Use 2 OS's at the same time?

[yourbeliefs]

I have a dual boot system with XP Pro and Vista Ultimate. Typically I use Vista, but I need to use XP sometimes for printing (my "network" printer does not respond in Vista) and all my programming tools are on XP and I don't want to deal with possible conflicts with developing in a Vista environment, not to mention I just don't feel like giving up the HD space. Anyways, I'm almost positive I know the answer of this will be a NO, but is there anyway I could like, for lack of a better term, "remote" into my XP Partition via some sort of Virtual PC thing and have my XP stuff in its own window, so that I can essentially have the best of both worlds at my disposal at the same time. Is any of this a possibility or am I running down a dream that is in actuality a mirage?

 

[VinceT3]

microsoft's virtual pc does allow that.. virtual pc is nice because you can install things and revert back to the original version (don't have to save the changes that were made durring that session)

edit: though virtual pc is it's own app and installs in a file that runs on the main system, so you would need to reinstall into that virtual pc. I'm not sure if there's an app to take an existing system and covert it to virtual pc.. I do know vmware does have the same things and can convert an existing box into a vm

 

[yourbeliefs]

microsoft's virtual pc does allow that.. virtual pc is nice because you can install things and revert back to the original version (don't have to save the changes that were made durring that session)

edit: though virtual pc is it's own app and installs in a file that runs on the main system, so you would need to reinstall into that virtual pc. I'm not sure if there's an app to take an existing system and covert it to virtual pc.. I do know vmware does have the same things and can convert an existing box into a vm

Yeah I need to find something that will just work with it as is.. I'm in no mood to uninstall and reinstall everything just to get that added functionality.

 

[Ilya]

You can't access your second (Dual-boot) partition from the Virtual PC, but you can create a new virtual disk within Virtual PC and install Windows XP there. Then you will be able to run both OS's at the same time and access the network from both of them. Just be aware that the "guest" OS will be much slower and it may not be able to acces all of your pc hardware (e.g. your USB ports).

 

[Ilya]

I suggest you find the Vista driver for your printer.

 

[yourbeliefs]

I suggest you find the Vista driver for your printer.

It doesn't exist. I connect to my printer via another computer that has XP installed on it and the Vista driver does not work with it.
Don't you think I would have tried that before attempting a Virtualization solution? ;p

 

[SatinKzo]

What is this printer you have?

I say at this point, save the hassle and get a jetdirect or something similar, create IP ports on all machines for the printer and be done.

 

[yourbeliefs]

What is this printer you have?

I say at this point, save the hassle and get a jetdirect or something similar, create IP ports on all machines for the printer and be done.

Lexmark X1150

 

[RandallA]

Just buy a new printer.

 

[mike123abc]

When you consider hours of work to get this to work, how much is your time worth? Printers are very inexpensive now...