How do I install Windows 7 in my dual boot system (xp and Vista) to make a triple boot system?

I used to have a dual boot of XP and Vista, then when I decided to keep Vista I later dual booted with a preliminary version of Windows 7.  Haven't yet tried a triple boot.  But see this page:

http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/9546-triple-boot-xp-vista-windows-7-a.html

Now, I have Windows 7 and only use XP or Vista as virtual OSes using Windows Virtual Pc, which comes with the Business and Ultimate versions of Windows 7.  This is MUCH handier than dual booting two of them...

I you have a free partition with no OS as u say (a partition only for Win 7)  then go ahead and install win 7 using custom settings and chose your free partition for install. I wont take any space of your vista partition u can happy do a triple boot.

should not be a problem the only thing is that you may get another option on your bootloader (legacy operating system) which if you've use vista boot pro (which also works fine in windows 7 btw) and renamed the legacy operatijng system to something else i.e. Windows XP Pro .. use the advanced install and select the partition you want to install to

Thanks for your answers.

KCTS: Sorry, I thought I read that it would let you install to a different partition.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/help/upgrading-from-windows-vista-to-windows-7-custom

Can't you perform a custom install with an upgrade version of Windows 7?

If not, I'll need to resize my Vista partition, which will be tough, since I have used and don't trust Acronis, and GParTed won't boot ("unable to find a medium containing a live file system"). Any suggestions for repartitioning? (I have 78GB unallocated space, but it's at the opposite end of the drive.)

LeeTutor: I use Virtual PCs, too--I have 2 XP and one Windows 7 in my Vista installation. I'd be happy to upgrade Vista if I could resize the partition. (And then install Vista in a Virtual PC.)

anand_unni: You say I can do a custom install with an upgrade version of Windows 7?

ve3ofa: I do not currently use Vista Boot Pro. Do I install it in Windows 7? (Assuming I can install Win7 to a new partition and boot to it.) Will it enable me to triple boot?

It can do a clean install. (I believe that you can't normally format the install partition, though. See below.)

The installation DVD *must* be started from a working version of an OS that's qualified for an upgrade. (It's a little different if you're switching for a 32 bit version to a 64, or vice-versa.) I believe that an upgrade version won't format the partition, because that would prevent you from having an OS present on it.

That said, if it's like Vista, there is (as far as I know) one installation DVD for all versions. (Actually, there were 2: a 32 bit and a 64 bit.) The installation type is determined by the license, not the DVD.

There's a widely publicized trick: if you install the OS *without entering a license key*, you get a 30 day evaluation version of the OS of your choice. Microsoft made it possible for an evaluation copy to qualify for a clean install of the OS using an upgrade license. So, it's possible to install Vista on a blank hard drive using only an upgrade license: the problem is that you have to install Vista *twice*. You'd be in violating the license if you didn't own a qualifying OS, though.

I don't know whether Win7 will allow the same thing. I expect that it will. Consider someone who bought a commercial (HP, Dell, etc.) PC where the OS re-installation support is by a partition on the system's hard drive. Suppose that person buys a Windows 7 upgrade license and installs it. Sometime later, the hard disk dies. Microsoft could declare that all responsibility for getting back to a working Windows 7 installation would be up to the PC's seller. Or, they could provide a work-around so the system could be brought back up using a blank HD. MS appears to have chosen that way in Vista; perhaps they'll do the same in Win7. I doubt that'll be known until upgrade licenses are in public hands, or at least the hands of testers.

anand_unni: What you're describing (installing Vista twice), is how I did it when Vista was first released.

Vista Boot Pro is a utility like easy bcd that simplifies editing the vista/win7 boot loader.  Boot from the CD/DVD and install to the partition of your choice (will then be drive C once it reboots into Win7.. May be another drive under other o/s's

Thanks for the info.

Is there any particular way I need to install Win7 other than on its own partition for this to work?

Should I install a boot manger on Vista NOW, before I install Win7?

If you want to use Boot-It, then Yes, install it first ... THEN install Windows 7.     Note that Boot-It IS a bit "geeky" ... i.e. there's a bit of a learning curve;  but it's NOT hard ... and once you start using it you'll never use anything else for partition and boot management.

