I have been building my own computers since 1995 and I just bought my first lap top with my first Vista OS. There are lots of things I like about Vista, but there are more things I don't like, and if things don't improve soon I'm going to format and install XP...LOL
I'm going to stick with Vista if I can because once I format, I won't be able to reinstall it, so I hope I can get some help here:-)
The help section of my computer tells me that attempting to add XP as and optional OS with Vista already installed, might render my computer inoperable, but I am wondering if there is a safe way to do it.
I have shrunk my C: partition leaving 20G of unallocated disc space, but I can't seem to figure out how to allocate it. I figure that if I could allocate it as the C: partiction and reallocate the Vista partition as some other letter, maybe I could install XP without damage, and have a dual boot system. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
Woody

allocate the space by creating a partition and formatting the partition in

control panel
classic view
administrative tools
computer management
storage
disk management

installing XP will write an older MBR and mess up the Vista install though.

Hello James:
Thankyou! I successfully created a new simple partition of the unallocated disc space.
Woody