Partitioning & Dual Booting Operating Systems

[timber1299]

I want to put 2 operating systems (OS's) on one hard drive, sometimes
booting to 1 OS, sometimes booting to the other. I know you can do
this by partitioning the hard drive, but partitioning is something I
did not understand a week ago. I have obtained Partition Magic 8.0 &
have been combing through the User's Manual, the Help files, & googling
the subject in newsgroups. I have learned a lot, but have a lot of
blanks I need to fill in to make sure I do this correctly, so I would
appreciate any & all help you can provide!

I currently have Windows 2000 Pro on my hard drive. I have yet to
obtain the restore disk for 2000, so I need this partitioning to be
done & not wipe out 2000. I also want to install XP. Following are
the things I have learned & related questions.

In Partition Magic (PM), they use a bar-graph type of graphic to
illustrate the partitions on the drive. On my drive, the far left area
of the bar is the 2000 OS. The OS is in the only partition currently
on the drive. Of that partition, about 4.5GB are used out of the 19GB
on that partition. This partition is using a FAT32 file system. At
the far right end of the bar is 7.8 MB of unallocated space.

I think what I want to do is reduce the existing partition (with 2000
on it) to about 7.5 GB, right? I believe that partition will sit at
the far left of the bar graph. Then do I make a second primary
partition that starts at the 7.5GB where the Win2K partition stops and
take that second partition up to 15 GB (7.5GB for the second partition)
that will hold XP?

While searching through newsgroup posts on this subject, someone said
to create 2 more partitions (in addition to the 2 primary partitions
for the OS's), one for files created in Win2K & one for files created
in WinXP. This sounds good, but I have some questions.

1) The Win2K file system will be FAT32. I'd like to be able to read
all files from either OS. That means I would have to use FAT32 for all
partitions. Is there any drawback to NOT using the NTFS file system
for the XP files? And is it OK to use FAT32 for the primary partition
that XP will be installed on?

2) I have also read that I should install my applications under each
OS. In other words, if I want to use MS Office from either OS, I need
to install it under Win2K & XP. If I do this, and set things up like
I've described up to this point, will an update of, say, an Excel file
update all versions of that file? I'm rather confused about this, but
the bottom line is that, if possible, I want to be able to work on a
file from either OS & not have a newer & older version of the same
files at different places on the hard drive.

3) Regarding making partitions for files (one partition for each OS's
created files): should I make one extended partition & then divide
that up into logical partitions or should I do make 2 extended
partitions, and then use logical partitions inside those extended
partitions? Or are there other options?

I have more questions, but I'm going to stop here for now, since
information I glean from these questions would likely change or answer
my additional questions.

I know I'm asking a lot here, so I want to thank in advance anyone who
can contribute help. If there are any questions or clarifications I
need to make, please post them & I will respond quickly. Thank you!

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

See below.

I want to put 2 operating systems (OS's) on one hard drive, sometimes
booting to 1 OS, sometimes booting to the other. I know you can do
this by partitioning the hard drive, but partitioning is something I
did not understand a week ago. I have obtained Partition Magic 8.0 &
have been combing through the User's Manual, the Help files, & googling
the subject in newsgroups. I have learned a lot, but have a lot of
blanks I need to fill in to make sure I do this correctly, so I would
appreciate any & all help you can provide!

I currently have Windows 2000 Pro on my hard drive. I have yet to
obtain the restore disk for 2000, so I need this partitioning to be
done & not wipe out 2000. I also want to install XP. Following are
the things I have learned & related questions.

In Partition Magic (PM), they use a bar-graph type of graphic to
illustrate the partitions on the drive. On my drive, the far left area
of the bar is the 2000 OS. The OS is in the only partition currently
on the drive. Of that partition, about 4.5GB are used out of the 19GB
on that partition. This partition is using a FAT32 file system. At
the far right end of the bar is 7.8 MB of unallocated space.

I think what I want to do is reduce the existing partition (with 2000
on it) to about 7.5 GB, right? I believe that partition will sit at
the far left of the bar graph. Then do I make a second primary
partition that starts at the 7.5GB where the Win2K partition stops and
take that second partition up to 15 GB (7.5GB for the second partition)
that will hold XP?

While searching through newsgroup posts on this subject, someone said
to create 2 more partitions (in addition to the 2 primary partitions
for the OS's), one for files created in Win2K & one for files created
in WinXP. This sounds good, but I have some questions.

You've summed it up pretty well. However, you don't need two extra
partitions. One shared partition will do nicely, e.g.
- Partition 1: Win2000
- Partition 2: WinXP
- Partition 3: Shared

1) The Win2K file system will be FAT32. I'd like to be able to read
all files from either OS. That means I would have to use FAT32 for all
partitions. Is there any drawback to NOT using the NTFS file system
for the XP files? And is it OK to use FAT32 for the primary partition
that XP will be installed on?

Both Win2000 and WinXP use NTFS as their native file system.
They can also read FAT32 but NTFS would be preferable.

2) I have also read that I should install my applications under each
OS. In other words, if I want to use MS Office from either OS, I need
to install it under Win2K & XP. If I do this, and set things up like
I've described up to this point, will an update of, say, an Excel file
update all versions of that file? I'm rather confused about this, but
the bottom line is that, if possible, I want to be able to work on a
file from either OS & not have a newer & older version of the same
files at different places on the hard drive.

This is correct. Each OS should be independent from each other
OS, with all its own applications.

3) Regarding making partitions for files (one partition for each OS's
created files): should I make one extended partition & then divide
that up into logical partitions or should I do make 2 extended
partitions, and then use logical partitions inside those extended
partitions? Or are there other options?

Make a single logical drive in the extended partition, to be shared
by both OSs.

 

[Timothy Daniels]

See below.



Make a single logical drive in the extended partition, to be shared
by both OSs.

Is there any particular reason to make the shared partition an
extended partition and not a primary partition?

*TimDaniels*

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Is there any particular reason to make the shared partition an
extended partition and not a primary partition?

*TimDaniels*

Not really - it could be either. It's just an old habit of mine
to use primary partitions for OSs and logical drives for data.

 

[Jim]

JMTC, FWIW,

Dual/multi-booting should involve more than partitioning. You really need a
good boot manager too. Simply focusing on the partitioning only addresses
the physical layout of your partitions, it does NOTHING to manage the boot
process itself. That management can include hiding partitions, for example,
and IMO, is a critical component if you don't want to end up w/ a mess. Let
me explain.

If you don't use a boot manager, and simply use partitioning software to
resize and add partitions, you still have to contend w/ boot management (or
more precisely, the lack of it). Most naive users default to using the
Windows boot loader, which is NOT a boot manager. All Windows does is
install boot files and a config file called boot.ini in the C: partition.
In your case, this would be your existing W2K partition. If you now choose
to install XP, Windows will install it as D: (or whatever drive letter is
available) on your newly created partition. Your boot.ini file on C: will
be updated to reflect that change. So the sequence is as follows: the
Windows boot loader gets control at boot-up, locates the boot.ini file on
C:, and then presents a menu of OS choices, and based on the selection,
finds the appropriate partition to boot. Sounds simple enough. If you boot
W2K, you'll see W2K as C:, and a data partition of D: (where XP resides).
Likewise, if you boot XP, you'll still see C: (W2K), but only as a data
partition, and of course, XP will be D:.

Personally, I find this objectionable. I don't want one OS exposed to the
other, if only to avoid inadvertent corruption of the other partition. But
at the very least, I want the *choice* to see or not see the other
partition(s). Using the Windows boot loader, you have no choice, you ALWAYS
see partitions that the OS recognizes (for example, Win98 would be an
exception if your other OS partition, was say, NTFS, in that case, Win98
doesn't recognize NTFS, so it's not exposed). But in all other cases, you
ALWAYS do. And while I understand there may be occasions that warrant such
exposure (e.g., you can't boot one of the OS's and wish to repair it, such
as its boot.ini file), 99% of the time this is NOT a good idea, or even
necessary. The OS and your DATA (Word/Excel documents, pictures, audio
clips, etc.) should NEVER be stored in the same partition anyway! Never
clog/burden your OS w/ DATA files. Instead, keep DATA files on a separate
partition, and preferrable a format compatible to all those OS installations
that wish/need access to them (including My Documents). By doing this, you
can optimize your OS and DATA partitions differently, according to their
much different characteristics. For example, I maintain my OS installations
on a RAID0 (stripped) array for performance, but maintain my DATA files on a
RAID1 (mirrored) array for data integrity purposes. This significantly
reduces the size of the OS installation, allowing more room for other OS
installations, faster OS backups/restores from image copies (and because
it's smaller and faster, I backup more often!), and even completely
different formats (the OS is typically NTFS for performance, the DATA is
FAT32 for compatibility).

