Hidden Partitions are Assigned in BOOT.INI?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Larry(LJL269)
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Larry(LJL269)

How Partition Numbers are Assigned in BOOT.INI @
http://www.bootitng.com/kb/article.php?id=159 nor
anything else I've read mentions whether to count
hidden Partitions. I dual boot XP so I have to hide a
primary with PQboot or PM7 but I'm gonna try both
unhidden with 1 active.

PS- in my case, only 1 partition entry works fine & the
OS selections NEVER appear!

Your help is MUCH appreciated. Thanks- bye- Larry

Any advise is my attempt to contribute more than I have received but I can only assure you that it works on my PC. GOOD LUCK.
 
Sorry 4 2X post- RR had hiccups :) News server here is
iffy.

Larry

On Sun, 07 May 2006 09:04:40 GMT, "Larry(LJL269)"

|How Partition Numbers are Assigned in BOOT.INI @
| http://www.bootitng.com/kb/article.php?id=159 nor
|anything else I've read mentions whether to count
|hidden Partitions. I dual boot XP so I have to hide a
|primary with PQboot or PM7 but I'm gonna try both
|unhidden with 1 active.
|
|PS- in my case, only 1 partition entry works fine & the
|OS selections NEVER appear!
|
|Your help is MUCH appreciated. Thanks- bye- Larry
|
|Any advise is my attempt to contribute more than I have received but I can only assure you that it works on my PC. GOOD LUCK.

Any advise is my attempt to contribute more than I have received but I can only assure you that it works on my PC. GOOD LUCK.
 
Larry(LJL269) said:
How Partition Numbers are Assigned in BOOT.INI @
http://www.bootitng.com/kb/article.php?id=159 nor
anything else I've read mentions whether to count
hidden Partitions. I dual boot XP so I have to hide a
primary with PQboot or PM7 but I'm gonna try both
unhidden with 1 active.

PS- in my case, only 1 partition entry works fine & the
OS selections NEVER appear!

Your help is MUCH appreciated. Thanks- bye- Larry

Any advise is my attempt to contribute more than I have received but I can
Click to expand...
only assure you that it works on my PC. GOOD LUCK.

Boot.ini is not affected by you hiding or unhiding partitions -
the numbers remain the same. However, if you unhide the
wrong partition then you are likely to get incorrect drive
letters for your system partition, which is bad news.
 
Greetings & thank you for your response.

I have p1 p2 L which can have 3 assignments
1 C D
2 C D
3 C E D so data,etc in L always has right
letter.

Your help is MUCH appreciated. Thanks- bye- Larry



only assure you that it works on my PC. GOOD LUCK.

Boot.ini is not affected by you hiding or unhiding partitions -
the numbers remain the same. However, if you unhide the
wrong partition then you are likely to get incorrect drive
letters for your system partition, which is bad news.
Click to expand...


Any advise given is my attempt to show appreciation for all
the excellent help I've received here but I'm no MVP so it
may only apply NUGS (Normally, Usually, Generally, Sometimes :)
 
Sorry, I do not understand your shorthand post and
I do not know if, in fact, you are asking a question.
 
Just pointing out the different drive letter
assignments-case 3 is always a surprise altho I read KB on
algorithm used. Also ur data in logical partition L will
always be D:

My experience with 2 XPs is that it will boot Active Primary
no matter what BOOT.INI says. I'm running now XP on 2nd
primary but BOOT.INI is:
[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XPmin @ Part1
" /fastdetect /bootlog /NoExecute=OptOut

It should be multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2) even tho
1st partition is hidden as per ur answer.

Comments/suggestions/corrections appreciated.
Thanks- bye- Larry



Sorry, I do not understand your shorthand post and
I do not know if, in fact, you are asking a question.
Click to expand...


Any advise given is my attempt to show appreciation for all
the excellent help I've received here but I'm no MVP so it
may only apply NUGS (Normally, Usually, Generally, Sometimes :)
 
Larry(LJL269) said:
I have p1 p2 L which can have 3 assignments
1 C D
2 C D
3 C E D so data,etc in L always has right
letter.
Click to expand...


This will always present a problem because
Windows names primay partitions before it
names logical drives in an extended partition.

The way to get around this problem is to
exchange the contents of P2 and L and put
the boot files on P2 that load and run L.
(Yes, an OS can reside in a logical partition),

The easiest way to do this is to
1) clone the contents of the 2nd primary partition (P2)
into the extended partition as a 2nd logical drive,
2) then put the contents of the 1st logical drive (L)
into the 2nd primary partition,
3) then delete the 1st logical drive in the extended
partition.