Thanks, garycase, I take it you recommend BI-NG over Vista Boot Pro?

garycase: I installed Boot-It after reading/watching tutorials, but as soon as I choose an OS to boot to, it goes to the Vista boot menu, no matter what. I installed it in its own partition. What's wrong?

The issue is simple ==>  when you installed Vista, you installed a boot manager with it that's loaded from the Vista partition ... so when Boot-It boots to that partition, that's what is loaded.

The fix is not so simple -- CAREFULLY follow the instructions here:  http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=324

Note that this is a "one time" issue -- it's an issue only because you had both XP and Vista installed before you used Boot-It.    Once you get your Vista and XP boot items working ... shouldn't take more than 30 minutes so ... then installing additional OS's will be simple -- you can then easily have as many OS's as you feel like installing available for booting.

My computer just shut down and when I try to start it, nothing at all shows on screen. So much for upgrading to 7! Will do some diagnostics and report back.

garycase: FYI, Thanks for the fix. Haven't had a chance to try it yet.

garycase: I got the system started, and I uninstalled Boot-it NG: I had put it in its own partition on the new drive I installed, and since the system seems unstable, I uninstalled BING, then disconnected the drive.

Now, when I try to install BING it hangs, giving me a"Searching for Atapi CD drives. If the system hangs, then disable support under settings." I go into BING's settings, and there is nothing about ATAPI support that I can see. Any clue why it's freezing now and didn't before?

Since you have a nice new drive to "play with" I'd disconnect your other drives;  install the new 1TB drive;  boot to Boot-It -- do CANCEL, then OK, then go to Partition Work;  delete all current partitions (if you have any);  then reboot to Boot-It and let it install this time;  and then shut down.

Then I'd connect the drive with Vista on it;  be sure the boot order favors the 1TB drive; and boot -- this should take you to Boot-It.   I'd then copy the Vista partition to a partition on the new drive;  shut down; and remove the Vista drive.     Then I'd boot again ... go into Boot-It's menu and create a boot item for the Vista partition with ONLY that partition visible in the MBR;  and then try to boot to it.    The next step depends on just what happens at that point ...

Are you saying switching drives will let me install Boot-It? Every time I try to install it automatically, it says I have to do it manually, and when I do it manually, it hangs and gives me the error message above. Then I have to shut it down at the switch.

None of this will happen if I hook up the new drive and disconnect two of my other four drives (XP and Vista)?

BTW, I have used Boot-It to resize my Vista partition successfully (the only problem was that it changed the drive letter of my Vista programs partition, and that was easily fixed). If the drive remains stable, what an amazing program!

----->>> Would it be possible--copyright issues aside--to use Boot-It to copy my Vista partitions (OS and Programs) to the new drive, then upgrade the original Vista to Windows 7, and use Boot-It to go back and forth as necessary? (Although, I'll probably just continue to use Windows 7 and Microsoft's Virtual PC if I need to use previous versions of Windows.) After all, I rarely shut Vista down to boot into my old XP since I have XP installed on a laptop and in VPCs.)

I don't know if that will resolve the Boot-It install issue -- but since it installed before to that drive, it may very well have something to do with the configuration of your drives.     You may also need to change the options in Boot-It before you create a bootable CD -- but that would be surprising since it installed previously.     Is there anything you changed in the BIOS??

In any event ... aside from the install issue ... Boot-It will let you copy your partition to another drive -- and you can then do whatever you want from that drive.    You could even install to 2 or 3 (or more) partitions on the same drive and boot to different configurations ... all of them would be completely transparent to the others.

As I've mentioned before, it's a bit "geeky" and has a bit of a learning curve;  but once you get accustomed to what you can do with it, you'll never use anything else to manage your partitions or your boot menu.

Since my computer wouldn't boot with just the new drive, I had to slave the new drive to another computer to erase all partitions and now the computer will boot and run BING.

BING is installed and I am copying over Vista.  

Once Vista is copied to a partition, do as I noted before -- disconnect the Vista drive;  set up a Vista boot item in BING with just the Vista partition visible;  then try to boot to it.    If it boots okay, you may be able to edit the BCD and get rid of the boot loader -- or you may have to boot to the Vista DVD and let it "fix" the boot.    If you have to do that, it will eliminate the Vista boot loader (good) ... but it will also wipe out Boot-It -- this is NORMAL ... as long as Vista then boots you're okay.    Just boot to the Boot-It CD and select "Re-Activate Boot-It" ... that will be the default option.