The reason I'm making such a big deal about this is that people deal with
the issue of dual/multi-booting much too narrowly. To do it right requires
looking at the big picture, how your data is organized, how you you will
manage the boot process, what your future expansion needs are, etc.
Consider your own assessment, it all came down to partitioning. Well,
that's like wanting to be a major league baseball player, and only focusing
on hitting. It takes a lot more, like defense, running, rules of the game,
etc. You'll never do well or do it successfully only focusing one a narrow
aspect of the game.

Anyway, back to the Windows boot loader. So let's assume you continue to
use the Windows boot loader, as initially described in your post. Sounds
acceptable, but there's a catch. You've just created multiple dependencies!
First, your boot files are located on C:, and within the W2K partition.
Suppose someday you wish to delete, move, or otherwise dispose of that
partition. You can't because it's still supporting the booting of XP on D:.
The second dependency is the fact that XP is based on D:. So now you have
an additional problem if you choose to move the XP partition (some OS's,
e.g., Win98, will determine drive letter assignment based on hardware
location). This limits your ability to move the XP partition. Plus,
suppose you want to clone that XP (D partition, perhaps to experiment w/
installation of new software, establish a gaming version, whatever. Because
you can't have two or more D: partitions, you can't just copy-n-paste the
existing XP partition to establish another bootable version of XP. Why?
Because you don't have a boot manager, which if you did, could HIDE all
extraneous partitions! When I use my boot manager, and have cloned XP
upteen times, I have NO problems because each is installed as C:, has its
own boot files and boot.ini, and 100% completely independent from EVERY
other OS on the system. And it's all possible because my boot manager let's
me pick and choose which, if any, other partitions I want to make visible
when a given OS is booted.

Yeah, it may sound a little confusing at first, there are a lot of tedious,
arcane issues involving dual/multi-booting, but the biggest error I see made
in these forums regarding recommendations is not getting people on a GOOD
boot manager! If you insist on using the Windows default boot loader, you
create a multitude of dependencies that will come back to bite you later (if
not immediately, depending on your current situation). The Windows boot
loader is NOT a boot manager, it's nothing more than a small bootstrap
program that picks among various bootable partitions. Beyond that, it's
nothing. Just take a look throughout these forums for the never ending
cases of people trying to recover from the mess that the Windows boot loader
creates. There are a LOT of very well done and useful FAQ's referenced in
this forum wrt boot management issues, and MANY of the problems addressed in
those FAQ wouldn't be a problem in the first place if people used a real
boot manager. Microsoft simply takes the quick-n-dirty approach to
dual/multi-booting w/ its default solution, then leaves you to contend with
the mess it creates later down the road.

I've been dual/multi-booting for a VERY long time, using MS-DOS, Win 3.0,
Win 3.11, Win95/98, NT, W2K, XP, etc. I've seen all the quirks and run
through my shares of successes and failures. And plenty of boot managers
(Boot Magic, System Commander, XOSL, etc.), seen 'em all, some good, some
bad, and almost always some serious limitations. I currently use BootIt NG,
which is the best $35 you'll ever spend. It will make your
dual/multi-booting life soooooooooooooooooooo much easier. Once you learn
it, and realize what it can do, you'll never go back to anything else. And
it even has its own partition manager and imaging solution, essentially an
all-in-one solution. I've used it for the past 6-7 years with great success
(and haven't had to pay for a single upgrade in all that time either).

That's my recommendation. I don't claim to be an expert is much else wrt to
computing, probably on-par with most everyone else in these forums. But
this is one subject I know inside-out, been managing dual/multi-booting
issues on Windows for more years than I care to acknowledge. Trust me, even
if you go with another solution, even the free XOSL, do yourself a favor,
GET A BOOT MANAGER! Ignore the recommendation that rely on the Windows boot
loader.

I'm outta here...

Jim

 

[Timothy Daniels]

JMTC, FWIW,

Dual/multi-booting should involve more than partitioning. You really
need a good boot manager too. Simply focusing on the partitioning
only addresses the physical layout of your partitions, it does NOTHING
to manage the boot process itself. That management can include
hiding partitions, for example, and IMO, is a critical component if you
don't want to end up w/ a mess. Let me explain.

If you don't use a boot manager, and simply use partitioning software
to resize and add partitions, you still have to contend w/ boot manage-
ment (or more precisely, the lack of it). Most naive users default to
using the Windows boot loader, which is NOT a boot manager. All
Windows does is install boot files and a config file called boot.ini in
the C: partition. In your case, this would be your existing W2K partition.
If you now choose to install XP, Windows will install it as D: (or whatever
drive letter is available) on your newly created partition. Your boot.ini
file on C: will be updated to reflect that change. So the sequence is
as follows: the Windows boot loader gets control at boot-up, locates
the boot.ini file on C:,

Not exactly correct. The BIOS looks at the list of HDs in its HD
boot order and selects the HD at the head of that list and passes
control to that HD's Master Boot Record (MBR). Then MBR looks
at the partition table on the HD and gives control to the Boot Sector
on the partition that is marked "active". The Boot Sector passes
control to ntldr which, in turn, consults the boot.ini file for its list of
options which detail the location(s) of partition(s) that have bootable
OSes and displays them on the screen for the user to select from.
Then ntldr boots the OS in that partition (which may a primary
partition or a logical partition). It's not until after the OS is loaded
and started up that the concept of which partition is "C:" emerges.

and then presents a menu of OS choices, and based on the selection,
finds the appropriate partition to boot. Sounds simple enough. If you boot
W2K, you'll see W2K as C:, and a data partition of D: (where XP resides).
Likewise, if you boot XP, you'll still see C: (W2K), but only as a data
partition, and of course, XP will be D:.

Personally, I find this objectionable. I don't want one OS exposed to the
other, if only to avoid inadvertent corruption of the other partition. But
at the very least, I want the *choice* to see or not see the other
partition(s). Using the Windows boot loader, you have no choice, you
ALWAYS see partitions that the OS recognizes (for example, Win98
would be an exception if your other OS partition, was say, NTFS, in that
case, Win98 doesn't recognize NTFS, so it's not exposed). But in all
other cases, you ALWAYS do. And while I understand there may be
occasions that warrant such exposure (e.g., you can't boot one of the
OS's and wish to repair it, such as its boot.ini file), 99% of the time this
is NOT a good idea, or even necessary. The OS and your DATA
(Word/Excel documents, pictures, audio clips, etc.) should NEVER be
stored in the same partition anyway! Never clog/burden your OS w/
DATA files. Instead, keep DATA files on a separate partition, and
preferrable a format compatible to all those OS installations that wish/
need access to them (including My Documents). By doing this, you
can optimize your OS and DATA partitions differently, according to
their much different characteristics. For example, I maintain my OS
installations on a RAID0 (stripped) array for performance, but maintain
my DATA files on a RAID1 (mirrored) array for data integrity purposes.
This significantly reduces the size of the OS installation, allowing more
room for other OS installations, faster OS backups/restores from image
copies (and because it's smaller and faster, I backup more often!), and
even completely different formats (the OS is typically NTFS for
performance, the DATA is FAT32 for compatibility).

