Dual Boot 2000/XP problem

[H. Debs]

Short Background:
I had first Win2K (in E:\WINNT), then later installed WinXP Pro
(in F:\WINDOWS).
All partitions are FAT32, except F: (XP) which is NTFS.
Everything was working fine.

I recently installed a driver (from Creative Labs) under Win2K which
crashed Win2K and messed up my Win2K boot. I ran setup and repaired
Win2K.

But after the Win2K repair, WinXP was not booting any more.
I was getting the following message:

"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or
corrupt:
\WINNT\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM
You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows Setup using
the original setup CD-ROM.
Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair."

[Note that the directory mentioned is the one for Win2K !!]


So I used XP setup now to repair, but this time I thought it must
certainly be just a problem with the boot configuration, not the
actual files in the windows directories, so I got into the Recovery
Console and ran the FIXBOOT command. Then exited.

Sure enough, WinXP booted nicely.

But now Win2K doesn't boot any more and gives me the exact same
message as above, but with
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM
[Note that this is not the 2K folder, but that of WinXP]


The Boot.ini file seems ok:

[boot loader]
timeout=10
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT

[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /fastdetect
C:\bootsect.98D="MS-DOS 7.1" /Win95dos



I'm sure there's a simple answer to this circular problem. Can anybody
help?
Thanks.

 

[I'm Dan]

I checked NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM, and they're the same as the ones
installed by XP SP1 (byte by byte compare).
Besides, FIXBOOT does modify the boot sector (only?), but this did
solve my XP boot problem. So it did fix something. The problem is
that it broke the Win2K boot too.
Why is the boot mechanism confusing the 2 installation folders? It
would seem that the detection isn't functioning properly, but the 2
files are correct. Does the detection depend on other data? (files or
folders?)

Problems like this are not all that uncommon when you install your multiboot
using the Microsoft multiboot technique. That's why third-party boot
managers continue to be popular among the more cognizant multibooters.

When setting up a multiboot system, you have the choice of doing it
Microsoft's way or everyone else's way. The two methods are not equivalent.
The Microsoft way intertwines the OS partitions, while third-party boot
managers keep OS's totally independent and truly boot separate partitions.
With third-party managers, each OS can be fully installed within its own
standalone partition, and "fixing" one wouldn't have to touch the other
partitions. OS's can be kept hidden from each other, so when you boot XP it
will be designated C: and the 2000 partition will be hidden, and when you
boot 2000 it will be C: and the XP partition is
hidden. Since the OS's are hidden from each other, there is no chance of
one messing up the other. And since the OS's are independent, it is much
easier to upgrade or eliminate either one later. When you use the Microsoft
method, which intertwines the OS's, each OS is not standalone and you end up
with multiple partitions that need to work together properly or things fall
apart.

Unfortunately, once you choose the Microsoft multiboot method, you're pretty
much stuck with it (unless you start reinstalling OS's).

 

[H. Debs]

Dan,

Thanks for your input. I chose the built-in way to multiboot because I
don't want to 'hide' any drives, as they all contain data that I can
access from any booted OS.

So, do you have a solution to my problem?