Comments on: A workaround for the dual-boot System Restore bug

By: Charlie5

Charlie5 — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 23:51:39 +0000

Ed.
The workaround fix works if Xp is the original installed operating system and Vista is added later. I have Vista Home Premium as my original installed operating system and Xp installed as my second. On my Hp laptop, Vista Home Premium is on C:, Xp Pro is on D: and HP_Recovery is on E:. When I apply the fix to Xp Pro nothing happens. It doesn’t block out Vista on C: and the System Restore files on C: are deleted if I boot into Xp. Just to let you know, I can apply the fix to the registry on C:, the Vista drive, and block Xp Pro on D:. It appears the fix only works on the registry in the originally installed operating system. If you know of any other solution to my problem, I would certainly appreciate it. Thanks.

By: Vince Winterling

Vince Winterling — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:16:12 +0000

Thanks Ed for a providing some additional clarifying details. All I can say is thank the heavens for imaging software. While I can see your recommendation to use a virtual setup, I find the dual boot with XP still useful, although less so with each passing month. For example, I have a Canon camera that I really like and while I could probably replace it to make the Vista transition, I find myself hating to part with it. The driver and all the Canon software work in XP and to a very limited extent in Vista (it’s almost painful), and worst of all I can’t make use of Windows Live Photo Gallery to import in Vista. Yet, I can do all this in XP and with pics of the grandkids taking on increasing prominence among some in the family, well you know how that goes…

By: Dave Xnet

Dave Xnet — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:52:38 +0000

In my mind, there’s a benefit to using dual boot and
shared drives. If one system doesn’t boot or some other
serious problem, you can boot the other system and investigate the problem system from there.

This has helped me out a couple of times in the past.

The “solution” that MS provided for the system restore
bug is pathetic.

By: Carl@Brightrev

Carl@Brightrev — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 01:06:38 +0000

@Ed
When you say you would recommend swapping drives, do you use a removable drive enclosure, and if so, which one?

Thanks.

By: Johan R

Johan R — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:10:49 +0000

In My Personal Opinion, I rather prefer to disable System Restore, It’s actually Userful, but for me it never worked as i’d spect.
This happened always in Windows XP and now in Windows Vista.
It free up Some HDD space and some processor Cycles.
What happens when something goes wrong?
I’d rather prefer to Reinstall the Whole Windows from one of my Manual Backup Copy’s on DVD9 with imaging software like Ghost.
Disabling System Restore on Windows Vista and Windows XP may be a solution for those with a Non-Recommended Dual Boot OS PC.

By: The How-To Geek

The How-To Geek — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 23:08:31 +0000

Excellent point… dual boot setups are really not very useful most of the time, and should be avoided.

In fact, there’s only one reason I would (and do) recommend dual-boot: Gaming. That’s really the only use case for dual booting anymore.