I'd like to migrate from XP PRO to Server 2008 without having a second temporary PC. I'm not even sure an upgrade exists, but I don't want to use it anyway. I want to do a fresh install of Server 2008. So I know I can setup a dual boot and reinstall all my programs on Server 2008. Then I will want to delete XP PRO. Since XP PRO is already installed, it will first on drive C:. If I put Server 2008 on the same drive in a second partitiion, then I can delete most of the C: partition after Server is working, and use Partition Magic to reduce the size of C:. But boot.ini will still always be on C:.
Is there a better way so the old C: partition can be completely eliminated? Perhaps install Server 2008 on a second hard drive and then take out the XP PRO drive and set the Server drive as the boot drive? Will I need to use Windows Repair Console to set up boot.ini or other things on the Server drive?
And is there any virtual software that will allow me to run both XP PRO and Server 2008 at the same time during the migration, and then completely get rid of XP PRO? My understanding of VMWare is XP PRO would be the boot OS and I could only install Server 2008 to run under it. So XP PRO would always be required. But perhaps this isn't the only way, or there are other virualization software that work differently?
And if it matters, the LAN is currently a workgroup, and will of course be a domain with Server 2008. The XP PRO box runs Apache, FTP Filezilla server, SMTP. I'm concerned about being able to test everything adequately. If there's no virtualization software that will allow Server to run without it after the migration, then maybe I just need to build another PC. It would be nice to know I could still run Server and be a domain LAN, but go back to XP PRO for the webserver if there's a problem with the webserver on Server 2008. Some of the websites use MySQL, so I don't know if switching back and forth is really an option anyway, but there's a lot of software that has to work right once the LAN is converted to a domain and all the software on the XP PRO box is now running on Server 2008. It would be so nice if this could be done in stages.
So any advice is most welcome!
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