A Dual-boot question; I thought C was always the partition with the running OS

[Timothy Daniels]

For someone who is only surmising, you sure do argue
a lot.

When you install each operating system (I don't really care
if it is Win2000 or winXP or whatever) on it's own primary
partition on it's own hard drive, connected as a single and
only drive in the computer, each system will be on
Drive/partition/volume C:

When you connect up the two drives, and boot the system
on the master drive, the system on the master hard drive
will be seen as Drive C:, the system on the slave drive will
be seen as D:.

When you boot up the O/S on the slave drive, the system
will be seen as drive D:, but will be accessing many files
that are on drive C: (the other operating system) BECAUSE
that is where the registry entries of the system on the slave
drive point to. Can you guess why?

You will have a totally f***ed up system, using half of one
drive and half of the second drive.

This is just the way it is. You can not change it after the fact!
You can not prevent it from happening without hiding the
system you are NOT booted into.

Now, please go and download some reading material,
the likes of which I already posted (which you take
exception to because you know better) and learn.

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

The situation you describe - that of a totally f***ed up
registry - sounds exactly like the situation one gets when
one starts up a clone for the 1st time with it "parent" system
visible to it. I think that is what you have done, in effect -
you started up the 2nd system before it had been booted
in isolation. Once each OS has been booted in isolation
for its first startup, it does not do what you describe. After
the 1st bootup in isolation, the OS can be shut down, the
other hard drive can be reconnected, and the new OS can
then be booted with the 1st system visible to it, there will
be mixing of the two OSes in either's registry, and the
running OS will call its own partition "C:" and the other OS's
partition "D:" or "E:" or... etc. Try it.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Timothy Daniels]

"Pegasus (MVP)"wrote:

You don't need a copy of Windows 2003 server - just
install a second copy of WinXP, following your own recipe,
and see what happens.

Does a clone qualify as a 2nd OS? If so, I have sone
this experiment dozens of times, and the running OS
always calls its own partition "C:" and the other partitions
whatever it feels is appropriate. As a matter of fact, I
typically have six or more clones visible to the running OS
at any time, (resident on 3 running hard drives) and the
running OS always calls its partition "C:", and it names
the other partitions whatever it feels is right.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

How about you reporting your experimental procedure
and results as well so that we may test it? So far, you guys
have just SAID that you "tried it" with negative results. Well,
HOW did you try it, and WHAT results did you get?

*TimDaniels*

Here is what I did just for you:

1. Load Win2000 on Disk 1 (a blank disk) into the first partition.
2. Check its system drive letter. It is C:.
3. Load WinNT Server on Disk 2 (a blank disk) into the first partition.
4. Check its system drive letter. It is C:.
5. Make Disk 2 the primary slave disk.
6. Boot into Win2000 and check the drive letter. It is still C:.
7. Modify c:\boot.ini to include WinNT Server on Disk 2
8. Boot into WinNT Server and check the drive letter. It is now D:,
not C: as you so persistently claim.

Seeing that I have taken the time to perform this test,
I expect that you match my effort and spend the time to
prove your point, with a step-by-step report to this
newsgroup about your own test results.

 

[Timothy Daniels]

Here is what I did just for you:

1. Load Win2000 on Disk 1 (a blank disk) into the first partition.

By "load", do you mean "install"?

2. Check its system drive letter. It is C:.

By "check its system drive letter", do you mean
"start up the OS and see what letter it has assigned
to its own partition"?

3. Load WinNT Server on Disk 2 (a blank disk) into the first partition.

By "load WinNT Server", do you mean "install WinNT Server"?

4. Check its system drive letter. It is C:.

By "check its system drive letter", do you mean
"run the WinNT OS and see what letter it has assigned
to its own partition"?

Did you run WinNT for the 1st time with the Win2K
partition/drive invisible to WinNT?

5. Make Disk 2 the primary slave disk.
6. Boot into Win2000 and check the drive letter. It is still C:.
7. Modify c:\boot.ini to include WinNT Server on Disk 2
8. Boot into WinNT Server and check the drive letter.
It is now D:, not C: as you so persistently claim.

