 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Windows Forum / Windows XP / Configuration / July 2007Dual Boot XP from two drives
I have a bootable XP system on each of two drives (c: and e:). Today I have to change the master/slave jumper to change the drive I want to boot from, making the boot drive master and the other drive slave. This works good, but it's awkward as I have to open the case and move those little jumpers without dropping them. Is there an easier way to alternate between these two drives? Does your BIOS list boot order?? change the boot order so that the device you wish to start from is 1st...or 2nd after a floppy or CD. I guess you installed XP the 2nd time with the 1st drive disconnected.......as XP would have seen the 1st installation and created a dual boot menu which would show when you boot wih the choice of which XP to start with. You could still accomplish this by doing a repair installation. peter >I have a bootable XP system on each of two drives (c: and e:). > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Is there an easier way to alternate between these two drives? Hi Don, You could try editing the boot.ini file on C when you have it jumpered and cabled for Master. At the Desktop, right-click on My Computer, select Properties and then Advanced tab. In the Startup and Recovery section, click on the Settings button and then in the System startup section click on the Edit Button. This will open the Boot.ini file in a Notepad window. Edit it to reflect the XP (I have assumed Home Edition of XP, but you can change the Home to Professional if that is the case) on the second drive (i.e., multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP Home" /NoExecute=OptIn). It would then look something like this: [boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP Home" /NoExecute=OptIn multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP Home" /NoExecute=OptIn The name of the operating system appearing in italics can be altered, as this displays how the name will appear on the boot menu. You could change them to something like: "XP Home C" and "XP Home E" to reflect the drive letter for distinguishing between the two, if necessary. Another option would be to check the boot device order in the system BIOS to see if it allows you to boot from a hard drive other than C drive, and they may be listed like this: HDD-0 HDD-1 HDD-0 being the Primary drive and HDD-1 being the secondary drive. You could change the boot order to HDD-0 or HDD-1 depending on which XP you want to boot into at any given time. Regards,  SignaturePatti MacLeod Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User > I have a bootable XP system on each of two drives (c: and e:). > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Is there an easier way to alternate between these two drives? Thank you Peter and Patti. I looked at my BIOS and I don't think it has the capability needed. Next I'm going to look at Patti's BOOT.INI suggestion. I'm avoiding the reinstall suggestion, because I am hoping this situation is temporary. I am migrating to a new hard drive by doing a complete new install. My original Windows (home XP) system has problems and doing a repair did not work. Thanks again to all. Don > Hi Don, > [quoted text clipped - 51 lines] >> >> Is there an easier way to alternate between these two drives? Patti, I tried your Boot.ini suggestion and I got the following error when accessing the E disk: "could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware". It booted okay from the "C" disk. I changed the master/slave jumpers and was able to boot from the "E" disk (now "C" of course). Any ideas? BTW, your instructions were amazingly clear. Don > Hi Don, > [quoted text clipped - 51 lines] >> >> Is there an easier way to alternate between these two drives? I'm glad that my instructions were clear for you :-) Well, editing the boot.ini file was a shot in the dark but I thought, for the few minutes it takes to do, it might be worth it to give it a try. You may have to do a repair installation yet, but you could give running the bootcfg command from the Recovery Console a go, just to see, if you want........ In case you're not familiar with Recovery Console, here is the MSKB article that describes it, including how to boot into it: Description of the Windows XP Recovery Console http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058/en-us Here is a description of bootcfg: A discussion about the Bootcfg command and its uses http://support.microsoft.com/kb/291980/en-us I would run the bootcfg /scan command first, to see if it picks up on both Windows installations or not. If it does and lists them as both being on drive C, I would not continue any further and would highly consider the repair install option. If it lists them with different drive letters, then you could run the bootcfg /rebuild command. In the bootcfg /rebuild instructions, it says: Enter Load Identifier: (Custom description for an operating system loading from the Boot menu) What is being referred to is the name for the operating system that is in quotation marks (I mistakenly said "in italics" in my first post), for example from my first post: "XP Home C" and "XP Home E" When using the Bootcfg command, I would name them a little differently (eg., XP Home 1 and XP Home 2), just in case the C and E entries remain, that way you can distinguish between your manual edit and the bootcfg one. it also states: Enter Operating System Load Options: (that is: /fastdetect) Here you could use: /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn Regards, SignaturePatti MacLeod Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User > Patti, > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Don Patti, Thank you, I'll give it a try. Don > I'm glad that my instructions were clear for you :-) > [quoted text clipped - 59 lines] >> >> Don Keep us posted as to how you are