Windows XP no longer supported by MS after 8th April '14

[grip]

Hi All,

I feel that MS are leaving me and many others in a vulnerable position with regards to their no longer providing security updates for XP. The only successful solution that would work for me is to have a dual boot system with my current XP SP3 32bit windows and 8.1 64bit windows. I have done similar with my Macbook Pro and windows 8.1 as a dual boot system.

Problem is I'm not sure that I can do what I want to, any help would be most welcome.

I currently have 3 physical HD's in my PC, each partitioned to give me 6 drives. What I'd like to do is to clone the current "C" drive, along with all system and program files to a 3TB HD to a 500MB partition and use the remainder of the drive for a Windows 8.1 PC.

Doing it this way means I can still update/control my music hardware with the current set up and be sure that all of my virtual plug ins and instruments will work OK by switching between systems if necessary.

Kind regards,


Chris

[Recycled Rock Chick]

With the more recent PCs Chris, I find that rather than dual booting in the conventional way, I use a separate hard drive for each operating system that I want to use.
On my current main PC I use windows 7 ultimate 64 bits for 99% of the time. However some programs will not run in compatibility mode or when using VMware to create a virtual machine, so I have a second hard drive running XP 32 bits.
This is the way I do mine and others that I have used previously, ever since the PCs started to have the BBS option when you press the F8 key to allow you to select which drive to boot from.
If you install your main OS to a big drive that's partitioned to have the OS and programs for that OS on one partition then the remainder can be used as storage on the second partition.
I would then disconnect that drive and connect the second drive and install the alternative OS and programs to that. If you wanted a 3rd OS then disconnect that and connect the 3rd drive and install to that.
I do them separately so that you don't end up accidentally formatting one of the other drives, then connect all the drives up and set the BIOS to boot from the drive with your Main OS on it.
Then each time it starts it will boot from your main OS and if you need to run one of the other OSs then you simply reboot and press F8 and select the drive with the OS on that you want and the second partition on the main drive containing all the folders and data you have saved will be accessible from each of the other drives, although the drive letter will have possibly be changed so I suggest you name the second partition on the main OS drive as Storage so even if the drive letter changes the name will be the same.

The advantage of doing it this way over the more traditional method is that if you lose the main hard drive or it gets corrupted, you can still boot from the other drives without having to reconfigure anything or install a boot loader.

Hope that helps and if I haven't explained anything well enough just ask

[grip]

Thank you Sandra...sometimes I can't see the wood for the trees...it makes a lot of sense to do it the way you suggest, it's a lot safer and easier than the method I was considering and no need to clone what I have to a new drive.

Kind regards,


Chris

[Recycled Rock Chick]

Pleased that I can offer something constructive to the forum at last, after all the help I have been given

[twang46]

I'm not so sure Microsoft withdrawing support for XP is a problem, I welcome it as I'm sick of being told that there are 76 absolutely security updates & you better load them or else !!
I can't remember the last security update I downloaded from MS....bug fixes/access to new types of files etc... ok

I find that my current security software (Iobit) works fine & is used by me on both Win7 & XP pro

I'm about to finally set up a pc just for music & it will be XP (without internet explorer & media player) as well as a load of other stuff that is not needed for a workstation that has no internet access.
If you look at windows you will see things like 200 different types of font types/sizes etc.... not needed for a workstation & without all the clutter XP runs like lightning.

No doubt I'll get wrong off our resident IT guru Sandra but, when do I ever listen to people without my selective ears switched on

Cheers

Dick.

[grip]

Hi Dick,

I can understand the direction you're thinking of going, I've always been selective as to which updates I install, and I feel vulnerable by continuing to use software that's not supported with the amount of personal data that's kept on my PC, I still miss my black and white Windows 1.1 and MS Dos, on my twin Floppy drive PC with 256k of memory. I really miss that occasional blue screen too.

For me, an update of an operating system which doesn't allow me to use even a half of the memory I have installed is long overdue although I can do without the further expense of doing so. From putting dual boot on my Macbook Pro I've got quite used to win 8.1 now and if you just disable/delete all the clutter, it's quite an improvement on XP for my purposes (judging by what I've been able to use on it so far). What has been holding me back from upgrading is that I've no intention of buying new music software/hardware, to suit a new operating system....not sure that I'll be around long enough to justify the spend.

Hi Sandra,

I've just come across a problem (for me), I can't use a wireless keyboard to hit F8 to select the option in the BBS as the drivers would not be loaded at that stage I'm not sure whether the same problem will arise with USB wired keyboard, or do I have to go back to a PS/2 type connection? Many thanks in advance for your reply.