The reason I'm making such a big deal about this is that people deal with
the issue of dual/multi-booting much too narrowly. To do it right requires
looking at the big picture, how your data is organized, how you you will
manage the boot process, what your future expansion needs are, etc.
Consider your own assessment, it all came down to partitioning. Well,
that's like wanting to be a major league baseball player, and only focusing
on hitting. It takes a lot more, like defense, running, rules of the game,
etc. You'll never do well or do it successfully only focusing one a narrow
aspect of the game.

Anyway, back to the Windows boot loader. So let's assume you continue
to use the Windows boot loader, as initially described in your post. Sounds
acceptable, but there's a catch. You've just created multiple dependencies!
First, your boot files are located on C:, and within the W2K partition.
Suppose someday you wish to delete, move, or otherwise dispose of that
partition. You can't because it's still supporting the booting of XP on D:.
The second dependency is the fact that XP is based on D:. So now you
have an additional problem if you choose to move the XP partition (some
OS's, e.g., Win98, will determine drive letter assignment based on hardware
location). This limits your ability to move the XP partition. Plus,
suppose you want to clone that XP (D partition, perhaps to experiment w/
installation of new software, establish a gaming version, whatever. Because
you can't have two or more D: partitions, you can't just copy-n-paste the
existing XP partition to establish another bootable version of XP. Why?
Because you don't have a boot manager, which if you did, could HIDE all
extraneous partitions! When I use my boot manager, and have cloned XP
upteen times, I have NO problems because each is installed as C:, has its
own boot files and boot.ini, and 100% completely independent from EVERY
other OS on the system. And it's all possible because my boot manager let's
me pick and choose which, if any, other partitions I want to make visible
when a given OS is booted.

The core problem is the lack of an easy way to hide the other partitions
when an OS is being installed so that the OS will refer to itself as "C:".
Partition Magic can do that, although I'm not sure PM can be booted from
CD. I've used it to hide partitions by running it as an installed utility in
clones on other partitions in the system. It works, but the process is a
bit tedious. For the average person, who runs only one partition on a
HD, the easiest way to multi-boot is to merely put each OS on a different
HD and use the BIOS's HD boot order to select which HD contains the
ntldr loader and therefore (in the vanilla case) where to get the OS from.

Yeah, it may sound a little confusing at first, there are a lot of tedious,
arcane issues involving dual/multi-booting, but the biggest error I see
made in these forums regarding recommendations is not getting people
on a GOOD boot manager! If you insist on using the Windows default
boot loader, you create a multitude of dependencies that will come back
to bite you later (if not immediately, depending on your current situation).
The Windows boot loader is NOT a boot manager, it's nothing more than
a small bootstrap program that picks among various bootable partitions.
Beyond that, it's nothing. Just take a look throughout these forums for the
never ending cases of people trying to recover from the mess that the
Windows boot loader creates. There are a LOT of very well done and
useful FAQ's referenced in this forum wrt boot management issues, and
MANY of the problems addressed in those FAQ wouldn't be a problem in
the first place if people used a real boot manager. Microsoft simply takes
the quick-n-dirty approach to dual/multi-booting w/ its default solution, then
leaves you to contend with the mess it creates later down the road.

I've been dual/multi-booting for a VERY long time, using MS-DOS, Win 3.0,
Win 3.11, Win95/98, NT, W2K, XP, etc. I've seen all the quirks and run
through my shares of successes and failures. And plenty of boot managers
(Boot Magic, System Commander, XOSL, etc.), seen 'em all, some good,
some bad, and almost always some serious limitations. I currently use
BootIt NG, which is the best $35 you'll ever spend. It will make your
dual/multi-booting life soooooooooooooooooooo much easier. Once you
learn it, and realize what it can do, you'll never go back to anything else.
And it even has its own partition manager and imaging solution, essentially
an all-in-one solution. I've used it for the past 6-7 years with great success
(and haven't had to pay for a single upgrade in all that time either).

That's my recommendation. I don't claim to be an expert is much else wrt to
computing, probably on-par with most everyone else in these forums. But
this is one subject I know inside-out, been managing dual/multi-booting
issues on Windows for more years than I care to acknowledge. Trust me,
even if you go with another solution, even the free XOSL, do yourself a favor,
GET A BOOT MANAGER! Ignore the recommendation that rely on the
Windows boot loader.

Jim

For 99% of multi-booting needs (including my own, which includes
selecting from 6 to 10 clones in the system), the Windows XP boot
manager is sufficient. I doubt that Microsoft would provide much
more than that since it would just encourage people to retain old
OSes and/or to experiment with Linux/Unix/Solaris and/or to run
multiple WinXPs instead of buying additional licenses. IOW, it's
in Microsoft's best interest to keep its boot manager limited and
inflexible - which it does.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Guest]

Not exactly correct. The BIOS looks at the list of HDs in its HD
boot order and selects the HD at the head of that list and passes
control to that HD's Master Boot Record (MBR). Then MBR looks
at the partition table on the HD and gives control to the Boot Sector
on the partition that is marked "active". The Boot Sector passes
control to ntldr which, in turn, consults the boot.ini file for its list of
options which detail the location(s) of partition(s) that have bootable
OSes and displays them on the screen for the user to select from.
Then ntldr boots the OS in that partition (which may a primary
partition or a logical partition). It's not until after the OS is loaded
and started up that the concept of which partition is "C:" emerges.





For 99% of multi-booting needs (including my own, which includes
selecting from 6 to 10 clones in the system), the Windows XP boot
manager is sufficient. I doubt that Microsoft would provide much
more than that since it would just encourage people to retain old
OSes and/or to experiment with Linux/Unix/Solaris and/or to run
multiple WinXPs instead of buying additional licenses. IOW, it's
in Microsoft's best interest to keep its boot manager limited and
inflexible - which it does.

*TimDaniels*




I am responding to this thread because I have a problem with dual booting w2k and XP and there seem to be knowledgeable in this group particularly this writer.

I will try to present my problem as briefly as possible.
I have w2ksp4 installed on the f partition of drive 0. I have had xp
installed on the g partition of the same drive. With this setup I could boot
to either w2ksp4 or xp with no problem. I recently upgraded xp to xpsp2.
Now when I try to boot into w2ksp4 I get an error message that "systemd"
cannot be found. After much searching and testing I found the following to
be true at least on my system.
If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com supplied with w2ksp4 I can boot into
w2ksp4 but not to xpsp2. If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com provided with
xpsp2 I can boot into xpsp2 but not w2ksp4. If I use the ntldr and
ntdetect.com provided with xp(original not sp2) I can boot into either w2k or
xpsp2. That would seem to solve the problem except for one minor hitch.
Internet Explorer 6.0.2800 is unstable in w2ksp4. It may be stable in xpsp2,
I have not tested. I might add that the dual boot problem as described above
also exists if xpsp2 is installed on a separate drive. At this time I dual
boot by replacing ntldr and ntdetect.com as required. For my purposes this
works but I would like to find a better solution if it exists other than a
third party boot manager. Any help would be appreciated.
Bobh

 

[Timothy Daniels]

I have w2ksp4 installed on the f partition of drive 0.
I have had xp installed on the g partition of the same drive.
With this setup I could boot to either w2ksp4 or xp with no
problem.

Which partition was marked "active"? That partition
would have been the one that contained the trio of files
(boot.ini, ntldr, and ntdetect.com) that controlled booting.
The boot.ini file in the "active" partition would have
provided the boot menu which you used to designate
which of the 2 OSes loaded/started.

I recently upgraded xp to xpsp2.
Now when I try to boot into w2ksp4 I get an error message that
"systemd" cannot be found. [......]

Which partition is now marked "active"? If partition G is
"active", its boot.ini may not know where to point ntldr to
find WinXP.

The fact that there are "F" and "G" partitions suggest
that there may be other partitions on the hard drive.
What are they and how are they arranged on the disk?
If the number of partitions or their positions have changed,
the ARC paths in the boot.ini file entries may no longer
be valid.

If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com supplied with w2ksp4 I can
boot into w2ksp4 but not to xpsp2.
If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com provided with xpsp2 I can
boot into xpsp2 but not w2ksp4.

If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com provided with xp(original not
sp2) I can boot into either w2k or xpsp2.