faring with this! Regards, SignaturePatti MacLeod Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User > Patti, > > Thank you, I'll give it a try. > > Don Patti, Again, your instructions were crystal clear. However, when trying to boot from the slave disk I get the same error as I got with your manual edit suggestion. That error is:"could not read from the selected boot disk. Check boot path and disk hardware". The Recovery Console identifies the two disk as "C" and "D" (slave disk as "D"), but when XP boots from the Primary disk ("C") it identifies the slave disk as "E". The error message says "check the boot path" and I wonder if the two different identifiers (D and E) for the slave disk might be the problem? Don P.S. I decided to try the Recovery Console again and now it shows both windows systems on the "C" drive like you warned me about. Should I try and install the Recovery Console on my hard drive and try and apply updates? I found the following Microsoft article that seems to explain the process (although it is confusing). > Keep us posted as to how you are faring with this! > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >> >> Don I think the problem has a lot to do with both XPs being installed on C drive (even though whichever is hooked up as Slave is recognized as E drive in XP on the current Master drive). Since you stated in an earlier post that this is a temporary situation, you may want to look into a third-party boot manager, such as: GAG, the Graphical Boot Manager (freeware) http://sourceforge.net/projects/gag/ http://users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzone/p12.htm XOSL2 (freeware) https://sourceforge.net/projects/xosl2/ OSL2000 (shareware) http://www.osloader.com/ Acronis Disk Director Suite 10.0 OS Selector http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/diskdirector/multibooting.html Acronis Disk Director Suite 10.0 trial version http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/download/diskdirector/ I have not used any of the above, so do not have any recommendations or install/usage tips. The only third-party boot manager that I have used is Boot Magic, which comes bundled with Partition Magic, and I used it years ago when it was still Powerquest (is now a Symantec/Norton product). Regards, SignaturePatti MacLeod Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User > Patti, > [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > found the following Microsoft article that seems to explain the process > (although it is confusing). Patti, Thanks, I'll check out GAG. Don >I think the problem has a lot to do with both XPs being installed on C >drive [quoted text clipped - 56 lines] >> found the following Microsoft article that seems to explain the process >> (although it is confusing). Patti, I figured I had better undo the multiple boot configuration before trying any new boot manager software. So I ran the Recovery Console and did a bootcfg /rebuild. When it asked to select the systems I only selected one (the "C" drive). When I rebooted to my surprise it presented the boot menu with three alternatives to boot from. The "C" drive was listed twice and the "D" drive once. I selected the 1st "C" drive and it booted okay. I then went back to the Recovery Console and did a bootcfg /list and it showed four drives ("C" listed 3 times). Any ideas on how I can go back to a normal single drive boot configuration? Don >I think the problem has a lot to do with both XPs being installed on C >drive [quoted text clipped - 56 lines] >> found the following Microsoft article that seems to explain the process >> (although it is confusing). That was a good idea on your part, to get rid of the previous multiboot configuration attempts before attempting to use the third-party boot manager :-) When presented with the boot options during normal startup, ensure that you can still boot into the first menu item in the boot menu listing (I am assuming that when you said "I selected the 1st "C" drive and it booted okay" that the 1st C drive was the first menu item). If so, then go back to my first posting to you, the one about editing the boot.ini file. The order that the menu items appear on the boot menu screen is the order in which they are listed under [operating systems] section in the boot.ini file, so it is important for you to take note of which menu item in the boot menu allows you to boot okay. In your case, the first menu item is probably something like this: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP Home C" /NoExecute=OptIn If I am correct in my assumptions above, then leave the above entry in the [operating systems] section and delete the others that are listed beneath it. Regards, SignaturePatti MacLeod Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User > Patti, > [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > Don Patti, Thanks. If I get a solution I'll post it. So far GAG, the first boot manager I tried, doesn't seem to detect my slave disk, neither does the recovery console. I can read and write to it, but apparently it's not detectible by GAG or RC when they are scanning for installed systems. Funny, when I first ran RC it seemed to find it okay. Incidentally, lately it's showing up in windows explorer as "F" (it was "E"). Just for the record when this drive was initially installed it was the C drive. When I got my new drive I just made this a slave and at that point it showed as "E". One more point, as a result of my bootcfg commands the boot.ini file had the following line item for my slave drive: scsi(0)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="old XP 160gb" /fastdetect/noexecute=optin Because it's an IDE drive, not a scuzi, and after reading some articles on Google I changed it to: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="old XP 160gb" /fastdetect/noexecute=optin No luck, still having the same error "cannot read from the