Seeing that I have taken the time to perform this test,
I expect that you match my effort and spend the time to
prove your point, with a step-by-step report to this
newsgroup about your own test results.

Does doing this with WinXP twice count?

*TimDaniels*

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

See below.

By "load", do you mean "install"?

*** Yes.

By "check its system drive letter", do you mean
"start up the OS and see what letter it has assigned
to its own partition"?

*** Yes

By "load WinNT Server", do you mean "install WinNT Server"?

*** Yes

By "check its system drive letter", do you mean
"run the WinNT OS and see what letter it has assigned
to its own partition"?

*** Yes

Did you run WinNT for the 1st time with the Win2K
partition/drive invisible to WinNT?

Only Disk 2 is connected at this stage.

Does doing this with WinXP twice count?

Please rephrase your question.

 

[Timothy Daniels]

"Pegasus (MVP)" asked:

Please rephrase your question.

I do not have installation CDs for multiple OSes.
The only installation CD that I have is for WinXP Pro.
I intend to do the experiment by installing WinXP Pro
on another hard drive, resulting in two installations
of a single OS rather than two installations, each of
a different OS.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Timothy Daniels]

Here is what you [Richard Urban] wrote (above):
"You can not have two window installs on two
different drives (both active and visible) and
have them both seen as drive C: when you
boot up either one."

Here is what I have been saying:
"You can have two window installs on two
different drives that were isolated from each
other during the installation processes and
have each of them, when run with the other OS's
partition visible, refer to its own partition as "C:"
and refer to the partition of the non-running OS
as some other name/letter." Obviously, both
hard drives are NOT to be "active and visible"
during the installation of an OS on each of them.

[............]

I suspect that you are not disconnecting the 1st hard
drive when installing the OS on the 2nd hard drive.

You don't need a copy of Windows 2003 server - just
install a second copy of WinXP, following your own recipe,
and see what happens.

OK, I installed a 2nd (and even 3rd) WinXP Pro
operating system on 2nd and 3rd partitions in the
system, and since they were installed on the only
partition that was visible during installation, each
OS was installed on what the installer called the
"C: partition". Then, when all partitions were made
visible to each other again, each booted system
continued to assign its own partition the name
"Local Disk (C" and to assign some other letter
to the other partitions. The important thing is that
the installer not see any other partitions during
the Windows Set-Up operation.

There are several ways to accomplish this.

1) Using a running OS on HD0, delete any partitions
on HD1 and then create an un-named partition on
on HD1. Then disconnect HD0, and install an
OS in the un-named partition on HD1. After the
installation, when the OS on HD0 is running, you
can name the partition using Disk Management
just so you can access files in that partition when
using the OS on HD0.

2) With only HD1 connected, boot with the WinXP
installation CD and, in the Windows Set-Up mode,
remove any existing partitions on HD1 , then create
a new partition and install WinXP in it.

3) With only HD1 connected, boot with the WinXP
installation CD and after using the Recovery Console
with the "diskpart" utility to delete partitions and to
create a new partition, install WinXP in that new partition.

4) Using a running OS on HD0, use a 3rd party utility
(such as Partition Magic) to hide existing partitions
on HD1, then disconnect HD0 and use the
installation CD to create another partition on HD1,
then install WinXP in it. After the new WinXP has
been booted, re-connect HD0 and run the 3rd party
utility to unhide the pre-existing partitions.

With both HDs connected, each OS (the one on HD0
and the one on HD1) names its own partition "Local
Disk (C" when it runs, and it names the other partition(s)
some other name.

In one experiment, I installed WinXP on HD1 and then
ran it. Then I re-connected HD0 and used Partition
Magic to hide that OS's partition. Then I disconnected
HD0, and installed a 2nd WinXP on HD1 in a new
partition, and ran it. Then I re-connected HD0 and un-hid
the partition containing the 1st WinXP installation. Each
OS on HD1, when run now, assigns its own partition the
name "Local Disk (C".

BTW, I never had to jumper HD1 as "Master" during the
OS installation as it really doesn't matter how the HD is
jumpered when doing an OS installation. I just left it as
"Slave" at all times - both when it was the sole connected
HD and when there was a "Master" on the same IDE channel.