Kind regards,


Chris

[Recycled Rock Chick]

USB ones work fine Chris, as long as your PC is less than about 6 years old as the USB support is in the BIOS on almost anything that has USB 2 on the motherboard.
I am surprised that the wireless one doesn't work, although I know that way back I used to have problems going round to peoples houses and being unable to get into their BIOS or safe mode as the F keys wouldn't function on their USB keyboards so I used to always take a basic PS2 keyboard and mouse with me. So its possibly a similar thing with your keyboard. Check your BIOS as there may be an option to enable USB devices or failing that its easy enough to just plug a USB keyboard in to select which drive to boot from then you can unplug it and continue using your wireless one.

[twang46]

Hi Chris

If you use XP Pro 64 bit you will be able to address all the memory installed (dependant upon the mobo being able to cope)
What I am going to do will to use a pc (or laptop even) just as a work station with only music related files.
I have another laptop that I use for personal stuff/internet/backing up etc.... Sensitive files are kept backed up on hard drives that are physically disconnected from the main pc & only plugged in (via usb)as and when needed.
Data transfer would be faster with the drives hard wired in via SATA etc...but outright speed is not a big issue to me when backing up things.

Like you it seems most all of my software/sound cards etc... run well with XP & some would need updating & then there's the mobo issue for stuff that is now referred to as legacy.

I think I preferred Windows for work groups & DOS 5.5 with dosshell were they really the golden age of computing...... £100 for a 4 meg stick of memory, branded pcs with SX processors well over a £1,000

Technology is so cheap these days it's very tempting to upgrade at every opportunity (says the man who still builds valve amps )

Cheers

Dick.

[grip]

Hi Sandra,

Mar 18, 2014 16:35:05 GMT Recycled Rock Chick said:

Check your BIOS as there may be an option to enable USB devices or failing that its easy enough to just plug a USB keyboard in to select which drive to boot from then you can unplug it and continue using your wireless one.

I have a wireless keyboard and cant get into BIOS I need to get one with that stringy stuff attached.


Kind regards,


Chris

Update: It's not a new keyboard I need, it's a new operator , hammering away on the wrong key (F2 instead of Delete) and bad timing for the F8 (AMI BIOS)

[Recycled Rock Chick]

I hate it when they use different keys for the BIOS, laptops are really bad for having lots of different ones. I could never understand why they decided to use F8 for, the then new BBS menu, when it was already being used by everyone for safe mode as it can make it very hard to boot into safe mode.
Incidentally if anyone struggles to get the timing right for safe mode and the BBS menu pops up if you press escape it usually gives an option for safe mode.

At least you now know that it will allow you to select F8 from your wireless keyboard Chris

[Recycled Rock Chick]

I don't think that this will be against the forum rules as its just a work around type of thing to possibly allow XP to update for many years yet and I don't think its actually illegal, but if it is then can an admin remove it

A trick published on a German forum claims that tweaking Windows XP in order to be identified by the Windows Update service as Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 could do the trick and help everyone that’s yet to upgrade to keep their computers fully protected.

The differences between Windows XP and Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 aren’t too big, so if you continue to receive updates for the latter even if you’re running the first, you should be all secure.

Here’s an excerpt from Microsoft’s product FAQ regarding the differences between the two OS versions:

Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 contains the following Embedded Enabling Features:
- File-Based Write Filter (FBWF), which redirects writes to disk to RAM and helps protect the underlying OS image.
- USB Boot, which allows installation from a USB key.
Office productivity applications are not licensed to be run on POSReady.
POS for .NET is included with POSReady.
POSReady does not contain Help files, which reduces its footprint.
Both products use the same management software.

There’s also another catch. While Windows XP support was officially stopped on April 8, Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 will continue to get patches until April 9, 2019, so your computer could still get updates for 5 more years unless Microsoft blocks this trick.

So here are the steps to tweak Windows XP and make Windows Update servers think that they are dealing with an embedded version:

Right-click anywhere on your computer and create a new text document. Give it any name and change the extension to .reg. Right-click it again and click “Edit.”

In the Notepad window that shows up, paste the following code and then save it:

CODE
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\WPA\Pos Ready]
"Installed"=dword:00000001

Additionally, you can also download our .reg file that contains all the necessary lines and simply double-click it in order to apply the changes. Reboot your computer and check for updates once again. With some luck, plenty of new updates should be available for download.

Keep in mind that Microsoft might very well block this trick in some other ways, but it’s still worth a try if you’re yet to upgrade

I have attached the reg file in case you do not want to make your own. Just download it then double click it and say yes when asked if you want to add the information to the registry then reboot.
Just as a precaution, as I haven't tried this myself yet, create a system restore point before you do it, but I am sure it will be OK as it came off a technical type of geeky forum

Windows XP Update.reg (108 B)



I hope that it helps anyone who doesn't want to upgrade from XP for whatever reason

[twang46]

Very interesting links young Sandra

I personally welcome MS ending support for XP as for the last few years all the support has been is security updates & the odd access fixes now & then.
Any good commercial AV/protection system should keep you safe. I use Iobit system care (ult version 7) at the moment ( and I pay for it ) & it seems to work very well.

Cheers

Dick.