What we need now is the arrangement of partitions on the
hard drive - obtainable with the Disk Management utility.
(Rt-clk MyComputer/select Manage/select DiskManagement.)
That will determine whether the "partition()" values in boot.ini
are correct.

We also need to know which partition is marked "active" -
also seen in the Disk Management window. (Check the Status
column in the listing of partitions, or rt-clk a graphic of a partition.
If the drop-down menu says "Mark Partition as Active", it's not
active.) That will tell us which trio of boot files is controlling the
booting.

Then we need the contents of boot.ini in each of the OS
partitions. (Use Notepad and cut 'n paste to put it into a posting.)
That will tell us whether the entries in the boot menu point to the
right locations.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Guest]

Which partition was marked "active"? That partition
would have been the one that contained the trio of files
(boot.ini, ntldr, and ntdetect.com) that controlled booting.
The boot.ini file in the "active" partition would have
provided the boot menu which you used to designate
which of the 2 OSes loaded/started.

The C drive is the active partition in all cases. All partions are
fat32
C: is the first partition on Disk 0. D:is the 2nd partition on Disk
0. E: is the 3rd partition on Disk 0 F: is the 4th partition on Disk 0. G:
is the first partition on Disk1 H: is the 2nd partition on Disk 1. I: is
the 3rd partition on Disk 1. The boot.ini file is in C:\ in all cases.

I recently upgraded xp to xpsp2.
Now when I try to boot into w2ksp4 I get an error message that
"systemd" cannot be found. [......]

Which partition is now marked "active"? If partition G is
"active", its boot.ini may not know where to point ntldr to
find WinXP.

The fact that there are "F" and "G" partitions suggest
that there may be other partitions on the hard drive.
What are they and how are they arranged on the disk?
If the number of partitions or their positions have changed,
the ARC paths in the boot.ini file entries may no longer
be valid.

If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com supplied with w2ksp4 I can
boot into w2ksp4 but not to xpsp2.
If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com provided with xpsp2 I can
boot into xpsp2 but not w2ksp4.

If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com provided with xp(original not
sp2) I can boot into either w2k or xpsp2.

What we need now is the arrangement of partitions on the
hard drive - obtainable with the Disk Management utility.
(Rt-clk MyComputer/select Manage/select DiskManagement.)
That will determine whether the "partition()" values in boot.ini
are correct.

We also need to know which partition is marked "active" -
also seen in the Disk Management window. (Check the Status
column in the listing of partitions, or rt-clk a graphic of a partition.
If the drop-down menu says "Mark Partition as Active", it's not
active.) That will tell us which trio of boot files is controlling the
booting.

In the listing of partitions C: is listed as healthy and system

Then we need the contents of boot.ini in each of the OS
partitions. (Use Notepad and cut 'n paste to put it into a posting.)
That will tell us whether the entries in the boot menu point to the
right locations.

*TimDaniels*

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000
Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

Thank you for the response. Hope I have provided you with what you need.
As far as I know the only boot.ini is the one above in C:\
Bobh

 

[Timothy Daniels]

I have w2ksp4 installed on the f partition of drive 0.
I have had xp installed on the g partition of the same drive.
With this setup I could boot to either w2ksp4 or xp with no
problem.

Which partition was marked "active"? That partition
would have been the one that contained the trio of files
(boot.ini, ntldr, and ntdetect.com) that controlled booting.
The boot.ini file in the "active" partition would have
provided the boot menu which you used to designate
which of the 2 OSes loaded/started.

I recently upgraded xp to xpsp2.
Now when I try to boot into w2ksp4 I get an error message that
"systemd" cannot be found. [......]

Which partition is now marked "active"? If partition G is
"active", its boot.ini may not know where to point ntldr to
find WinXP.

The fact that there are "F" and "G" partitions suggest
that there may be other partitions on the hard drive.
What are they and how are they arranged on the disk?
If the number of partitions or their positions have changed,
the ARC paths in the boot.ini file entries may no longer
be valid.

If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com supplied with w2ksp4 I can
boot into w2ksp4 but not to xpsp2.
If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com provided with xpsp2 I can
boot into xpsp2 but not w2ksp4.

If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com provided with xp(original not
sp2) I can boot into either w2k or xpsp2.

What we need now is the arrangement of partitions on the
hard drive - obtainable with the Disk Management utility.
(Rt-clk MyComputer/select Manage/select DiskManagement.)
That will determine whether the "partition()" values in boot.ini
are correct.

We also need to know which partition is marked "active" -
also seen in the Disk Management window. (Check the Status
column in the listing of partitions, or rt-clk a graphic of a partition.
If the drop-down menu says "Mark Partition as Active", it's not
active.) That will tell us which trio of boot files is controlling the
booting.

Then we need the contents of boot.ini in each of the OS
partitions. (Use Notepad and cut 'n paste to put it into a posting.)
That will tell us whether the entries in the boot menu point to the
right locations.

*TimDaniels*

The C drive is the active partition in all cases. [.....]
C: is the first partition on Disk 0.
D:is the 2nd partition on Disk 0.
E: is the 3rd partition on Disk 0
F: is the 4th partition on Disk 0.

G: is the first partition on Disk 1
H: is the 2nd partition on Disk 1.
I: is the 3rd partition on Disk 1.

The boot.ini file is in C:\ in all cases.

In the listing of partitions C: is listed as healthy and system

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT=
"Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS=
"Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect


Thank you for the response. Hope I have provided you with what you need.
As far as I know the only boot.ini is the one above in C:\
Bobh

Well, Bob, your system has sprouted another hard drive when you
weren't looking. You originally said you had one hard drive with
partitions F and G. Could "Disk 1" be an Extended partition on
the same hard drive which contains 3 logical drives, i.e. 3 logical
partitions? Please make that clear.

What do you mean by "The C drive is the active partition in all cases"?
What cases are there?

If you really do have 2 hard drives, I *really* have to know:
1) which partitions are "active"
2) the jumpering and IDE channel no. of each hard drive
3) the boot order of the hard drives (obtainable from the BIOS)
4) which of the "active" partitions have a boot.ini/ntldr/ntdetect.com
trio of boot files.

Print this out and use it as a check list when you post the answers
and please don't run all your lines together.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Guest]

:
I have w2ksp4 installed on the f partition of drive 0.
I have had xp installed on the g partition of the same drive.
With this setup I could boot to either w2ksp4 or xp with no
problem.


Which partition was marked "active"? That partition
would have been the one that contained the trio of files
(boot.ini, ntldr, and ntdetect.com) that controlled booting.
The boot.ini file in the "active" partition would have
provided the boot menu which you used to designate
which of the 2 OSes loaded/started.


I recently upgraded xp to xpsp2.
Now when I try to boot into w2ksp4 I get an error message that
"systemd" cannot be found. [......]


Which partition is now marked "active"? If partition G is
"active", its boot.ini may not know where to point ntldr to
find WinXP.

The fact that there are "F" and "G" partitions suggest
that there may be other partitions on the hard drive.
What are they and how are they arranged on the disk?
If the number of partitions or their positions have changed,
the ARC paths in the boot.ini file entries may no longer
be valid.


If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com supplied with w2ksp4 I can
boot into w2ksp4 but not to xpsp2.
If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com provided with xpsp2 I can
boot into xpsp2 but not w2ksp4.

If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com provided with xp(original not
sp2) I can boot into either w2k or xpsp2.


What we need now is the arrangement of partitions on the
hard drive - obtainable with the Disk Management utility.
(Rt-clk MyComputer/select Manage/select DiskManagement.)
That will determine whether the "partition()" values in boot.ini
are correct.

We also need to know which partition is marked "active" -
also seen in the Disk Management window. (Check the Status
column in the listing of partitions, or rt-clk a graphic of a partition.
If the drop-down menu says "Mark Partition as Active", it's not
active.) That will tell us which trio of boot files is controlling the
booting.

Then we need the contents of boot.ini in each of the OS
partitions. (Use Notepad and cut 'n paste to put it into a posting.)
That will tell us whether the entries in the boot menu point to the
right locations.