... then you're off to the races :-)

I followed your instructions.

The new drive alone will not boot to Boot-It.

The old Vista drive will not boot, so I'm loading the Vista DVD . . I let it fix it and it still won't boot.

Both drives will boot into Boot-It, but the boot menu is blank. When I go to add a menu item, the MBR details window shows 7 hard drives with blank details. That is, there's nothing there to choose to add.

When I go to Partition Work, I get the ATAPI error from above and the system hangs.

Gary, gotta say this is starting to not be fun.

What have I done wrong, and have I done anything unrecoverable?






 and when I go into Boot-It to add it shows disks with nothing in them to choose.

Hope you're there,Gary,

This is one of those 5-minutes-if-I-was-there issues ... but very difficult to resolve without physical access to the system to see exactly what's happening.

However ... it sounds like you haven't set up a boot item.

First, you have to create a boot item.   Go to the Boot Menu, then click "Add".   Then you'll see a Boot Edit screen like the following.   Give it a name (where it says "Identity" -- my example has "XP Pro - Current System");  select a partition you want to boot for that entry (in my case it's on HD0, and is the partition named XPw02003 (which you select in the drop-down menu for "Boot" on the left side.    This will automatically add the partition you just selected to the MBR for the selected disk.

If you want other partitions to be "visible" to that boot item, you highlight the blank space, then click on "Fill" ==> you'll only have that option if there are partitions available in the selected disk.

Once you've got a "Vista" boot item created -- then you click OK on the Edit Menu screen;  Ok on the Boot Menu;  then Resume -- and then select the boot item you just created.    THIS is where you'll find out if it boots okay.

If not, post back & I'll tell you what to look for next ...

... Sorry about that -- I forgot to attach the image I was referring to ...

Didn't mean to get testy--and I forgot to thank you for your help, because if I can get this to work it will be really great.

Okay, I panicked because I couldn't see anything in the Window on the right--thanks for the visual.

Added two boot items:

Vista
Vista copy

Neither will boot, but I did notice that Boot-It placed itself as the first partition, and the video on copying an OS to a new drive mentioned that they both had to be in the same partition order on both drives.

So I need to move Boot-It.

Any idea why I keep getting that ATAPI error?

When I boot to Vista copy, I get: A disk read error occurred. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart.

When I boot to Vista, I get: NTLDR is missing. Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart.

The NTLDR is missing is relatively easy to fix.    This is caused by the Vista boot loader that you had installed with the dual boot setup.   You should be able to fix this by doing the following ...

Boot and select the "Vista" boot item (the one that gives an NTLDR error) -- let it attempt to boot, and when you get the NTLDR error first insert your Vista DVD in the drive;  then Ctrl-Alt-Del to boot to the DVD  (If the optical drive isn't first in your boot order, press whatever key your system requires to choose the boot device and boot to the DVD)

Select the "Repair your computer" option from the setup menu (the one with the "Install Now" button in the center) ... and then click on "Startup Repair" on the Recovery Options screen.

When that's done, Vista should boot.    As I noted before, this may very well cause the system to boot directly to Vista and not to Boot-it ... but that's normal -- after you confirm Vista will boot, then just reboot to the Boot-It CD and "Re-activate Boot-It".

Once you get Vista booting okay, the best way to make a copy for another partition is just image the good partition;  then restore that image to another partition.

Thanks Gary.

As I woke up this morning--groggy, before coffee, I changed the boot order in BIOS, and now I get the blank screen again and can't get to BIOS to change it back, so that's first.

Does it make any difference that my Vista OS and Programs partitions were V and P respectively?

Okay, I think I see what I did wrong <head slap>, and I would appreciate your getting me back as close as possible to square one so I can do this the right way.

Should I open this as another question?

When you said above to " be sure the boot order favors the 1TB drive," I thought you meant within Boot-It. Duh, you meant BIOS.

So right now I can only get to anything appearing on my screen (and access BIOS), by setting the boot order to my Vista drive with the new drive disconnected OR by using the Boot-It CD.

The Vista drive will not boot, however. I get:

Bootit EMBRI 2.01
Bootit EMBRL 2.04
EMBRM Load: EMBR is missing or is an unsupported version!
System Halted!

