Boot boundary help - Question 1

[Woody]

Page 38 of the Partition Magic 8 manual says
*NT/2000/XP must boot from a primary partition on the first drive. However,
only a few files must reside on that partition: the remaining files can
reside on a logical partition, which can be located on the first or a
subsequent drive. The Window NT/2000/ XP boot partition can be shared with
another operating system.

Can someone explain what this means and how it would help me in installing 2
instances of XP Pro. (One instance of XP is for general use, the other is
for video editting only).

Thanks
Woody

 

[CS]

Page 38 of the Partition Magic 8 manual says
*NT/2000/XP must boot from a primary partition on the first drive. However,
only a few files must reside on that partition: the remaining files can
reside on a logical partition, which can be located on the first or a
subsequent drive. The Window NT/2000/ XP boot partition can be shared with
another operating system.

Can someone explain what this means and how it would help me in installing 2
instances of XP Pro. (One instance of XP is for general use, the other is
for video editting only).

Thanks
Woody

To install two instances of XP Pro you will probably need a boot
manager that has the ability to "hide" partitions during the boot
process. Look at BootIt Next Generation from
www.terabyteunlimited.com. Shareware, fully functional, fits on a
floppy disk. $35 US. You can read up on it at the web site. Open
and read the PDF instruction/user manual file.

By the way, the Microsoft cops will tell you that installing two
copies of XP Pro on the same machine requires two licenses, in other
words, twice the cost. Use your own judgment as to whether or not
you wish to pay them for another license. I know what I would do.....

 

[Woody]

To install two instances of XP Pro you will probably need a boot
manager that has the ability to "hide" partitions during the boot
process. Look at BootIt Next Generation from
www.terabyteunlimited.com. Shareware, fully functional, fits on a
floppy disk. $35 US. You can read up on it at the web site. Open
and read the PDF instruction/user manual file.

By the way, the Microsoft cops will tell you that installing two
copies of XP Pro on the same machine requires two licenses, in other
words, twice the cost. Use your own judgment as to whether or not
you wish to pay them for another license. I know what I would do.....

****************************

CS Replied:
"To install two instances of XP Pro you will probably need a boot
manager that has the ability to "hide" partitions during the boot
process. Look at BootIt Next Generation from
www.terabyteunlimited.com. Shareware, fully functional, fits on a
floppy disk. $35 US. You can read up on it at the web site. Open
and read the PDF instruction/user manual file."

Thanks for replying CS, Yes I understand about hiding one of the
partitions, I have PartitionMagic 8 installed on the first O/S, what I need
to know is how to impliment the this quote from the Partition Magic manual
.......

So..... What files MUST BE in the Primary Partition and What is the
procedure for setting Up Two (2) instances of XP-Pro on the SAME Computer
using this method?
(By the way, I called Microsoft Support to VERIFY that Dual Booting a
single copy of XP-Pro on the same machine was not breaking any rules, and
She gave the OK. I did leave my Case File Open until I get everything up &
running. It won't do any good to run an illegal boot of XP, I wouldn't be
able to Activate it. So if anyone knows for a fact that two instances of a
single copy of XP on the same machine is NOT allowed, please reply.

I also posted a second question about the Boot Boundary I like to
understand "Boot Boundary Help Question 2"

Thanks for helping...













By the way, the Microsoft cops will tell you that installing two
copies of XP Pro on the same machine requires two licenses, in other
words, twice the cost. Use your own judgment as to whether or not
you wish to pay them for another license. I know what I would do.....

 

[David Candy]

All XPs/2000s/NT4s will boot with c:\ntldr c:\ntdetect and C:\boot.ini You have to use a version of the above files that is the latest of those installed (XP can boot NT4 and 2000 and 2000 can boot NT4 but not XP). XP's files also speed up the boot of NT4 and 2000.

The point is every installed OS used the boot files on C and it will be the latest version that you've installed.

 

[David Candy]

MS will never give permission for breaching their copyright. However on somethings they turn a blind eye. Anyway you are allowed to make backup copies. Call it a backup copy.

 

[CS]

MS will never give permission for breaching their copyright. However on somethings they turn a blind eye. Anyway you are allowed to make backup copies. Call it a backup copy.

Good point. I know that on several occasions Mike Brannigan has
specifically stated that two licenses would be required. I like your
definition better.

 

[Woody]

somethings they turn a blind eye. Anyway you are allowed to make backup
copies. Call it a backup copy.

Good point. I know that on several occasions Mike Brannigan has
specifically stated that two licenses would be required. I like your
definition better.