*TimDaniels*

The C drive is the active partition in all cases. [.....]
C: is the first partition on Disk 0.
D:is the 2nd partition on Disk 0.
E: is the 3rd partition on Disk 0
F: is the 4th partition on Disk 0.

G: is the first partition on Disk 1
H: is the 2nd partition on Disk 1.
I: is the 3rd partition on Disk 1.

The boot.ini file is in C:\ in all cases.

In the listing of partitions C: is listed as healthy and system

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT=
"Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS=
"Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect


Thank you for the response. Hope I have provided you with what you need.
As far as I know the only boot.ini is the one above in C:\
Bobh

Well, Bob, your system has sprouted another hard drive when you
weren't looking. You originally said you had one hard drive with
partitions F and G. Could "Disk 1" be an Extended partition on
the same hard drive which contains 3 logical drives, i.e. 3 logical
partitions? Please make that clear.

What do you mean by "The C drive is the active partition in all cases"?
What cases are there?

If you really do have 2 hard drives, I *really* have to know:
1) which partitions are "active"
2) the jumpering and IDE channel no. of each hard drive
3) the boot order of the hard drives (obtainable from the BIOS)
4) which of the "active" partitions have a boot.ini/ntldr/ntdetect.com
trio of boot files.

Print this out and use it as a check list when you post the answers
and please don't run all your lines together.

*TimDaniels*

Sorry about that. There are two hard drives. Disk 0 is jumpered as master.
Disk 1 is jumpered as slave. In Disk management C:\ is labeled primary
partitions, D:\ E:\ F:\ G: H:\ and I:\ are labeled extended logical. G:\,
H:\ and I:\ are on disk 1. The C:\ partition is the active partition. As
far as I know it is the only active partition. The only boot.ini file on my
computer is located in C:\. There is an ntldr and ntdetect.com in C:\ also.
The only other instances of these files are in folders on I:\ that contain
the installation files for xpsp2 and w2ksp4. The boot order in the bios is
cdrom, floppy, hdd0. Where do I find the IDE channel number? Thank you
Bobh

 

[Guest]

:
:
I have w2ksp4 installed on the f partition of drive 0.
I have had xp installed on the g partition of the same drive.
With this setup I could boot to either w2ksp4 or xp with no
problem.


Which partition was marked "active"? That partition
would have been the one that contained the trio of files
(boot.ini, ntldr, and ntdetect.com) that controlled booting.
The boot.ini file in the "active" partition would have
provided the boot menu which you used to designate
which of the 2 OSes loaded/started.


I recently upgraded xp to xpsp2.
Now when I try to boot into w2ksp4 I get an error message that
"systemd" cannot be found. [......]


Which partition is now marked "active"? If partition G is
"active", its boot.ini may not know where to point ntldr to
find WinXP.

The fact that there are "F" and "G" partitions suggest
that there may be other partitions on the hard drive.
What are they and how are they arranged on the disk?
If the number of partitions or their positions have changed,
the ARC paths in the boot.ini file entries may no longer
be valid.


If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com supplied with w2ksp4 I can
boot into w2ksp4 but not to xpsp2.
If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com provided with xpsp2 I can
boot into xpsp2 but not w2ksp4.

If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com provided with xp(original not
sp2) I can boot into either w2k or xpsp2.


What we need now is the arrangement of partitions on the
hard drive - obtainable with the Disk Management utility.
(Rt-clk MyComputer/select Manage/select DiskManagement.)
That will determine whether the "partition()" values in boot.ini
are correct.

We also need to know which partition is marked "active" -
also seen in the Disk Management window. (Check the Status
column in the listing of partitions, or rt-clk a graphic of a partition.
If the drop-down menu says "Mark Partition as Active", it's not
active.) That will tell us which trio of boot files is controlling the
booting.

Then we need the contents of boot.ini in each of the OS
partitions. (Use Notepad and cut 'n paste to put it into a posting.)
That will tell us whether the entries in the boot menu point to the
right locations.

*TimDaniels*

The C drive is the active partition in all cases. [.....]
C: is the first partition on Disk 0.
D:is the 2nd partition on Disk 0.
E: is the 3rd partition on Disk 0
F: is the 4th partition on Disk 0.

G: is the first partition on Disk 1
H: is the 2nd partition on Disk 1.
I: is the 3rd partition on Disk 1.

The boot.ini file is in C:\ in all cases.

In the listing of partitions C: is listed as healthy and system

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT=
"Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS=
"Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect


Thank you for the response. Hope I have provided you with what you need.
As far as I know the only boot.ini is the one above in C:\
Bobh

Well, Bob, your system has sprouted another hard drive when you
weren't looking. You originally said you had one hard drive with
partitions F and G. Could "Disk 1" be an Extended partition on
the same hard drive which contains 3 logical drives, i.e. 3 logical
partitions? Please make that clear.

What do you mean by "The C drive is the active partition in all cases"?
What cases are there?

If you really do have 2 hard drives, I *really* have to know:
1) which partitions are "active"
2) the jumpering and IDE channel no. of each hard drive
3) the boot order of the hard drives (obtainable from the BIOS)
4) which of the "active" partitions have a boot.ini/ntldr/ntdetect.com
trio of boot files.

Print this out and use it as a check list when you post the answers
and please don't run all your lines together.

*TimDaniels*

Sorry about that. There are two hard drives. Disk 0 is jumpered as master.
Disk 1 is jumpered as slave. In Disk management C:\ is labeled primary
partitions, D:\ E:\ F:\ G: H:\ and I:\ are labeled extended logical. G:\,
H:\ and I:\ are on disk 1. The C:\ partition is the active partition. As
far as I know it is the only active partition. The only boot.ini file on my
computer is located in C:\. There is an ntldr and ntdetect.com in C:\ also.
The only other instances of these files are in folders on I:\ that contain
the installation files for xpsp2 and w2ksp4. The boot order in the bios is
cdrom, floppy, hdd0. Where do I find the IDE channel number? Thank you
Bobh

Addendum: Both disk 0 and disk 1 are on the primary ide channel.
Transfer mode : DMA if available for both disk 0 and 1
Current transfer mode: ultra dma mode for both disk 0 and 1
Bobh

 

[Timothy Daniels]

:
I have w2ksp4 installed on the f partition of drive 0.
I have had xp installed on the g partition of the same drive.
With this setup I could boot to either w2ksp4 or xp with no
problem.

I recently upgraded xp to xpsp2.
Now when I try to boot into w2ksp4 I get an error message
that "systemd" cannot be found. [......]

If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com supplied with w2ksp4
I can boot into w2ksp4 but not to xpsp2.
If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com provided with xpsp2
I can boot into xpsp2 but not w2ksp4.

If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com provided with xp
(original not sp2) I can boot into either w2k or xpsp2.


The C drive is the active partition in all cases. [.....]
C: is the first partition on Disk 0.
D: is the 2nd partition on Disk 0.
E: is the 3rd partition on Disk 0
F: is the 4th partition on Disk 0.

G: is the first partition on Disk 1
H: is the 2nd partition on Disk 1.
I: is the 3rd partition on Disk 1.

The boot.ini file is in C:\ in all cases.

In the listing of partitions C: is listed as healthy and system

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT=
"Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS=
"Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect


As far as I know the only boot.ini is the one above in C:\

There are two hard drives.
Disk 0 is jumpered as master.
Disk 1 is jumpered as slave.
In Disk management C:\ is labeled primary
partitions, D:\ E:\ F:\ G: H:\ and I:\ are labeled extended logical.
G:\, H:\ and I:\ are on disk 1.
The C:\ partition is the active partition.
As far as I know it is the only active partition.
The only boot.ini file on my computer is located in C:\.
There is an ntldr and ntdetect.com in C:\ also.
The only other instances of these files are in folders on I:\ that contain
the installation files for xpsp2 and w2ksp4.
The boot order in the bios is cdrom, floppy, hdd0.
Where do I find the IDE channel number? Thank you
Bobh

Your system is poorly arranged. There is no need for any Extended
partitions at all. You have 4 partitions on HD0 and 3 partitions on
HD1. Since each HD can have 4 Primary partitions, you could have
all Primary partitions on both drives. This would also allow the
WinXP partition G to have its own boot files and the HD1 could be
used alone if HD0 should fail. You also installed Win2K in partition F
(seen as partition 4). That is OK, but also non-standard. Most OSes
are put into C:.

