system. For example, new users of Linux distributions migrating from the Microsoft Windows platform will usually dual boot, allowing them to try the new operating system without losing the functionality and preferences of their existing setup. This is often accomplished by using a Boot Loader that can boot more than one operating system, such as NTLDR , LILO , or GRUB . Dual booting can also aid Software Developer s where multiple operating systems are required for development or testing purposes. Having these systems on one machine can greatly reduce hardware costs. (However hardware costs are counterbalanced by system management costs, and the costs of the unavailability of the software that cannot be run at any given moment. Another solution to these problems is to use Virtual Machine software to emulate another computer from within the operating system of choice.) TECHNICAL ISSUES Compatibility issues may arise with different operating systems sharing the same Hard Disk —one operating system may not be able to recognize the other's File System and thus may try to format it to its native file system, erasing existing data. This can be overcome by using multiple disks or by Partitioning an existing disk to allow multiple file systems. Although dual booting is often regarded as a software issue, it can be implemented also in hardware, without many of the problems encountered in a software installation. The hardware dual boot system provides also significant performance advantages over a software dual boot system. {Link without Title} Vista Issue with Dual Booting with XP If you choose to install Vista as in a dual boot system with XP (or Windows 2003) and you create restore points in Vista, they are 'deleted' when you boot up the XP / Windows 2003 partition. This is a known issue but Microsoft maintain that it is a fundamental function of the way XP works and cannot be changed. The solution they maintain is to install Vista on a separate disk and make it invisible to XP. Note that this does not work with partitions, you must install Vista on a separate physical disk. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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