When 2 operating systems are installed in this way, each individual OS needs to have total control of the machine, either booting from cold or resuming, so you can't switch instantly. You have to shut down one OS and restart the computer. However, if you have a legal copy of Windows 7 Professional or above, you can download XP Mode, which, in a nutshell, is Microsoft Virtual PC plus an install of XP Professional. This way you can have both running at once, and just go from one to the other with the click of a mouse. If you don't have W7 Pro you may be able to download the free VMWare Player and if you have an XP install disk you can create a virtual machine and get the same result.