Furthermore, C: is the "active" partition and the boot files are there,
yet, both Win2K and WinXP are in other partitions - also pretty
wierd.

But regardless of partition configuration, SP2 installation for WinXP
should not have affected the bootability of either OS. It certainly
did not do so in my system which has many more OSes than yours.
The only thing qualitatively different are your Extended partitions.

As a wild attempt, try replacing the 2nd OS entry in boot.ini with this:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5)\WINDOWS="WinXP" /fastdetect

This views the G partition as partition 5 of HD0.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Guest]

:
:
I have w2ksp4 installed on the f partition of drive 0.
I have had xp installed on the g partition of the same drive.
With this setup I could boot to either w2ksp4 or xp with no
problem.

I recently upgraded xp to xpsp2.
Now when I try to boot into w2ksp4 I get an error message
that "systemd" cannot be found. [......]

If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com supplied with w2ksp4
I can boot into w2ksp4 but not to xpsp2.
If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com provided with xpsp2
I can boot into xpsp2 but not w2ksp4.

If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com provided with xp
(original not sp2) I can boot into either w2k or xpsp2.


The C drive is the active partition in all cases. [.....]
C: is the first partition on Disk 0.
D: is the 2nd partition on Disk 0.
E: is the 3rd partition on Disk 0
F: is the 4th partition on Disk 0.

G: is the first partition on Disk 1
H: is the 2nd partition on Disk 1.
I: is the 3rd partition on Disk 1.

The boot.ini file is in C:\ in all cases.

In the listing of partitions C: is listed as healthy and system

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT=
"Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS=
"Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect


As far as I know the only boot.ini is the one above in C:\

There are two hard drives.
Disk 0 is jumpered as master.
Disk 1 is jumpered as slave.
In Disk management C:\ is labeled primary
partitions, D:\ E:\ F:\ G: H:\ and I:\ are labeled extended logical.
G:\, H:\ and I:\ are on disk 1.
The C:\ partition is the active partition.
As far as I know it is the only active partition.
The only boot.ini file on my computer is located in C:\.
There is an ntldr and ntdetect.com in C:\ also.
The only other instances of these files are in folders on I:\ that contain
the installation files for xpsp2 and w2ksp4.
The boot order in the bios is cdrom, floppy, hdd0.
Where do I find the IDE channel number? Thank you
Bobh

Your system is poorly arranged. There is no need for any Extended
partitions at all. You have 4 partitions on HD0 and 3 partitions on
HD1. Since each HD can have 4 Primary partitions, you could have
all Primary partitions on both drives. This would also allow the
WinXP partition G to have its own boot files and the HD1 could be
used alone if HD0 should fail. You also installed Win2K in partition F
(seen as partition 4). That is OK, but also non-standard. Most OSes
are put into C:.

Furthermore, C: is the "active" partition and the boot files are there,
yet, both Win2K and WinXP are in other partitions - also pretty
wierd.

But regardless of partition configuration, SP2 installation for WinXP
should not have affected the bootability of either OS. It certainly
did not do so in my system which has many more OSes than yours.
The only thing qualitatively different are your Extended partitions.

As a wild attempt, try replacing the 2nd OS entry in boot.ini with this:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5)\WINDOWS="WinXP" /fastdetect

This views the G partition as partition 5 of HD0.

*TimDaniels*

Tim,
Thank you very much for your help. If I make the switch you propose it
might affect booting into xpsp2 but I fail to see how it would affect w2kspr,
the default OS in the current configuration. You are correct, I do have a
strange setup, brought about by installing first wfw, then windows 3.1 then
win 98 , then win98SE , then w2k, then w2ksp4, then xp, and finally xpsp2.
True I have not tried dual booting all of these OS's but I have some of them
with 3rd party boot managers. As I stated in my first message, I was quite
successful with w2ksp4 and xp. My problem is with w2ksp4 and xpsp2. It is
clear from my testing that , at least in my system, the ntldr/ntdetect.com
combination installed with xpsp2 is not compatible with w2ksp4. while the one
installed with xp is. One of these days I will take the time to install xp
and see if I can dual boot with xpsp2 using either the xpsp2 installed
ntldr/ntdetect.com combination or the xp versions. Until then I will just
right a little batch file to switch back and forth. Since I seldom use xpsp2
any way it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Thanks again for your help.
I especially appreciated the quick responses. I'm afraid they came back
quite a bit sooner than I anticipated so I didn't respond with the same
promptness.
Bobh

 

[Timothy Daniels]

:
:
I have w2ksp4 installed on the f partition of drive 0.
I have had xp installed on the g partition of the same drive.
With this setup I could boot to either w2ksp4 or xp with no
problem.

I recently upgraded xp to xpsp2.
Now when I try to boot into w2ksp4 I get an error message
that "systemd" cannot be found. [......]

If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com supplied with w2ksp4
I can boot into w2ksp4 but not to xpsp2.
If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com provided with xpsp2
I can boot into xpsp2 but not w2ksp4.

If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com provided with xp
(original not sp2) I can boot into either w2k or xpsp2.


The C drive is the active partition in all cases. [.....]
C: is the first partition on Disk 0.
D: is the 2nd partition on Disk 0.
E: is the 3rd partition on Disk 0
F: is the 4th partition on Disk 0.

G: is the first partition on Disk 1
H: is the 2nd partition on Disk 1.
I: is the 3rd partition on Disk 1.

The boot.ini file is in C:\ in all cases.

In the listing of partitions C: is listed as healthy and system

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT=
"Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS=
"Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect


As far as I know the only boot.ini is the one above in C:\


There are two hard drives.
Disk 0 is jumpered as master.
Disk 1 is jumpered as slave.
In Disk management C:\ is labeled primary
partitions, D:\ E:\ F:\ G: H:\ and I:\ are labeled extended logical.
G:\, H:\ and I:\ are on disk 1.
The C:\ partition is the active partition.
As far as I know it is the only active partition.
The only boot.ini file on my computer is located in C:\.
There is an ntldr and ntdetect.com in C:\ also.
The only other instances of these files are in folders on I:\ that contain
the installation files for xpsp2 and w2ksp4.
The boot order in the bios is cdrom, floppy, hdd0.
Where do I find the IDE channel number? Thank you
Bobh

Your system is poorly arranged. There is no need for any Extended
partitions at all. You have 4 partitions on HD0 and 3 partitions on
HD1. Since each HD can have 4 Primary partitions, you could have
all Primary partitions on both drives. This would also allow the
WinXP partition G to have its own boot files and the HD1 could be
used alone if HD0 should fail. You also installed Win2K in partition F
(seen as partition 4). That is OK, but also non-standard. Most OSes
are put into C:.

Furthermore, C: is the "active" partition and the boot files are there,
yet, both Win2K and WinXP are in other partitions - also pretty
wierd.

But regardless of partition configuration, SP2 installation for WinXP
should not have affected the bootability of either OS. It certainly
did not do so in my system which has many more OSes than yours.
The only thing qualitatively different are your Extended partitions.

As a wild attempt, try replacing the 2nd OS entry in boot.ini with this:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5)\WINDOWS="WinXP" /fastdetect

This views the G partition as partition 5 of HD0.

*TimDaniels*

As I stated in my first message, I was quite
successful with w2ksp4 and xp. My problem is with w2ksp4 and xpsp2.
It is clear from my testing that , at least in my system, the ntldr/ntdetect.com
combination installed with xpsp2 is not compatible with w2ksp4. while the one
installed with xp is.

