Dual Boot WinXp/Win2000

[Tony M]

Hi all,

Didn't get a response in "Customize" forum so I'll try here.

I hope I'm not being stupid but here goes. I have two seperate systems.
One a Dell machine running WinXP Home edition and the other a garage
special running Win2000 Pro. I am tearing down the garage special to
play with and I wanted to put the hard drive from this machine into the
Dell machine with the idea that I could dual-boot into either OS without
having to perform any new installs. Is this possible?? I have modified
the boot.ini file on the Dell machine as follows (this may be off a
little as I don't remember the location of the XP boot files and I'm
nowhere near the machines):

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\Windows
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\Windows="Microsoft Windows XP Home"
/fastdetect
multi(1)disk(1)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect

I am having trouble booting into Win2000 Pro with the above
configuration. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Tony M.

 

[Maurizio]

Hello, I work 2 weeks with multiple boot between Win2k and
WinXP and there are a lot of problem and I decide to
delete the Win2k partition. The problems are unknow SID,
double or triple recycled bin, system files sharing and to
finish CORRUPTED HIVES on both system. For my chance I had
backup both system on IBM TSM Server... Bye Maurizio

 

[Tony M]

What's WinXP doing on partition(2) anyway .. got something even older on
partition(1) (or is that a Dell recovery partition, in which case maybe
you don't have a real XP CD and can't reach the repair console?)

Thanks for the reply.

Yea I think that partition(1) is a Dell recovery partition as it seems
to be prevelant on their machines.

I'll try the repair console as that seems to be the right way to
approach this.

Thanks again!

TM

 

[Steve Robertson]

Hi Tony,
perform any new installs. Is this possible?? <<

In a word, no. For this to work both machines would have to call the
identical drivers, in essence to have identical hardware. Most likely it
will be an unbootable mess.

Steve

 

[Tony M]

In a word, no. For this to work both machines would have to call the
identical drivers, in essence to have identical hardware. Most likely it
will be an unbootable mess.

Steve,

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately your answer confirms what I
ultimately believed would be the case. I was just hoping some guru out
there might have some magic pixie dust I could apply and everything
would be right with the 2 worlds.

Thanks again!
TM

 

[GSV Three Minds in a Can]

Hi Tony,

perform any new installs. Is this possible?? <<

In a word, no. For this to work both machines would have to call the
identical drivers, in essence to have identical hardware. Most likely it
will be an unbootable mess.

Well, Win2k (which is on the disk that moved) may well need 'repair
installing', although there is a faint chance it will sort out the
necessary drivers it needs (assuming the disk drivers at least work on
the new machine). Based on comments in various NGs, it seems to work
about 10% of the time (which may just be the number of motherboard swaps
which happen to have nearly compatible disk controllers). Shouldn't need
any more than that.

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

Tony,

Steve is incorrect, as the drivers for XP and Win2K are different anyway.
See my web site, www.dougknox.com and go to Win XP Tips

For Win9x/Me: Install 98/Me after XP is Installed.
For Windows 2000: Install Windows 2000 after XP is installed.

Assuming XP is the OS on the newer machine, you can put the Win2K disk in
and run a repair install of Win2K. Just use the process above to recover
the XP boot loader files, and you'll be all set. You may have to reinstall
any applications on the Win2K partition, but outside of that, its pretty
painless.

 

[Steve Robertson]

Hi Tony,

I'll defer to Doug on this one. He knows 10 times as much as I do...

Best,
Steve

 

[David Candy]

boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\Windows
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\Windows="Microsoft Windows XP Home"
/fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect

So this boot XP of the second partition on the first disk and 2000 on the 1st partition of the second disk. I changed disk(1) (and multi) back to Disk(0). It's rdisk that changes to represent the drive on most systems.

 

[Tony M]

Dave, Steve, and Doug,

Thanks guys for the help. I think with this information I can accomplish
what I want to do. Will take all of your suggestions and lock myself in
a room with the XP machine and have at it tonight.

Thanks again guys!!

TM