Dual Windows XP installations

[Bob Liss]

I like to have two copies of Windows XP so I can use one
for software testing. I have two hard drives in my
computer and to accomplish this I cloned the contents of
one drive to the other and then established a dual boot
system allowing me to boot from either drive. The idea
was to use the second drive to try out new software while
keeping the first drive unaffected.

This setup mostly works, however, it isn't perfect since
the first drive is always identified as drive C while the
second drive is always identified as drive D. This occurs
regardless of which drive I boot from. The computer will
boot Windows XP from drive D but software installations
invariably deposit things to drive C although I can
specify the installation should go to drive D.

I disconnected the original drive and attempted to boot
from the second drive only so the first drive would not
be affected at all but was unable to boot from the second
drive apparently due to product activation limitations.
When booting from the cloned drive I got this error:

a problem is preventing windows from accurately checking
the license for this computer-error code 0x80090006.

Does anyone know if this is a limitation of product
activation. Is the activation key somehow tied in to the
first hard drive and won't work on the second hard drive?
The second hard drive was cloned a while ago and many
changes have taken place since so the two drives now have
quite a few differences. Would recloning the first drive
to the second drive allow me to boot solely from the
second drive? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Bob

 

[I'm Dan]

I like to have two copies of Windows XP so I can use one
for software testing. I have two hard drives in my
computer and to accomplish this I cloned the contents of
one drive to the other and then established a dual boot
system allowing me to boot from either drive. The idea
was to use the second drive to try out new software while
keeping the first drive unaffected.

This setup mostly works, however, it isn't perfect since
the first drive is always identified as drive C while the
second drive is always identified as drive D. This occurs
regardless of which drive I boot from. The computer will
boot Windows XP from drive D but software installations
invariably deposit things to drive C although I can
specify the installation should go to drive D.

I disconnected the original drive and attempted to boot
from the second drive only so the first drive would not
be affected at all but was unable to boot from the second
drive apparently due to product activation limitations.
When booting from the cloned drive I got this error:

a problem is preventing windows from accurately checking
the license for this computer-error code 0x80090006.

Does anyone know if this is a limitation of product
activation. Is the activation key somehow tied in to the
first hard drive and won't work on the second hard drive?
The second hard drive was cloned a while ago and many
changes have taken place since so the two drives now have
quite a few differences. Would recloning the first drive
to the second drive allow me to boot solely from the
second drive? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

It doesn't sound like your dualboot was properly set up. Are you sure you
can really boot from the second HD? When you boot each XP, look in Computer
Management and see which drives are being designated the "System" and "Boot"
drives.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

You can install one (1) copy of Windows XP on one (1) computer.
A second installation requires a second license (Product Key).

Go to Start > Run and type: WINVER , and hit enter.
Then click on "End-User License Agreement" for clarification.

You can also open XP's "Help and Support" and type: EULA
and hit enter. Click on "Questions and answers about the EULA".

Additional Licenses for Windows XP Home Edition
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/howtobuy/addlic.asp

Additional Licenses for Windows XP Professional
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/addlic.asp

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

----------------------------------------------------------------------


| I like to have two copies of Windows XP so I can use one
| for software testing. I have two hard drives in my
| computer and to accomplish this I cloned the contents of
| one drive to the other and then established a dual boot
| system allowing me to boot from either drive. The idea
| was to use the second drive to try out new software while
| keeping the first drive unaffected.
|
| This setup mostly works, however, it isn't perfect since
| the first drive is always identified as drive C while the
| second drive is always identified as drive D. This occurs
| regardless of which drive I boot from. The computer will
| boot Windows XP from drive D but software installations
| invariably deposit things to drive C although I can
| specify the installation should go to drive D.
|
| I disconnected the original drive and attempted to boot
| from the second drive only so the first drive would not
| be affected at all but was unable to boot from the second
| drive apparently due to product activation limitations.
| When booting from the cloned drive I got this error:
|
| a problem is preventing windows from accurately checking
| the license for this computer-error code 0x80090006.
|
| Does anyone know if this is a limitation of product
| activation. Is the activation key somehow tied in to the
| first hard drive and won't work on the second hard drive?
| The second hard drive was cloned a while ago and many
| changes have taken place since so the two drives now have
| quite a few differences. Would recloning the first drive
| to the second drive allow me to boot solely from the
| second drive? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
|
| Bob

 

[Guest]

-----Original Message-----



It doesn't sound like your dualboot was properly set up. Are you sure you
can really boot from the second HD? When you boot each XP, look in Computer
Management and see which drives are being designated the "System" and "Boot"
drives.



.
The dual boot system works properly as far as I know.

It's definitely booting from the second drive when
requested. Computer management specifies the orginal
drive as drive C and as the system drive and the second
drive as drive D and as an active drive when the boot is
requested from the original drive. Computer management
specifies the orginal drive as drive C and as the system
drive and the second drive as drive D and as the boot
drive when the boot is requested from the second drive (I
believe this should confirm that I'm booting Windows from
the second drive but the original drive is still the
system drive whatever that means). Any other ideas on how
I might actually boot solely from the second drive? That
would make the second drive both the system and boot
drives since it would be the lonly one connected.

