[LIVE] Request dual-boot install to harddrive option?

hi just a quick one,
is it possible to dual boot a hdd install of live with windows vista?

I would be interested in that too.

I am going to try XBMCLive and dual boot (hopefully) into TinyXP using Boxee and XBMC for windows.

This way I can test performance differences.

bump, anyone tried this ^^^^?

I would love this functionality.

My laptop has powercinema on it, which can be launched instead of windows. It boots in seconds, has low power consumption, and can play dvd's, music, and most video formats. Very convenient for train journeys/business trips/hotel stays etc. However it's interface, and well just about everything else is shocking compared to XBMC.

I'd love to be able to create a small (4-8 gig) partition on all of my machines and have XBMC live living there ready to go whenever I needed it.

Having thought about it, I'm going to have a look through some of the threads about doing mini ubuntu installs and configuring them to load up XBMC on boot to try and replicate this... would be very nice if it was possible to add that functionality to Live though.

I didn't tried yet, but I think it is possible.
I made a multi boot usb memory drive using grub which can boot Windows PE, XBMC Live and homebrew rescue system. It works well without any problem.

If you want to install XBMC Live to additional physical HD drive, just install grub4dos in your main OS and edit menu.lst.
But if you have one physical HD drive and want to install XBMC Live on it for dual booting, may need some tweaks because of installing XBMC Live to specific partition is not possible.

These are some ideas.

Make a small FAT32 primary partiton to your HD drive.
Install XBMC Live to USB memory drive.
Copy all contents of XBMC Live USB to FAT32 HD partition.
Install grub4dos in your existing OS (Vista or XP).
Edit menu.lst.

I don't know that XBMC Live copied to HD from USB would work or not.
If it would not work...

Backup your existing partition to somewhere outside HD drive with system backup tool like Ghost.
Install XBMC Live to HD drive.
Copy all contents of installed XBMC Live to somewhere.
Make partitions to restore backuped OS and FAT32 primary partition for XBMC Live.
Restore backuped OS.
Copy all contents of XBMC Live to FAT32 partition.
Install grub4dos in your main OS (Vista or XP).
Edit menu.lst.


To say again, I didn't tried this yet. Just ideas.
No guarantee. Be careful.

Another Idea. This is more easy and safe.
Make grub installed XBMC Live USB.
Edit menu.lst for dual booting to HD and XBMC Live USB.
Plug XBMC Live USB to USB port on computer's back panel.
Think it as another internal HD drive.
Forget about USB.


Here is my menu.lst working well on my XBMC Live USB.

timeout 10
default 0
splashimage /SPLASH.XPM.GZ

title Windows Vista from Hard Drive
acpi
root (hd1,0)
makeactive
chainloader /bootmgr

title System Rescue from USB
find --set-root /SR/boot.gz
map --mem /SR/boot.gz (fd0)
map --hook
chainloader (fd0)+1
rootnoverify (fd0)
map --floppies=1
boot

title Windows PE from USB
find --set-root /MININT/SETUPLD2.BIN
chainloader /MININT/SETUPLD2.BIN


title ------------------------------------------------------------------------
default 0

title XBMC for ATI Graphics
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz boot=usb quiet splash xbmc=amd
initrd /initrd0.img
boot

# title XBMC for Nvidia Graphics
# root (hd0,0)
# kernel /vmlinuz boot=usb quiet splash xbmc=nvidia
# initrd /initrd0.img
# boot

# title XBMC for Intel Graphics
# root (hd0,0)
# kernel /vmlinuz boot=usb quiet splash xbmc=intel
# initrd /initrd0.img
# boot

title ------------------------------------------------------------------------
default 0

title Restart the Computer
reboot