MultiBoot System - Revisited

[DEIfan]

I wrote this in a prior post:

I have a multi-boot system set up. It consists of four OS's, each on a
40Gig partition of a 200Gig disc. Three are in virtual drives in a primary
partition and one, XP, is in a virtual drive in an extended partition. The
lineup is W98SE/W98SE/WME/WXPPro. The XPPro OS is on the first drive in
the extended partition. The setup was done using PartitionMagic with
BootMagic as the boot manager. They work fine as is.

My problem is I would like to replace two of the W98 OS's with
installations of XP. I have the full install disc for XP. Three questions.

1. Will multiple installs of XP be compatible?
2. Will they all register since they are on the same machine or will I
have to purchase additional copies?
3. Any special warnings?

Rick "Nutcase" Rogers responded thusly:

...lineup is W98SE/W98SE/W98ME/WXPPro...

No such thing as W98ME, just WinME.

Right, Silly me!

1. Will multiple installs of XP be compatible?

Yep, should be, just don't do multiple installs to the same partition.

2. Will they all register since they are on the same machine or will I
have to purchase additional copies?

Yep, hardware hashes will match, activation should not be an issue. There
has been some discussion as to whether this is in accordance with EULA
(technically speaking, it's one installation on one machine), but I see no 0
practical reason why it won't work.

3. Any special warnings?

Nope, it's really pretty easy, just follow Boot Magic's instructions for
installing each instance of the OS.

OK What I did was reformat the WME drive and restore the Image file from
my present install of WXP to that partition. Then I ran the BootMagic
program and deleted the old WME from it and added the new WXP install in
it's place. It won't boot. I can still boot the three other OS's but when
I select the new XP install it just keeps recycling back to the BootMagic
bootup menu.

When I select either the first install of W98 or the first install of XP it
goes to a DOS menu, that I assume is from original install of XP because it
has always done that since I first made the multiboot setup. I have to
choose between either the 98 or XP system and then it will boot to the one
I select. But it still has only those two selections on that DOS menu.
But now, when I select the second XP install in the BootMagic boot menu it
don't even go to that DOS menu, it just recycles back to the BM menu again.

1. I am thinking I probably need to do some editing in an XP file but
don't know which one or what to edit???
2. Maybe I just need to make a fresh install of XP into that partition? I
am trying to avoid that due to having to reconfigure the OS.

What do you all think?

I hate to come back to the well but still need some prompting.

Many Thanks,
Tom Markley

 

[peter]

I think you need to edit the boot.ini file
peter

I wrote this in a prior post:




Rick "Nutcase" Rogers responded thusly:





Right, Silly me!









OK What I did was reformat the WME drive and restore the Image file from
my present install of WXP to that partition. Then I ran the BootMagic
program and deleted the old WME from it and added the new WXP install in
it's place. It won't boot. I can still boot the three other OS's but when
I select the new XP install it just keeps recycling back to the BootMagic
bootup menu.

When I select either the first install of W98 or the first install of XP it
goes to a DOS menu, that I assume is from original install of XP because it
has always done that since I first made the multiboot setup. I have to
choose between either the 98 or XP system and then it will boot to the one
I select. But it still has only those two selections on that DOS menu.
But now, when I select the second XP install in the BootMagic boot menu it
don't even go to that DOS menu, it just recycles back to the BM menu again.

1. I am thinking I probably need to do some editing in an XP file but
don't know which one or what to edit???
2. Maybe I just need to make a fresh install of XP into that partition? I
am trying to avoid that due to having to reconfigure the OS.

What do you all think?

I hate to come back to the well but still need some prompting.

Many Thanks,
Tom Markley

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Yep, unless the installation "sees" itself in the same position, it isn't
going to work.

Tom, try booting the WinXP after choosing the imaged installation from the
BM menu, then enter "r" for the Recovery Console. Logon, then run fixboot
for this installation.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Windows
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone

 

[johnf]

Ah, Rick, I think it's a no-no to run BM when your pri OS is XP.
It's only compatible up to WinME, I run all my multiple boots via the
boot.ini mod.

 

[DEIfan]

Rick, do you EVER sleep?

I'm wondering about that compatibility too. I always have to boot XP by way
of the XP boot menu. Same with the W98 installation that is in the first
primary partition. Even though I start out selecting either of those two
in the BM menu it always takes me to the XP screen in the XP install in the
fourth partition, which is on the first virtual drive in the extended
partition of the disc. No matter which of the first three Win98/ME OS's I
start, only it and the XP in that extended partition show up, as BM hides
the other two on the primary partition. So now that I have replaced the
WME with the image of XP, it gets hidden when I am in any one of the other
three.

So, I finally went into the boot.ini file in that first XP install, on the
extended partition, and inserted a line showing the new XP system as being
on #3, which it is, in chronological order, on the disc. Now, when choose
either of those two OS's, either the first one which is W98, or the fourth
one, which is XP, I get the XP boot menu from the original XP, on that
fourth virtual partition, and it now shows both of the XP OS's along with
the first W98 OS. If I select the new one it apparently tries to boot as I
get a partial XP screen but then it stops and says "autochk program not
found - skipping autochk" and boots back to the BM menu.

Even if I get it to boot, I am wondering if I should just put all four of
them in the XP boot menu and eliminate BM.

Hope that give you a clear picture of where I am now. Probably as clear as
mud! Since I am pushing 70 next month I probably shouldn't be getting this
racy with my computer but it's what challenges me and keeps the guys in the
white coats away. Thanks so much guys.

Tom Markley

 

[johnf]

G'day young lad - beat you, 71 next month.

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

What's "sleep"?

The problem is in how the imaged WinXP system sees itself. The only
solutions around it are either a) a repair install of that installation or
b) creating a boot scenario that allows it to have the same drive
enumeration as it had during the original setup.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Windows
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone

 

[Sunny]

I run WinXP and WinME using Boot Magic without problems.
Boot Magic will only allow itself to be installed on one OS (mine is on
WinME) and any attempt to install it on WinXP gets me the message: "Boot
Magic has detected another Boot Magic installed, on another partition, and
it must be uninstalled first."
Though I have installed Partition Magic 8 on both OS, just in case I have to
use PQBoot or make a partition "active" etc.

 

[johnf]

Yes, that's what I meant, Sunny.
You have it installed on WinME, not XP, that's ok.

 

[DEIfan]

I still don't have this thing running like I want but getting closer. Yes,
I have run BM for about six months now with the setup I described.
However, XP has a boot controller built in so I may go to using it
altogether. But BM has a much nicer interface. I'll decide as I go along.

Running more than one XP install I'm thinking at this point that I'll
probably have to delete the boot.dll file or else edit it so only one is
working. Any thoughts on that?

Tom Markley