selected boot disk. check boot path and disk hardware". Anyway, seems like this quest of mine to make a dual boot system is getting to be a real can of worms. No need to reply (of course any suggestions are appreciated). Again, if I ever get a solution I'll post it, but I hope nobody is holding their breath :>) > That was a good idea on your part, to get rid of the previous multiboot > configuration attempts before attempting to use the third-party boot [quoted text clipped - 46 lines] >> >> Don Don, try a Repair Install with both drives connected as Patti suggested. Check here at Michaels site for more info http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm >I have a bootable XP system on each of two drives (c: and e:). > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Is there an easier way to alternate between these two drives? Rich, Thanks, but I was hoping to avoid reinstalling all the MS updates necessitated by the repair install. I guess if I have no other choice, I can do so. Do you think I can use boot manager software without first undoing the Windows dual boot setup? My need for dual boot is temporary and when I no longer need it I can do the repair install then. Don > Don, try a Repair Install with both drives connected as Patti suggested. > Check here at Michaels site for more info [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] >> >> Is there an easier way to alternate between these two drives? Don, your Bios doesnt have as an option to select hdd0, hdd1, SCSI as boot device? >I have a bootable XP system on each of two drives (c: and e:). > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Is there an easier way to alternate between these two drives? Rich, No, my BIOS does not have the capability to define which drive to boot from. However when poking around the BIOS to answer your question, I realized that it did not recognize my 2nd (slave) hard drive. So I configured it to recognize the slave drive and my dual boot immediately started working. Holy cow! The slave drive worked perfectly (except for the boot problem) without the BIOS recognizing the drive. Live and learn. Thank you to all who gave me suggestions. I never would have had the perseverance to follow through without the help of all of you. Don > Don, your Bios doesnt have as an option to select hdd0, hdd1, SCSI as > boot device? [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >> >> Is there an easier way to alternate between these two drives? YAY!! I guess since Recovery Console was not having a problem recognizing that there were two drives it never occurred to me that the BIOS was not recognizing both of them. You've just made me think of a time, a few months ago, when I was fixing a coworker's PC (wanted it reformatted, etc., but they did not know how to perform those operations).....after getting XP reinstalled and updated and installing a few other software packages that they wanted installed, I ran CHKDSK/Defrag before returning the PC to them. CHKDSK was reporting bad sectors, so I d/loaded and attempted to run the hard drive diagnostic from WD, but it did not detect that there were any hard drives installed. Going into BIOS setup, the hard drive was not detected, and when I'd change the setting to Autodetect it would immediately return back to unknown device (or however it was worded) and yet Windows had no problem loading, I just could not get the WD diagnostic to run. Just out of curiosity, how is the dual boot being performed, via the boot.ini file or via one of the third-party boot managers? btw, you're welcome for all the help :-) Though I'm sure it was very frustrating for you at times, I hope you look back on it as a good learning experience. Regards, -- Patti MacLeod Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User > Rich, > [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Don Patti, I am using the Boot.ini file not the third party boot software. So far it's working great. BTW, I went back and re-ran the Recovery Console Bootcfg /scan command and it still did not detect the slave drive. Then I repeated the same test with the GAG 3rd party boot software and it also still does not recognize the slave disk. Kinda surprising I figured for sure that the BIOS configured to recognize the slave would solve the recognition problem, but it did not. Incidentally, when I initially configured the slave drive in the BIOS the only choice was to change the associated slave drive entry from "off" to "autodetect". When I did that it still did not detect the slave drive it just said "unknown device". After scratching my head for a while I decided to quit the BIOS and then re-start the BIOS and then it did recognize the slave drive. So apparently with Dell machines (at least my model) you have to re-boot the BIOS to force it to autodetect a drive. Maybe your "autodetect" problem has a similar solution? Thanks, again for your help. Don > YAY!! I guess since Recovery Console was not having a problem recognizing > that there were two drives it never occurred to me that the BIOS was not [quoted text clipped - 42 lines] >> >> Don Great! Thanks for posting back and letting me know, as I was very curious about that. LOL!! Come to think of it, it *WAS* a Dell computer I was working on for my coworker....a Dimension....I don't recall the model number. After toying with the Autodetect-Unknown Device thingie for a while (yep, even after reboot it would still display as Unknown Device.....even after changing the hard drive and doing a disk copy), I figured it wasn't worth losing sleep over, as Windows was running fine and I had no problem installing any other software programs on it, either. Regards, SignaturePatti MacLeod Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User > Patti, > [quoted text clipped - 66 lines] > >> > >> Don |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2010 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.