Guide for dummies Vista & XP 2 drives ?

[bj33813]

ok BJ

lets try this one ...
set the default to the Vista Drive as first boot drive

BIOS has SATA0 as default (Vista hdd), SATA1 is 2nd boot (XP), and dvd/cd is 3rd boot (SATA5)

set boot .ini to ...

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

see if that does it

No cigar yet

By the way EasyBCD does work on XP so it may be possible to use that to fix the bootloader if you can get XP to run by using BIOS or physical cable switching

By moving the SATA0 cable from Vista to XP hdd, XP will boot up, but with Vista hdd then connected to SATA1, Vista will not boot, and there is no longer a boot select screen after the BIOS screen at start-up, but if you can tell me HOW to use EasyBCD to work on XP, I'll give a try

Just for your info the full details of what you are trying to do is here ...

Windows XP - NeoSmart Technologies Wiki

what you have is so close to being right that hopefully this will be the variation we need

Not yet but getting warmer maybe...Bob

 

[stormy13]

By moving the SATA0 cable from Vista to XP hdd, XP will boot up, but with Vista hdd then connected to SATA1, Vista will not boot

And vice versa. That says to me that is the problem right there, you installed both XP and Vista on their respective hard drives but used the same SATA controller/port for each, hence why neither will boot when connected to a different port. Been there, done that when doing a case switch, and inadvertantly reconnected my Vista drive to the wrong SATA connector (think my heart stopped when I got the ever popular "OS/boot drive not found" error). After sweating for a bit realized what was wrong and a little trial and error switching the connection, it finally booted.

Might want to give serious consideration to starting all over again with XP, only this time leave it connected to SATA1 and Vista on SATA0, and just disconnect the power cable from the Vista drive when installing XP (that is if you want them both installed, but not "aware" of each other).

 

[bj33813]

By moving the SATA0 cable from Vista to XP hdd, XP will boot up, but with Vista hdd then connected to SATA1, Vista will not boot

And vice versa. That says to me that is the problem right there, you installed both XP and Vista on their respective hard drives but used the same SATA controller/port for each, hence why neither will boot when connected to a different port. Been there, done that when doing a case switch, and inadvertantly reconnected my Vista drive to the wrong SATA connector (think my heart stopped when I got the ever popular "OS/boot drive not found" error). After sweating for a bit realized what was wrong and a little trial and error switching the connection, it finally booted.

Thats exactly what I did, was told by my "expert" friend to pull the vista hd right out of pc during XP install, so I used the same SATA0 port for XP during install

Might want to give serious consideration to starting all over again with XP, only this time leave it connected to SATA1 and Vista on SATA0, and just disconnect the power cable from the Vista drive when installing XP (that is if you want them both installed, but not "aware" of each other).

BTW, I used EasyBCD in XP as suggested by Nigel, and it could not locate Vista even tho it was now set as 2nd drive in SATA1. After I pointed EasyBCD to it, it said no boot found ??, so I had it set the boot to the Vista drive, which is now called E drive while XP is the default as C drive in this configuration. On changing the hdds back , Vista as default on SATA0, and XP as SATA1, still can't boot XP at startup. I guess I would rather reload XP and proggies than have to do Vista all over again with all its proggies...give it a try and let you know how it turns out.
Thanks !

 

[Barman58]

Hi BJ, and thanks Stormy13,

that is what is causing the problem I Agree was trying to get round the problem by use of boot.INI

The way I see what is happening is that when vista boots on Drive 0 there is no problem and XP is on Drive 1, however when XP boots up on Disk 1 it still points in some way to Drive 0 and looks for it's boot files there.

I am now wondering if what's needed is to copy Boot.INI, (BOOT.INI pointing to Drive 1), and the C:\NTLDR to the Vista drive, and use EasyBCD to set both OS's to Boot from C:

It may be easier to do as Stormy13 says, and install XP again to the Second drive connected to the second SATA port, then reset the vista boot loader and use easyBCD to setup the dual boot again

 

[bj33813]

"The way I see what is happening is that when vista boots on Drive 0 there is no problem and XP is on Drive 1, however when XP boots up on Disk 1 it still points in some way to Drive 0 and looks for it's boot files there"


one correction there Nigel...XP does NOT boot up on Disk/drive 1, only on Disk0 (SATA0)

I'm going to try the reinstall of XP connected to SATA1, with the Vista hdd unplugged from SATA0...and will wait a bit to see if you concur with that. Thanks !

 

[Barman58]

Sorry I agree that a re-install of xp on Sata 1 would be the way to go. and inplace upgrade should be enough if you have programs on the drive you wish to keep - copy any personal data to the sata0 drive if posible or cd/dvd to be safe

 

[bj33813]

OK, new install of XP successful, got all updates, etc. Stll get error for hal.dll on trying to boot into XP at startup with Vista back online as default in SATA0 and XP in SATA1 where it was installed, with Vista unplugged...whats next ?

 

[bj33813]

I finally got it !

I stumbled across a pdf at easyBCD and read thru it (God I am SO stupid !)
and learned how to set the boot ini, and also that the boot ini, ntdetect and ntldr need to be in the root of the "active " drive or partition, (meaning the one that first boots the pc,) not just in the XP root.
Anyway, now that I know how, I also added the E recovery partition on the Vista drive too:
[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows Recovery" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

I don't know if the entry in red is needed or not, but it worked so I left it alone LOL.

I want to thank you all, espcially Nigel and Stormy13 for your help.

Hey, can I get another rep point ?

 

[Barman58]

Hi Bob,

glad to see it's finally working.

the thing about learning the hard way is that it sticks in the little grey cells better than any other method. Give yourself a gold star and enjoy your first dual boot :D

 

[bj33813]

Thank you kindly sir.
One caveat tho...I get 2 boot screens now..only if I select XP from the first, and it takes me to a second where I have to select XP again (choice of 3 given)...any thoughts on that ?
I am sure its the config of the boot ini....perhaps a redundancy ?