Here's what I think I should do (but I won't touch a freakin' thing until I hear from you so I don't dig myself into a deeper hole):

1. Insert the Boot-it CD and uninstall Bootit.
2. See if I can get Vista booting again, then disconnect it.
3. Connect the new drive, wipe it out (it won't be safe to wipe out my copy of Vista until the original is working, right? One time when I made an image of Vista, the only thing that would make the original Vista work again was to copy it back) and install Boot-It again, rebooting with the Vista drive present (being sure to check the BIOS to see that the new drive boots first).

At this point it's not clear what you may/may not have done -- probably inadvertently -- on the various drives;  so I'd do this ...

Disconnect every drive EXCEPT your Vista drive -- and then try using the "Repair your computer" on the Vista DVD to resolve the boot issue.     Once you get Vista to boot okay, the rest is simple -- but the first requirement here is bootable Vista partition.

Since XP is on a different drive, I'd do the same thing with that ==> connect just that drive; and use "Fixboot" from the XP CD's repair console to get it booting as well.

If you can get a standalone XP partition that boots and a standalone Vista partition that boots you'll be home free -- the rest is very straightforward.

Try those and report back :-)

Nothing appears on the screen if I have the Vista drive as the only drive attached.

When I also attach one of the data drives, I can get to BIOS, check that it's set to boot the Vista drive, then put in the Vista DVD, which goes round and round--repair,restart, repeat. The report it says that OS booted successfully, then I let it start "normally" and I get:


Bootit EMBRI 2.01
Bootit EMBRL 2.04
EMBRM Load: EMBR is missing or is an unsupported version!
System Halted!

I'm REALLY stuck here, Gary. (And it sure doesn't help knowing that I got here by my own stupidity and that I'm taking up your time.)

Any suggestions on how to back out of this to start over?

Update:

Since I had undone the change that I made to the BIOS this morning, I plugged in the same drives that I had last night and I reached the Boot-It menu, clicked on Vista, and it booted!

Holy, er, cow!

Plugged in are: Vista, two data drives, and my new drive.

Disk management shows only three drives (guess the new one is hidden): Vista, one data drive with my files intact, and the other data drive (supposedly in RAID) showing that it's unallocated. :-(  

I'm going to try to boot into the Vista copy--got the disk read error.

Time to try the imaging.

Just home for a minute between errands -- I won't be back until this evening, but it sounds like you're making progress.    Disk Management probably only shows 3 drives because 2 of them are in a RAID array (assuming you're correct about that).     If you're using a hardware controller, Boot-It will see those drives correctlly (as one drive).    If it's a software RAID Boot-It will show two independent drives ==> if that's the case, do NOT do anything on those drives with Boot-It ... you can manage the other two drives, but you don't want Boot-It to mess with the two drives in the array.    THAT could definitely mess stuff up.

:-)

But when I tried to install Win7 I got an error message: "Windows cannot find locatgion to store temporary installation files.Make sure that a partition on your hard drive has at least 686 MB of free space.

Did you create a partition for Windows 7 and set up a boot item for that partition in Boot-It?

We're going to be gone most of the day today and much of tomorrow, so I can't help much except late at night until Monday.

But as long as the system boots to Boot-It, it should be VERY simple to install Windows 7 as long as you set up the boot item correctly.    You may want to watch the tutorial on Terabyte's site:
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/videos/bing/win7.wmv

Update:

Yes I did create a partition for Windows 7 and set up a boot item. (And I did watch the tutorial.)

Windows 7 is installed and booting perfectly. (If I were a dog, my tail would be wagging.)

I didn't do it the way I'd planned, but the way I did it is fine. As far as I can tell, Microsoft should be happy that Boot-It can't image Windows 7 to a new drive (at least I couldn't when I wanted to move it to my new drive--haven't activated it yet so I may uninstall/reinstall if i can figure out the "not enough room" error message, which a quick Google showed that it mostly appeared to people who were trying to install Windows 7 RCs by mounting an ISO instead of burning to DVD).

I have the XP drive installed now and am trying to get it to work. I set it up in Boot-It's Boot Menu, but when I try to boot it, I get:

XP couldn't open drive multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)
NTLDR couldn't open drive multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)

I put in my Xp Pro disk and booted to repair. It shows Windows XP in D, when I have it in C, so I was reluctant to use fixboot.