Microsoft documentation on multi-booting WinXP with earlier MS
OSes says to do the installs in historical sequence, i.e. WinXP last.
This, of course, would make the most recent boot files the ones used
in the multi-boot process, i.e. those installed in WinXP/SP2, so I doubt
that the WinXP/SP2's boot files would be incompatible with Win2K.
I do suspect that the Extended partitions are part of the problem.
If you have the time and courage, you could use Partition Magic to
convert all the partitions to Primary partitions and re-install WinXP
to get the proper boot files, and then install SP2 on it. Before you
sign off, though, would you verify that the entire *hard drive* portion
of the boot order consists of just one hard drive - HD0 - and that HD1
is not listed? Also, who manufactures your PC and what BIOS does
your machine use?

*TimDaniels*

 

[Guest]

:
:
:
I have w2ksp4 installed on the f partition of drive 0.
I have had xp installed on the g partition of the same drive.
With this setup I could boot to either w2ksp4 or xp with no
problem.

I recently upgraded xp to xpsp2.
Now when I try to boot into w2ksp4 I get an error message
that "systemd" cannot be found. [......]

If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com supplied with w2ksp4
I can boot into w2ksp4 but not to xpsp2.
If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com provided with xpsp2
I can boot into xpsp2 but not w2ksp4.

If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com provided with xp
(original not sp2) I can boot into either w2k or xpsp2.


The C drive is the active partition in all cases. [.....]
C: is the first partition on Disk 0.
D: is the 2nd partition on Disk 0.
E: is the 3rd partition on Disk 0
F: is the 4th partition on Disk 0.

G: is the first partition on Disk 1
H: is the 2nd partition on Disk 1.
I: is the 3rd partition on Disk 1.

The boot.ini file is in C:\ in all cases.

In the listing of partitions C: is listed as healthy and system

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT=
"Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS=
"Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect


As far as I know the only boot.ini is the one above in C:\


There are two hard drives.
Disk 0 is jumpered as master.
Disk 1 is jumpered as slave.
In Disk management C:\ is labeled primary
partitions, D:\ E:\ F:\ G: H:\ and I:\ are labeled extended logical.
G:\, H:\ and I:\ are on disk 1.
The C:\ partition is the active partition.
As far as I know it is the only active partition.
The only boot.ini file on my computer is located in C:\.
There is an ntldr and ntdetect.com in C:\ also.
The only other instances of these files are in folders on I:\ that contain
the installation files for xpsp2 and w2ksp4.
The boot order in the bios is cdrom, floppy, hdd0.
Where do I find the IDE channel number? Thank you
Bobh


Your system is poorly arranged. There is no need for any Extended
partitions at all. You have 4 partitions on HD0 and 3 partitions on
HD1. Since each HD can have 4 Primary partitions, you could have
all Primary partitions on both drives. This would also allow the
WinXP partition G to have its own boot files and the HD1 could be
used alone if HD0 should fail. You also installed Win2K in partition F
(seen as partition 4). That is OK, but also non-standard. Most OSes
are put into C:.

Furthermore, C: is the "active" partition and the boot files are there,
yet, both Win2K and WinXP are in other partitions - also pretty
wierd.

But regardless of partition configuration, SP2 installation for WinXP
should not have affected the bootability of either OS. It certainly
did not do so in my system which has many more OSes than yours.
The only thing qualitatively different are your Extended partitions.

As a wild attempt, try replacing the 2nd OS entry in boot.ini with this:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5)\WINDOWS="WinXP" /fastdetect

This views the G partition as partition 5 of HD0.

*TimDaniels*

As I stated in my first message, I was quite
successful with w2ksp4 and xp. My problem is with w2ksp4 and xpsp2.
It is clear from my testing that , at least in my system, the ntldr/ntdetect.com
combination installed with xpsp2 is not compatible with w2ksp4. while the one
installed with xp is.

Microsoft documentation on multi-booting WinXP with earlier MS
OSes says to do the installs in historical sequence, i.e. WinXP last.
This, of course, would make the most recent boot files the ones used
in the multi-boot process, i.e. those installed in WinXP/SP2, so I doubt
that the WinXP/SP2's boot files would be incompatible with Win2K.
I do suspect that the Extended partitions are part of the problem.
If you have the time and courage, you could use Partition Magic to
convert all the partitions to Primary partitions and re-install WinXP
to get the proper boot files, and then install SP2 on it. Before you
sign off, though, would you verify that the entire *hard drive* portion
of the boot order consists of just one hard drive - HD0 - and that HD1
is not listed? Also, who manufactures your PC and what BIOS does
your machine use?

*TimDaniels*

Tim, As always thank you for the prompt reply. I again went into the bios
and as far as I can determine there is only one harddrive to boot to and that
is the maxtor which is the primary master.
The various operating systems were installed in historical sequence.
This is a home built unit. The mother board is an Asustek P4PE rev 1.xx
Intel 4 pentium 4 2400 processor
1 G ram
Bios: Award software ASUS P4PE ACPI Rev 1007 11/10/2003
I have available 3 sets of ntldr/ntdetect.com. I am listing them by source
and reported size:
w2ksp4 ntldr 214432 ntdetect.com 34724
xp(orig) ntldr 222368 ntdetect.com 45124
xpsp2 ntldr 250032 ntdetect.com 47564

Now, you indicate you have a set that will dual boot between xpsp2 and w2ksp4.
Does your set match any of mine?
Thanks again.
Bobh

 

[Timothy Daniels]

:
:
:
:
I have w2ksp4 installed on the f partition of drive 0.
I have had xp installed on the g partition of the same drive.
With this setup I could boot to either w2ksp4 or xp with no
problem.

I recently upgraded xp to xpsp2.
Now when I try to boot into w2ksp4 I get an error message
that "systemd" cannot be found. [......]

If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com supplied with w2ksp4
I can boot into w2ksp4 but not to xpsp2.
If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com provided with xpsp2
I can boot into xpsp2 but not w2ksp4.

If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com provided with xp
(original not sp2) I can boot into either w2k or xpsp2.


The C drive is the active partition in all cases. [.....]
C: is the first partition on Disk 0.
D: is the 2nd partition on Disk 0.
E: is the 3rd partition on Disk 0
F: is the 4th partition on Disk 0.

G: is the first partition on Disk 1
H: is the 2nd partition on Disk 1.
I: is the 3rd partition on Disk 1.

The boot.ini file is in C:\ in all cases.

In the listing of partitions C: is listed as healthy and system

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT=
"Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS=
"Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect


As far as I know the only boot.ini is the one above in C:\


There are two hard drives.
Disk 0 is jumpered as master.
Disk 1 is jumpered as slave.
In Disk management C:\ is labeled primary
partitions, D:\ E:\ F:\ G: H:\ and I:\ are labeled extended logical.
G:\, H:\ and I:\ are on disk 1.
The C:\ partition is the active partition.
As far as I know it is the only active partition.
The only boot.ini file on my computer is located in C:\.
There is an ntldr and ntdetect.com in C:\ also.
The only other instances of these files are in folders on I:\ that contain
the installation files for xpsp2 and w2ksp4.
The boot order in the bios is cdrom, floppy, hdd0.
Where do I find the IDE channel number? Thank you
Bobh


Your system is poorly arranged. There is no need for any Extended
partitions at all. You have 4 partitions on HD0 and 3 partitions on
HD1. Since each HD can have 4 Primary partitions, you could have
all Primary partitions on both drives. This would also allow the
WinXP partition G to have its own boot files and the HD1 could be
used alone if HD0 should fail. You also installed Win2K in partition F
(seen as partition 4). That is OK, but also non-standard. Most OSes
are put into C:.

Furthermore, C: is the "active" partition and the boot files are there,
yet, both Win2K and WinXP are in other partitions - also pretty
wierd.

But regardless of partition configuration, SP2 installation for WinXP
should not have affected the bootability of either OS. It certainly
did not do so in my system which has many more OSes than yours.
The only thing qualitatively different are your Extended partitions.

As a wild attempt, try replacing the 2nd OS entry in boot.ini with this:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5)\WINDOWS="WinXP" /fastdetect

This views the G partition as partition 5 of HD0.

*TimDaniels*

As I stated in my first message, I was quite
successful with w2ksp4 and xp. My problem is with w2ksp4
and xpsp2. It is clear from my testing that , at least in my system,
the ntldr/ntdetect.com combination installed with xpsp2 is not
compatible with w2ksp4. while the one installed with xp is.