Hmmmmm...I should probably just quietly fade away....and not question
those helping me understand an O/S completly foreign to me...but...... In
the intrest of getting all the facts on the table, I should letl you all
know my findings, and you can take it or leave it, but it may help someone.
I need an operating system that will allow unlimited file size for Video
Editing, XP-Pro looked good to me, NTFS partitions for big files. Started
looking at the Activation process, and wondered how a Dual-Boot to a second
copy of XP-Pro (just a bare bones stripped down version for Video Editing
only) would be installed.
Figured I'd better find out if this was allowed, not so much because it
might be a Copyright Infringement, but because of the Activation Process, it
might not be possible to Activate Identical copies on the same machine.
Hell..in the past a second instance was always allowed me, weather it was an
O/S or another instance of a Program, as long as it was all installed on the
SAME Machine. The Dual-Boot would hide all but the Version selected on the
boot. So I call Microsoft Support, tell them what I want to do, it gets
esclated to the second level, and that Tech has a Pow-Wow with their group
and permission is given. The Tech wasn't sure it would work correctly, and
left the Case Open.
This is when I started posting here, and the word was....that Microsoft
would NOT Approve Or Support two installs of a single copy in a dual-boot
configuration on a single machine. So I think maybe the tech was wrong, and
called the Support group back. Once again I explain my case and that the
opinion on the forum was that this was not allowed. This tech also gave me
permission to Install a Dual-Boot as stated above. I also asked how the
Activation process would handle this installation, and the reply was that
the KEY supplied with the Win XP-Pro CD would be used to install BOTH
instances of XP-Pro, BUT that each Install would require it's own
Activation, so each install would have it;s own individual I.D. Code.
So there in lies my tale...alll events did indeed take place, and I'm
not stating any untrue facts.
But PLEASE...do not use my case as an arguement with ANYONE including
Microsoft to fight your battles. It worked in my favor to ask for permission
TWICE, but I haven't finished setting up my system, and Microsoft could
always call me back and say...we made a mistake on your case
.......so......REMOVE THE ILLEGAL COPY POST HASTE!
Anyway, hopefully all is well and maybe someone can glean something
out of this, and I didnt just JINX myself by posting this, and my Corsair
memory isn't a puddle in the bottom of the case, and I don't go blind,
and............and.....

Thanks again to all who replied to my posts, I got a lot of good
information out it all, and some great links.

Time Flies Like An
Arrow.......
Fruit Flies Like A
Banana........

 

[CS]

Hmmmmm...I should probably just quietly fade away....and not question
those helping me understand an O/S completly foreign to me...but...... In
the intrest of getting all the facts on the table, I should letl you all
know my findings, and you can take it or leave it, but it may help someone.
I need an operating system that will allow unlimited file size for Video
Editing, XP-Pro looked good to me, NTFS partitions for big files. Started
looking at the Activation process, and wondered how a Dual-Boot to a second
copy of XP-Pro (just a bare bones stripped down version for Video Editing
only) would be installed.
Figured I'd better find out if this was allowed, not so much because it
might be a Copyright Infringement, but because of the Activation Process, it
might not be possible to Activate Identical copies on the same machine.
Hell..in the past a second instance was always allowed me, weather it was an
O/S or another instance of a Program, as long as it was all installed on the
SAME Machine. The Dual-Boot would hide all but the Version selected on the
boot. So I call Microsoft Support, tell them what I want to do, it gets
esclated to the second level, and that Tech has a Pow-Wow with their group
and permission is given. The Tech wasn't sure it would work correctly, and
left the Case Open.
This is when I started posting here, and the word was....that Microsoft
would NOT Approve Or Support two installs of a single copy in a dual-boot
configuration on a single machine. So I think maybe the tech was wrong, and
called the Support group back. Once again I explain my case and that the
opinion on the forum was that this was not allowed. This tech also gave me
permission to Install a Dual-Boot as stated above. I also asked how the
Activation process would handle this installation, and the reply was that
the KEY supplied with the Win XP-Pro CD would be used to install BOTH
instances of XP-Pro, BUT that each Install would require it's own
Activation, so each install would have it;s own individual I.D. Code.
So there in lies my tale...alll events did indeed take place, and I'm
not stating any untrue facts.
But PLEASE...do not use my case as an arguement with ANYONE including
Microsoft to fight your battles. It worked in my favor to ask for permission
TWICE, but I haven't finished setting up my system, and Microsoft could
always call me back and say...we made a mistake on your case
......so......REMOVE THE ILLEGAL COPY POST HASTE!
Anyway, hopefully all is well and maybe someone can glean something
out of this, and I didnt just JINX myself by posting this, and my Corsair
memory isn't a puddle in the bottom of the case, and I don't go blind,
and............and.....

Thanks again to all who replied to my posts, I got a lot of good
information out it all, and some great links.

Thanks for getting back to the group with the information.

 

[David Candy]

Installing two copies for system recovery purposes is something they say to do. There are directions in the KB.

Pro has downgrade rights. If you buy pro you can use any previous version instead of pro. But you have to borrow the CD from someone to excerise these rights as MS won't help. But the person who lends it to you is (though really not as the is implicit permission but they don't know that) breaching their agreement, or so it appears.