I looked at the drive through "Work with Partitions" properties, edit file, and found XP has a boot.ini file (of course), and the expected bootmgr from when I dual booted it with Vista.

When I point to the XP partition and open BCD Edit, it lists:

Earlier Version of Windows
Microsoft Windows Vista

Should I delete "earlier version of Windows," which is my XP? Then go into XP and delete/rename the bootmgr file?

Thanks for letting me know about your schedule--and for all the help.

Boot-It can easily image Windows 7 (or any other OS) and move it to another drive;  another partition;  etc.
For example, if you were to image your working Windows 7 partition [Partition Work - highlight the Win7 partition; click on Image;  select Create Image;  then choose where you want to store the image (another partition on the same or a different drive);  then Paste it] ... and then do the opposite -- Partition Work; highlight the partition where you stored the image;  click on Image;  choose Restore;  then point to the image you created; and then select where to restore it (perhaps the unallocated space on your 1TB drive) and "Paste" it  ==>  when you were done that partition would boot fine.    You'd simply need to create a boot item for it.     You'd could then have "Windows 7" and "Windows 7 2nd Copy" boot items.     This works for any OS.

I suspect your XP problem is an incorrect BOOT.INI file.    If you provide the exact details of your partition layouts as shown in Boot-It for each of your drives [For example, the one below has a partiion "NewXP" of 15994MB;  followed by 8001MB of free space;  followed by "OldXPPro" of 21995MB;  etc. ==> just tell me the details like that];   and exactly what your XP system's BOOT.INI currently is;  I can probably tell you why it's not booting.    Note you can see (and edit) the BOOT.INI from within Boot-It by highlighting the partition that contains it (should be your XP partition);  clicking on Properties;  then clicking on Edit File.

... by the way, does your system by any chance have a floppy drive?

Gary, when I imaged 7--imaging to free space and then pasting into the partition I wanted on my new drive (which had previously held Vista install), it booted into and would not boot beyond a blue screen with this little notice in the lower right corner:  "This is not a genuine copy of Windows" (or something to that effect).

Yes, my system has a floppy drive. Why?

I've looked at the boot.ini through Boot-It and it seems fine to me in terms of partition, but I will get this info and report back.

Rebooting now . . .

"... Yes, my system has a floppy drive. Why? ..."  ==>  F12 will capture any Boot-It screen to the floppy.    It writes it in PCX form, but you can easily convert that to a JPEG with something like IrfanView [http://www.irfanview.com/ ].     Makes it much easier to show exactly what you're seeing.    But Boot-It doesn't have any provision for doing that to any device except a floppy.

Not sure why an image/restore isn't working for you -- I've never had any issues with this.   Perhaps it has something to do with restoring it to a drive that's got other "residual" tidbits from the previous OS's and you haven't completely wiped the drive.     I suspect (based on all the "playing" you've done) that there may be residual boot loader code on some of your other disks.    Clearly there's something about the process you're following that isn't quite right ... but it's not clear what that is.     I'd create a partition called "OSImages" and save all your images there.

It would be useful if you would post images of the following ...

(a)  Partition Work with HD0 selected
(b)  Partition Work with HD1 selected
(c)  Partition Work with HD2 selected
... (for as many drives as you have installed)

(d)  The Boot Edit menu for each boot item you have created  (so I can see exactly how you have the boot items configured)

If you simply go to each of those displays and hit F12, Boot-It will write a PCX file.    Once you're done, just load those PCX files in Irfanview and save them as JPEG's -- then you can add them to a post here  [That's how post Boot-It screens such as the ones earlier in this thread.]

HD0

HD1

HD2

HD3

win7 boot config

Vista boot config

XP boot config

Is the disk identified as HD2 by Boot-It the #1 disk in the BIOS boot order?   i.e. does the system always boot to Boot-It with these drives connected?

Which of the OS's currently boot?

If XP does not yet boot, post the BOOT.INI that is in the WinXP-0 partition.

Is the disk identified as HD2 by Boot-It the #1 disk in the BIOS boot order?

Yes.

   i.e. does the system always boot to Boot-It with these drives connected?

Yes.

Which of the OS's currently boot?

7 and Vista.