Microsoft documentation on multi-booting WinXP with earlier MS
OSes says to do the installs in historical sequence, i.e. WinXP last.
This, of course, would make the most recent boot files the ones used
in the multi-boot process, i.e. those installed in WinXP/SP2, so I doubt
that the WinXP/SP2's boot files would be incompatible with Win2K.
I do suspect that the Extended partitions are part of the problem.
If you have the time and courage, you could use Partition Magic to
convert all the partitions to Primary partitions and re-install WinXP
to get the proper boot files, and then install SP2 on it. Before you
sign off, though, would you verify that the entire *hard drive* portion
of the boot order consists of just one hard drive - HD0 - and that HD1
is not listed? Also, who manufactures your PC and what BIOS does
your machine use?

*TimDaniels*

I again went into the bios and as far as I can determine there is
only one harddrive to boot to and that is the maxtor which is the
primary master.
The various operating systems were installed in historical sequence.
This is a home built unit. The mother board is an Asustek P4PE rev 1.xx
Intel 4 pentium 4 2400 processor
1 G ram
Bios: Award software ASUS P4PE ACPI Rev 1007 11/10/2003
I have available 3 sets of ntldr/ntdetect.com. I am listing them by source
and reported size:
w2ksp4 ntldr 214432 ntdetect.com 34724
xp(orig) ntldr 222368 ntdetect.com 45124
xpsp2 ntldr 250032 ntdetect.com 47564

Now, you indicate you have a set that will dual boot between xpsp2
and w2ksp4. Does your set match any of mine?
Thanks again.
Bobh

My ntldr has 237,568 bytes, and ntdetect.com hass 49,152 bytes.
When I upgraded my WinXP to SP2, I don't recall having any problem
with dual-booting between WinXP/SP2 and WinXP using the new ntldr.
(I've never used Win2K.) In part of a recent test, I installed a couple
minimal instances of WinXP, and the newest ntldr booted all versions
of WinXP.

In reviewing your postings, I see that you can boot both Win2K/SP4
and WinXP/SP2 if you use the boot files from WinXP. I.e.,
"If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com provided with xp (original not sp2)
I can boot into either w2k or xpsp2." Why don't you just use those?

*TimDaniels*

 

[Guest]

:
:
:
:
:
I have w2ksp4 installed on the f partition of drive 0.
I have had xp installed on the g partition of the same drive.
With this setup I could boot to either w2ksp4 or xp with no
problem.

I recently upgraded xp to xpsp2.
Now when I try to boot into w2ksp4 I get an error message
that "systemd" cannot be found. [......]

If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com supplied with w2ksp4
I can boot into w2ksp4 but not to xpsp2.
If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com provided with xpsp2
I can boot into xpsp2 but not w2ksp4.

If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com provided with xp
(original not sp2) I can boot into either w2k or xpsp2.


The C drive is the active partition in all cases. [.....]
C: is the first partition on Disk 0.
D: is the 2nd partition on Disk 0.
E: is the 3rd partition on Disk 0
F: is the 4th partition on Disk 0.

G: is the first partition on Disk 1
H: is the 2nd partition on Disk 1.
I: is the 3rd partition on Disk 1.

The boot.ini file is in C:\ in all cases.

In the listing of partitions C: is listed as healthy and system

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(4)\WINNT=
"Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS=
"Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect


As far as I know the only boot.ini is the one above in C:\


There are two hard drives.
Disk 0 is jumpered as master.
Disk 1 is jumpered as slave.
In Disk management C:\ is labeled primary
partitions, D:\ E:\ F:\ G: H:\ and I:\ are labeled extended logical.
G:\, H:\ and I:\ are on disk 1.
The C:\ partition is the active partition.
As far as I know it is the only active partition.
The only boot.ini file on my computer is located in C:\.
There is an ntldr and ntdetect.com in C:\ also.
The only other instances of these files are in folders on I:\ that contain
the installation files for xpsp2 and w2ksp4.
The boot order in the bios is cdrom, floppy, hdd0.
Where do I find the IDE channel number? Thank you
Bobh


Your system is poorly arranged. There is no need for any Extended
partitions at all. You have 4 partitions on HD0 and 3 partitions on
HD1. Since each HD can have 4 Primary partitions, you could have
all Primary partitions on both drives. This would also allow the
WinXP partition G to have its own boot files and the HD1 could be
used alone if HD0 should fail. You also installed Win2K in partition F
(seen as partition 4). That is OK, but also non-standard. Most OSes
are put into C:.

Furthermore, C: is the "active" partition and the boot files are there,
yet, both Win2K and WinXP are in other partitions - also pretty
wierd.

But regardless of partition configuration, SP2 installation for WinXP
should not have affected the bootability of either OS. It certainly
did not do so in my system which has many more OSes than yours.
The only thing qualitatively different are your Extended partitions.

As a wild attempt, try replacing the 2nd OS entry in boot.ini with this:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5)\WINDOWS="WinXP" /fastdetect

This views the G partition as partition 5 of HD0.

*TimDaniels*

As I stated in my first message, I was quite
successful with w2ksp4 and xp. My problem is with w2ksp4
and xpsp2. It is clear from my testing that , at least in my system,
the ntldr/ntdetect.com combination installed with xpsp2 is not
compatible with w2ksp4. while the one installed with xp is.


Microsoft documentation on multi-booting WinXP with earlier MS
OSes says to do the installs in historical sequence, i.e. WinXP last.
This, of course, would make the most recent boot files the ones used
in the multi-boot process, i.e. those installed in WinXP/SP2, so I doubt
that the WinXP/SP2's boot files would be incompatible with Win2K.
I do suspect that the Extended partitions are part of the problem.
If you have the time and courage, you could use Partition Magic to
convert all the partitions to Primary partitions and re-install WinXP
to get the proper boot files, and then install SP2 on it. Before you
sign off, though, would you verify that the entire *hard drive* portion
of the boot order consists of just one hard drive - HD0 - and that HD1
is not listed? Also, who manufactures your PC and what BIOS does
your machine use?

*TimDaniels*

I again went into the bios and as far as I can determine there is
only one harddrive to boot to and that is the maxtor which is the
primary master.
The various operating systems were installed in historical sequence.
This is a home built unit. The mother board is an Asustek P4PE rev 1.xx
Intel 4 pentium 4 2400 processor
1 G ram
Bios: Award software ASUS P4PE ACPI Rev 1007 11/10/2003
I have available 3 sets of ntldr/ntdetect.com. I am listing them by source
and reported size:
w2ksp4 ntldr 214432 ntdetect.com 34724
xp(orig) ntldr 222368 ntdetect.com 45124
xpsp2 ntldr 250032 ntdetect.com 47564

Now, you indicate you have a set that will dual boot between xpsp2
and w2ksp4. Does your set match any of mine?
Thanks again.
Bobh

My ntldr has 237,568 bytes, and ntdetect.com hass 49,152 bytes.
When I upgraded my WinXP to SP2, I don't recall having any problem
with dual-booting between WinXP/SP2 and WinXP using the new ntldr.
(I've never used Win2K.) In part of a recent test, I installed a couple
minimal instances of WinXP, and the newest ntldr booted all versions
of WinXP.

In reviewing your postings, I see that you can boot both Win2K/SP4
and WinXP/SP2 if you use the boot files from WinXP. I.e.,
"If I use the ntldr and ntdetect.com provided with xp (original not sp2)
I can boot into either w2k or xpsp2." Why don't you just use those?

*TimDaniels*

Tim: I did not emphasize this but when I used that combination IE was very
unstable. I would keep getting messages like: We are sorry IE has
encountered an unknown problem. Please send us ...: So I sent in the
information but of course I have not (nor did I expect to) heard any thing.
That was with the latest IE (6.1 something). I'll see if I can find somebody
with copies of ntldr and ntdetect.com your size and see if they will work
with w2ksp4 and xpsp2. Do you know what causes the difference in size? Is it
machine dependent or just different versions? Thanks again for the help.

bobh