Hi Peter--
Peter Fletcher said:
"I am upgrading my computer system and am planning to dual-boot Vista
and Vista 64 - I have a lot of older applications which may not work
well (or at all) on the 64-bit OS, but I will also be doing a fair
amount of video processing, which will run much better with the larger
amount of memory accessible under Vista 64. I would like a copy of
Office 2007 to be accessible and usable under both OSes. Obviously, it
would need to be installed separately under each one, but would it be
OK to install it to the same directory (not on either boot disk) under
each one, or are some different files installed under the two OSes,
necessitating two completely separate install directories. Does anyone
have any relevant experience?"
Quick answer: Yes you can install all your Offices to the same non-OS drive
with no problem. I've been doing it for a good while with dual boots with
Office 2007.
I always have dual or tri boots going and here's how I handle it and it
works fine in Vista and the next OS. Years ago I ignored a few things like
folders that don't make the jump and registry settings and got the idea of
simply dragging programs from one boot to another and it did work perfectly
for some, and not for others, and it did not work for larger programs,
Office being one of those. Obiously registry entries don't transfer and I
learned a lesson there.
1) I install the Office 2007 for each boot.
2) As you know when you're on a particular boot, the drive letter is
assigned as C:\.
3) I use the "custom install" option, and install my programs like Office to
D:\Program Files (X86) and as many Office installations as I do go there and
it works fine.
I have the other OS on another drive, and install all my programs on a drive
I use to store data, shortcuts, and many other files and folders full of
shortcuts, docs I want there, or other subfolders.
4) If you're using 64 bit, you'll see a Program Files folder and a Program
Files (X86) Folder. Since Office 2007 is 32 bit, I install it there on all
boots and it works just fine, Outlook 2007 included.
So my answer to you is that you can install them into the same directory
(not on either boot disk). I do. It's a good question, and when I first did
it I wondered if I would be spanked for not installing on the OS boot since
I didn't want to for space considerations. Installing on the non-OS boot
directory will work just fine.
The reason I have done this in the past is that the boxes I was using
previously had a limited amount of space on the HD and it worked fine. Now
I'm not space limited but since it works fine, I do it since I've gotten use
to installing all my programs onto another drive--the data drive.
There is ***no problem with Outlook 2007** whatsoever. In my experience
many of the problems that do arise with Outlook sending and receiving
(although this is blunt and general and not nuanced and doesn't happen with
what I typed above) can be solved by making sure that some antivirus
programs don't have screening of Outlook or back in the day OE and Win Mail
in Vista since they do their own screening just fine. Symantec is a case in
point--sometimes NIS (Norton Internet Security) has interfered with Outlook,
OE Send and Receive during the days of XP, but I haven't seen any problems
with Win One Care (to be changed and probably shipped with Win 7) in Vista.
This is peripheral to your question , but in Office 14 which is in Alpha and
will be named Office 2010, there will be a 32 bit and 64 bit version
Good luck,
CH
"