With P1 the "active" partition:

When you run the OS in P1, P2 will be D:,
and E1 will be E: (your current situation 3).

When you hide E1 and run the OS in P1,
P2 will be D: (your current situation 1)

With P2 the "active" partition:

When you hide P1 and boot using P2,
you can load what's in E as the OS (your
current situation 2). This means that your
boot.ini, ntldr, and ntdetect.com files
are just below the root of P2's file
structure and that the boot.ini file has
an entry that points to the logical drive in
the extended partition. Since you know
the partition numbering algorithm, this
should be easy for you to do. When the
OS in the logical drive loads and runs, it
will call its logical drive "C:" and it will
call P2 "D:".

Now check over my logic to be sure it's what
you want. Then, the best procedure would include
first cloning all the partitions to another HD to insure
against screwups. I recommend Casper XP as
being the easiest way to do that. You can download
a free 30-day trial copy from:
www:FSSdev/products/casperxp/.

*TimDaniels*
 
The boot process will use the boot files (ntldr, ntdetect.com,
boot.ini) on the active partition of the primary master disk.
It will then use the folder defined in the selected line after
the [operating systems] header. If that folder points to
a hidden partition then Windows won't start properly.


Larry(LJL269) said:
Just pointing out the different drive letter
assignments-case 3 is always a surprise altho I read KB on
algorithm used. Also ur data in logical partition L will
always be D:

My experience with 2 XPs is that it will boot Active Primary
no matter what BOOT.INI says. I'm running now XP on 2nd
primary but BOOT.INI is:
[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XPmin @ Part1
" /fastdetect /bootlog /NoExecute=OptOut

It should be multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2) even tho
1st partition is hidden as per ur answer.

Comments/suggestions/corrections appreciated.
Thanks- bye- Larry



Sorry, I do not understand your shorthand post and
I do not know if, in fact, you are asking a question.


I
can
Click to expand...


Any advise given is my attempt to show appreciation for all
the excellent help I've received here but I'm no MVP so it
may only apply NUGS (Normally, Usually, Generally, Sometimes :)
Click to expand...
 
"Pegasus (MVP)" wrtote:
The boot process will use the boot files (ntldr, ntdetect.com,
boot.ini) on the active partition of the primary master disk.
Click to expand...


That is true for the *default* case ("primary" meaning IDE
channel 0). But the MBR of *any* hard drive can be made
to receive control if it is put at the head of the hard drive
boot order by keyboard input to the BIOS. If your BIOS
allows adjustment of the hard drive boot order, you have
this flexibility.

*TimDaniels*
 
Greetings & thank you for your response, wwhich I'll have
to think about. All this is to determine if 1 XP can repair
another on same or different HD which may not be necessary
since I found BartPE- dealing with that warps my brain but
it's fascinating!!

Your help is MUCH appreciated. Thanks- bye- Larry


This will always present a problem because
Windows names primay partitions before it
names logical drives in an extended partition.

The way to get around this problem is to
exchange the contents of P2 and L and put
the boot files on P2 that load and run L.
(Yes, an OS can reside in a logical partition),

The easiest way to do this is to
1) clone the contents of the 2nd primary partition (P2)
into the extended partition as a 2nd logical drive,
2) then put the contents of the 1st logical drive (L)
into the 2nd primary partition,
3) then delete the 1st logical drive in the extended
partition.


With P1 the "active" partition:

When you run the OS in P1, P2 will be D:,
and E1 will be E: (your current situation 3).

When you hide E1 and run the OS in P1,
P2 will be D: (your current situation 1)

With P2 the "active" partition:

When you hide P1 and boot using P2,
you can load what's in E as the OS (your
current situation 2). This means that your
boot.ini, ntldr, and ntdetect.com files
are just below the root of P2's file
structure and that the boot.ini file has
an entry that points to the logical drive in
the extended partition. Since you know
the partition numbering algorithm, this
should be easy for you to do. When the
OS in the logical drive loads and runs, it
will call its logical drive "C:" and it will
call P2 "D:".

Now check over my logic to be sure it's what
you want. Then, the best procedure would include
first cloning all the partitions to another HD to insure
against screwups. I recommend Casper XP as
being the easiest way to do that. You can download
a free 30-day trial copy from:
www:FSSdev/products/casperxp/.

*TimDaniels*
Click to expand...


Any advise given is my attempt to show appreciation for all
the excellent help I've received here but I'm no MVP so it
may only apply NUGS (Normally, Usually, Generally, Sometimes :)
 
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