In view of these findings, all Al Dykes (the original poster)
has to do is to delete the Server 2003 on HD1, disconnect
HD0, and then re-install Server 2003 in the same partition
on HD1. Then, with HD0 re-connected, each OS - the
WinXP Pro on HD0 and the Server 2003 on HD1 - will
call its own partition "Local Disk (C" when it is running.

And you will see that that is just what I recommended
that he do in my posting in this thread at 12:40 PM on
1/23/2006.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Timothy Daniels]

Here is what you [Richard Urban] wrote (above):
"You can not have two window installs on two
different drives (both active and visible) and
have them both seen as drive C: when you
boot up either one."

Here is what I have been saying:
"You can have two window installs on two
different drives that were isolated from each
other during the installation processes and
have each of them, when run with the other OS's
partition visible, refer to its own partition as "C:"
and refer to the partition of the non-running OS
as some other name/letter." Obviously, both
hard drives are NOT to be "active and visible"
during the installation of an OS on each of them.

[............]

I suspect that you are not disconnecting the 1st hard
drive when installing the OS on the 2nd hard drive.

You don't need a copy of Windows 2003 server - just
install a second copy of WinXP, following your own recipe,
and see what happens.

OK, I installed a 2nd (and even 3rd) WinXP Pro
operating system on 2nd and 3rd partitions in the
system, and since they were installed on the only
partition that was visible during installation, each
OS was installed on what the installer called the
"C: partition". Then, when all partitions were made
visible to each other again, each booted system
continued to assign its own partition the name
"Local Disk (C" and to assign some other letter
to the other partitions. The important thing is that
the installer not see any other partitions during
the Windows Set-Up operation.

There are several ways to accomplish this.

1) Using a running OS on HD0, delete any partitions
on HD1 and then create an un-named partition on
on HD1. Then disconnect HD0, and install an
OS in the un-named partition on HD1. After the
installation, when the OS on HD0 is running, you
can name the partition using Disk Management
just so you can access files in that partition when
using the OS on HD0.

2) With only HD1 connected, boot with the WinXP
installation CD and, in the Windows Set-Up mode,
remove any existing partitions on HD1 , then create
a new partition and install WinXP in it.

3) With only HD1 connected, boot with the WinXP
installation CD and after using the Recovery Console
with the "diskpart" utility to delete partitions and to
create a new partition, install WinXP in that new partition.

4) Using a running OS on HD0, use a 3rd party utility
(such as Partition Magic) to hide existing partitions
on HD1, then disconnect HD0 and use the
installation CD to create another partition on HD1,
then install WinXP in it. After the new WinXP has
been booted, re-connect HD0 and run the 3rd party
utility to unhide the pre-existing partitions.

With both HDs connected, each OS (the one on HD0
and the one on HD1) names its own partition "Local
Disk (C" when it runs, and it names the other partition(s)
some other name.

In one experiment, I installed WinXP on HD1 and then
ran it. Then I re-connected HD0 and used Partition
Magic to hide that OS's partition. Then I disconnected
HD0, and installed a 2nd WinXP on HD1 in a new
partition, and ran it. Then I re-connected HD0 and un-hid
the partition containing the 1st WinXP installation. Each
OS on HD1, when run now, assigns its own partition the
name "Local Disk (C".

BTW, I never had to jumper HD1 as "Master" during the
OS installation as it really doesn't matter how the HD is
jumpered when doing an OS installation. I just left it as
"Slave" at all times - both when it was the sole connected
HD and when there was a "Master" on the same IDE channel.

In view of these findings, all Al Dykes (the original poster)
has to do is to delete the Server 2003 on HD1, disconnect
HD0, and then re-install Server 2003 in the same partition
on HD1. Then, with HD0 re-connected, each OS - the
WinXP Pro on HD0 and the Server 2003 on HD1 - will
call its own partition "Local Disk (C" when it is running.

And you will see that that is just what I recommended
that he do in my posting in this thread at 12:40 PM on
1/23/2006.

*TimDaniels*