Dual boot-active OS always on C drive?

[Guest]

We have 2 machines, boty with XP and Vista dual boot.
On the one machine the OS I boot into always shows itself as being on C:\
and the other OS on D:\. In other words: When I boot into XP then XP is on C
drive and when I boot into Vista then Vista is on C drive.
On the second machine XP is ALWAYS on C:\ and Vista always on D:\
I like the idea of my OS always being on C:\ drive as that's what I'm used
to.
Is there a way to make the second machnine re-assign the drive letters
depending on which one I boot into without re-installing Vista??

 

[David Morgan \(MAMS\)]

We have 2 machines, boty with XP and Vista dual boot.
On the one machine the OS I boot into always shows itself as being on C:\
and the other OS on D:\. In other words: When I boot into XP then XP is on C
drive and when I boot into Vista then Vista is on C drive.
On the second machine XP is ALWAYS on C:\ and Vista always on D:\
I like the idea of my OS always being on C:\ drive as that's what I'm used to.
Is there a way to make the second machnine re-assign the drive letters
depending on which one I boot into without re-installing Vista??

Removable drive bays... one drive for each OS.

 

[Paul Randall]

We have 2 machines, boty with XP and Vista dual boot.
On the one machine the OS I boot into always shows itself as being on C:\
and the other OS on D:\. In other words: When I boot into XP then XP is on
C
drive and when I boot into Vista then Vista is on C drive.
On the second machine XP is ALWAYS on C:\ and Vista always on D:\
I like the idea of my OS always being on C:\ drive as that's what I'm used
to.
Is there a way to make the second machnine re-assign the drive letters
depending on which one I boot into without re-installing Vista??

On the machine that boots into both Vista and XP as drive C:, what drive
letter is assigned to the partition holding the other OS? Do you recall
installing a third party boot manager on this system?

-Paul Randall

 

[Guest]

Can't do without reinstalling Vista.

 

[Guest]

The "other" OS is always on drive "D".

No third party boot manager installed.

:

 

[Paul Randall]

During boot-up, the BIOS typically determines how the partitions are
enumerated and how driver letters are assigned. A similar algorithm is used
for most BIOSs. If, during the boot-up process, you choose which drive to
boot into, then the active partition on that drive will be assigned the
letter C: (hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong). Older BIOSs did
not let you change the order in which hard drives would be checked for
active bootable partitions; it was often determined by where/how the drives
are connected to the motherboard (1st IDE connector vs. 2nd, master vs.
slave).

On this computer, how do you choose which OS it boots up into?

-Paul Randall

 

[AJR]

What you are describing was a problem with earlier versions of Vista -
although "upsetting" it does not change performance of any programs
installed.

 

[David Morgan \(MAMS\)]

Can't do without reinstalling Vista.

Then I assume you're already past your 30 days or activated early.
You could activate a second time by telephone, or use the current
install of VISTA as C: on one of the future drives from a swappable
bay, and reload XP on the fresh drive. Just a thought........

 

[Jawade]

The "other" OS is always on drive "D".

No third party boot manager installed.

Hide the first partition, and reinstall Vista with a clean install.
It will be C:

 

[markm75]

Hide the first partition, and reinstall Vista with a clean install.
It will be C:

--

How does one "hide" the partition?

I too am trying a similar thing.. i want to put the images of both x64 and
x86 Vista on the same physical harddrive and have each one when it boots, be
a "C" drive letter..

Surely there is someway to do this?

Only in my case, i've already installed both OS's and have the acronis
images for both...

Thanks

 

[TDM]

How does one "hide" the partition?

I too am trying a similar thing.. i want to put the images of both x64 and
x86 Vista on the same physical harddrive and have each one when it boots,
be
a "C" drive letter..

Surely there is someway to do this?

Only in my case, i've already installed both OS's and have the acronis
images for both...

Thanks

If you have the resources, why not just use Virtual PC ? No need to
reboot to get to the other OS, you can have them both running at the
same time.

Just a thought.


TDM

 

[markm75]

If you have the resources, why not just use Virtual PC ? No need to
reboot to get to the other OS, you can have them both running at the
same time.

Just a thought.


TDM

In my case its because i prefer x64 version (it performs better for some
reason).. but i'm doing spdif dolby digital through software DVD players and
the spdif DD doesnt work on x64.. so i now rely on x86.. I'd have to do x64
in a VMware Workstation instance, which doesnt help for doing audio and other
hardware things..

The other area is for development and testing of Visual Studio apps.. this
could be done in Virtual PC (x86 only though)...

Vmware is faster, but i've standardized on Virtual PC / Server recently...