If XP does not yet boot, post the BOOT.INI that is in the WinXP-0 partition.

Will do.

BTW, I did try to save my image files in a separate partition, but they wouldn't paste, which is why they are all "loose."

What's missing (off screen) in the boot.ini is: NO/EXECUTE=OPTON /FASTDETECT

I tried just booting it with /FASTDETECT, but that didn't work.

I suspect that your HD2 (the disk with Boot-It installed) is what's set as relative disk 0 for your disk adapter.    The disk enumeration order isn't easy to decipher, and isn't always consistent between the BIOS and the OS, so you may have to experiment a bit.     Edit the rdisk parameter in the BOOT.INI (2 places to change) and I suspect you can get XP to boot.    It doesn't boot with a 0, so there are only 3 other possibilities :-)   [1, 2, and 3]

As for your images -- I'll comment more late tonight.   I'm heading out and won't be back for ~ 12 hours.

Gary, what happens is that when I use Boot-It to boot XP, as I mentioned, it goes into the Windows dual-boot menu. If I choose "earlier version," it tries to load XP, then I get the same error message, as above, even though I changed rdisk to 3:

XP couldn't open drive multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)
NTLDR couldn't open drive multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)

Clearly the Vista boot loader is installed on that partition -- and is not using the BOOT.INI associated with XP  (otherwise you'd see the correct rdisk value).    Try Boot-It's BCD editor on that same partition (the XP one) and see what it shows.    I don't know just what you'll see there -- I NEVER use any of theWindows boot loaders -- once you get set up with Boot-It that would be a major step backwards.

For Vista and 7 the path is:

C:\Windows\system32\winload.exe

For XP: \ntldr

I see that BCD edit has several sections -- Menu/Boot/Global/Device ==> look through those and see if you can simply disable it (perhaps on the Boot) section.

There are so many partitions involved here, and it's not clear where the Vista boot loader has "pieces" installed -- i.e. which disks do and don't have this to contend with -- that I'm not sure what to suggest next.    It would be SO much easier if I simply had the system :-)     I'm convinced this is a matter of 20-30 minutes of experimentation.     The simplest way, of course, would be to just install the OS's from scratch :-)   [But that's obviously a rather drastic measure.]

But if you can get the Vista boot loader out of the picture, all will work perfectly.     If you've not sure what to try, post a picture of what BCD Edit shows with "Boot" checked in the above screen.

I've been fooling around with it, but no luck. Got it back to : NTLDR not found . . .

Is there any chance that the XP partition isn't marked as active?

"... Is there any chance that the XP partition isn't marked as active? ..."  ==>  Easy to check.    Select HD 3 in Partition Work;  then click on View MBR.    That will show which partition is marked active -- and you can easily change it as needed (just highlight the partition and click on "Set Active".

When I looked at "view MBR" for XP, it showed me nothing--just zeros. Same for the new drive (HD 2).

Do I need to mark some partition active (presumably the first one) to view the MBR?

Boot to Boot-It and select the XP boot item -- let it try to boot.     Now reboot, and then go to Partition Work and look at the MBR for HD3 again.

It's active.

Would it make any difference if I imaged and moved XP to another drive?

Not likely.

At this point I don't know what to suggest except to outline what I think is going on ...

Your Windows boot loader that you had previously installed has elements on more than one partition.   For the boot of XP to work, all of those partitions have to be "visible" during the boot process -- so the MBRs as detailed in the Boot-It boot item need to contain the appropriate partitions in the correct relative slots.    Unless you remember the exact configurations you had with the dual boot, this could be very time-consuming to experiment and find the correct combination.     I just don't know how to remove all traces of the boot loader ... which is what needs to be done.

I'm going to fool with it some more and see what happens.

I just have one more thing to try to get xp to boot, and if that doesn't work, I'll close the question.

Still no luck??    May be easier to just reinstall XP in a dedicated partition under Boot-It's control :-)

My apologies for not responding, Gary. (I saw that a comment had been added, but I thought it was from me.)

That's a good suggestion about reinstalling XP, but I'd rather not just yet. I will try one more time (right after  I send this message), and then if that doesn't work, I'll take your suggestion and close the question.

Thanks to everyone for the help, especially the amazing Gary Case.

Never got the original XP to work, but did get another one installed, so I consider the tri-boot challenge solved.