Beginners Guides: Dual OS Installation of WindowsXP 32-bit/64-bit

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Microsoft Windows XP comes in two flavours, the standard 32-bit operating system we're all familiar with and a 64-bit version called WindowsXP x64 Edition. The availability of 64-bit CPUs has made it possible to run a fully 64-bit operating system and processor, but it's not always so convenient when it comes to software applications or games. Our solution is to install both OSs on one PC, allowing you to switch between 64-bit and 32-bit!

In order for this guide to work, we've got to make a couple of assumptions: number one, that you have a 64-bit capable processor (either AMD Athlon 64, Opteron or EMT-64 enabled Intel Pentium 4/D/EE) and a working 32-bit installation of Windows XP (though in practice, Windows 2000 or 98 will work just fine too), and number two, that you have a free partition on one of your physical hard drives which you can use to host the operating system files for the 64-bit version of Windows XP.

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