Bob

 

[Guest]

Carey,

I only have one computer, it just happens to have two
hard drives (one for actual use and one for testing
purposes). I've looked at the EULA and don't see anything
that prohibits this since I'm only using my copy of
Windows on one computer (i.e. one processor). Please
point out what section of the EULA is pertinent if this
behavior is prohibited. If not, please suggest something
that might help with my original question.

Bob

 

[I'm Dan]

The dual boot system works properly as far as I
know. It's definitely booting from the second drive
when requested. Computer management specifies
the orginal drive as drive C and as the system drive
and the second drive as drive D and as an active
drive when the boot is requested from the original
drive. Computer management specifies the orginal
drive as drive C and as the system drive and the
second drive as drive D and as the boot drive
when the boot is requested from the second drive
(I believe this should confirm that I'm booting
Windows from the second drive but the original
drive is still the system drive whatever that means).
Any other ideas on how I might actually boot
solely from the second drive? That would make
the second drive both the system and boot drives
since it would be the lonly one connected.

No, that's not working properly. It's not WPA that's stopping you from
removing the first HD, it's the fact that the two installations are
scrambled and XP#2 is booting through XP#1. It also sounds like you've been
using the Microsoft boot loader instead of a third-party boot manager, so
it's no wonder your two partitions are tripping over each other.

Multiboot methods fall into two general categories: the Microsoft way and
everyone else's way. The two methods use incompatible concepts and cannot
simply be substituted for one another. The MS way intertwines the OS's and
uses boot.ini to define the available OS's in the boot menu. The
third-party way does not intertwine OS's and uses a separate boot manager,
not the boot.ini file. You can't mix the methods by installing your OS's
without intertwining (as you've done) and trying to control the multiboot
through boot.ini, or vice-versa, installing the Microsoft way and then
trying to use a third-party boot manager.

In a nutshell, the Microsoft way intertwines the OS's by always booting
through the same partition and then forking to one or another operating
system on different drive letters - C: and D:, in your case. Third-party
boot managers keep OS's totally independent and truly boot separate
partitions as alternate "C:" partitions. The Microsoft boot loader cannot
hide partitions from each other. Third-party boot managers can keep OS's
hidden from each other, so when you boot XP #1 it will be designated C: and
the #2 partition will be hidden, and when you boot XP #2 it will be C: and
the #1 partition is hidden. OS's that are hidden from each other reduce the
risk of one messing up the other. OS's that are independent installations
are much easier to upgrade or eliminate later.

I hope you can appreciate that all those registry and ini-file references in
XP#2, cloned from C: and now on D:, are pointing to the wrong place. It's
good that you're willing to wipe out XP#2 and reclone, because that's your
best bet of getting it setup like you want. Go ahead and reclone HD1 to
HD2. But after you make the clone, there's more to it to get it to work
properly. It's vital that XP#2 see itself as C:, just like XP#1 does
(remember? it's a *clone*). Completely remove HD1 and move HD2 to master.
Get a Win98 boot floppy (download one from www.bootdisk.com if you need to).
Boot from the floppy. At the A: prompt, issue the command "fdisk /mbr".
Remove the floppy. Boot from the HD. XP should now boot up as drive C: and
everything should work just like the original HD did. At that point, you'll
have two completely independent installations. The next step is to figure
out how to put both in the computer at the same time. Remember, you cannot
use boot.ini to control the dualboot because you have independent
installations.

Does your computer's bios allow you to designate whether to boot from the
first or second HD? If so, you should be able to install both HDs and
select in the bios which one to boot from. If not (or if you don't want to
have to go into the bios each time), then you'll need a third-party boot
manager. They have the added advantage that they can optionally hide the
non-booted partition from the booted one. There are many good boot managers
around, including XOSL (freeware, www.ranish.com/part/xosl.htm), GAG
(freeware, http://sourceforge.net/projects/gag), BootIt NG (shareware,
www.bootitng.com), BootMagic (bundled with PartitionMagic), System Commander
(retail, www.v-com.com), and others. Exactly how to set them up varies, so
you'll need to read their docs.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

1. GRANT OF LICENSE. Microsoft grants you the following
rights provided that you comply with all terms and
conditions of this EULA:
1.1 Installation and use. You may install, use, access,
display and run one copy of the Software on a single computer......

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

--------------------------------------------------------------------------


| Carey,
|
| I only have one computer, it just happens to have two
| hard drives (one for actual use and one for testing
| purposes). I've looked at the EULA and don't see anything
| that prohibits this since I'm only using my copy of
| Windows on one computer (i.e. one processor). Please
| point out what section of the EULA is pertinent if this
| behavior is prohibited. If not, please suggest something
| that might help with my original question.
|
| Bob

 

[I'm Dan]

...(snipped)...
I looked in my BIOS but don't see anything for
specifying which hard drive to boot from. I can
specify a boot sequence consisting of three choices:
floppy drive, hard drive (it says C: only) and CD-ROM
drive but I don't see anything that would allow me to
specify which of the two hard drives to boot from.
Could I be missing something here?

It sounds like you're looking in the right place, so I guess your bios
doesn't provide that option.