I recently got a new laptop with Windows XP Home. The 30g drive was partitioned into two drives. Both has NTFS format. I'd like to set up the second drive for Windows 2000 Pro with NTFS. What are the steps I need to take to add Windows 2k to an existing Win XP system?

in my experience, unfortunatley you will have to install win 2000 pro first then install winxp after that...otherwise if you do it visa-versa you wont be able to boot into win xp from the dual boot menu.

Daniel, I find it strange that you've run into problems installing Xp after W2k. The NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM files for XP and W2k (and NT4 SP6 for that matter) have worked interchangably for me. If you do run into a problem, format a floppy in XP first. Copy NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and BOOT.INI to it. Boot up your system via the floppy to check that it works. Then, install W2k. If you cannot boot XP, copy the NTLDR and NTDETECT.com files to the 1st active primary partition. Leave the BOOT.INI file alone as W2k will have updated it with the ARC path to boot W2k. I've never run into a problem with the install order of any version of W2k vs XP. With Win9x vs NTx, yes, the load order is significant.

If XP goes in after W2K it replaces W2K mbr and boot/start-up files with XP version; adds W2K to boot.ini/boot-menu; establishes dual-boot. If W2K goes in after XP, it replaces XP mbr etc. with W2K version. Thus XP will not now boot... To recover XP and establish dual-boot, run XP repair routine... (Ideally make an ERD for XP 'before' adding W2K; you can then offer this up during XP repair sequence; although the repair can be done without it...) It's a bit like '98 after W2K. A little digging/research around various sources 'out there' suggest the following 'general rule of thumb': Each OS going in will replace/overwrite previous OS mbr (and boot-start-up files in many cases) - be it the same OS (a second or more version) or otherwise, or at least try to... If an 'older' OS goes in after a more recent one, then a 'Repair' for the 'newer' (previous) is usually required to secure/establish the dual/multi-boot. If the last OS in is newest, then 'it' establishes mbr and boot-options for the others (boot-menu/boot.ini). Thus '9x overwrites W2K mbr; and you need to Repair W2K accordingly; likewise '98 overwrites XP mbr. W2K will overwrite XP mbr (and boot-files) and thus XP repair is required. XP going in last just replaces W2K mbr and boot-files, establishes dual/multi-boot, and no Repair is required.

Please excuse me as I try to digest that foot in my mouth. Sometimes I'm just a brain dead MS junky that just naturally follows the MS recommended practises, with no thought in mind. Sorry Daniel, as per trvlr's post, I was completely wrong. I should know better, MS is never forward compatible. I plead too many systems, multi-booting too many OS's. Of course things have worked for me, I've always taken out my W2k drives and loaded XP onto its own lonely drive. And I'd automatically upgrade to the latest NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM files on all my bootable drives. Mea Culpa