jeffericon said:
My current hard drive has XP Home installed. I have
bought another hard drive and would like to have
XP Pro on that. Is there any way that when my computer
boots up, I can have the option of booting up with either
XP Home or XP Pro?
Piece of cake. You can use the boot sequence in the
BIOS to select which HD boots or you can use WinXP's
built-in boot manager to select which HD boots, or you
can use both.
BIOS's boot sequence
Install WinXP Pro on your 2nd HD with your 1st HD
disconnected. Jumper it as Master (just in case it
matters when it sets up its boot.ini file - located in the
C:\Windows folder). And start it up for the 1st time
still in isolation from the 1st HD. WinXP Pro will think
it's on the only HD in the world. Then, at boot up, by
adjusting the order of the 2 HDs in the BIOS's boot
sequence (i.e. the HD boot priority list), you can select
which HD the BIOS gives control to for system booting.
WinXP's boot manager
Install WinXP Pro on the 2nd HD with your 1st HD
disconnected. Jumper it as Master, etc. (again, this
*might* not be necessary). You might be able to have
the boot manager add an entry to the boot.ini file in the
new HD if you start WinXP Pro up for the 1st time with
the 1st HD connected, but doing it in isolation and then
altering the boot.ini files of both systems manually is
easier to understand. Here's what a single OS boot.ini
file looks like (as best as I can remember):
[boot loader]
timeout=0
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Pro" /fastdetect
This says that 0 seconds will be given for you to make up
your mind on which OS to designate.
rdisk(0) means to boot the system on HD at relative position 0
to the start of the boot sequence (in this case, your 1st HD).
partition(1) means to get the system found on partition 1
(i.e. the 1st partition).
WINDOWS means that the system will be found in folder
named WINDOWS under the file system root - to be given
the name C.
If no input is given to select an OS, the default system will be
booted. Here, both the default and the single optional OS
are identical.
In the 1st HD, add an entry to its boot.ini so that it looks like
this:
[boot loader]
timeout=20
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="WinXP" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="WinXP Pro" /fastdetect
With the 1st HD at the start of the boot sequence, this boot.ini
file will be accessed, and it says that WinXP is on the 1st partition
of the 1st HD, and that WinXP Pro is on the 1st partition of the
2nd HD. Keyboard input will then select which OS boots, and you
will have 20 seconds to make up your mind - after which the
default will boot if you don't decide.
In the 2nd HD, add entry to its boot.ini so that it looks like
this:
[boot loader]
timeout=20
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="WinXP Pro" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="WinXP" /fastdetect
This boot.ini will be accessed if you happen to place the 2nd HD
at the start of the BIOS's boot sequence or if you disconnect or
remove the 1st HD. This boot.ini file says that WinXP is on the
other HD (now the 2nd HD, i.e. at relative position 1, in the boot
sequence), and WinXP Pro is on "this" HD (now the 1st HD, i.e.
at relative position 0, in the boot sequence).
Have fun.
*TimDaniels*
