Second WinXP installation in same HDD but different partition

[Guest]

I would like to ask if I can install a second Windows XP in my machine. My
machine has one HDD with 2 partitions (C & D). In C partition there is a
Windows XP Professional SP2 OS.

Can I install a FRESH & INDEPENTENT (second) windows XP Pro in the other
partition (partition D) and use the boot menu to choose which copy will boot ?

If this is possible, how it can be done ?

I have the license (2nd license) to do this, so don't send comments like
"Read the EULA etc."

If this cannot be done with Windows XP Pro, Can I do this with Windows 2000
Professional ? how it can be done ? (I have License for 2000 Prof. too)

Thank you in advance
Mattheos Cotzias

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I would like to ask if I can install a second Windows XP in my machine. My
machine has one HDD with 2 partitions (C & D). In C partition there is a
Windows XP Professional SP2 OS.

Can I install a FRESH & INDEPENTENT (second) windows XP Pro in the other
partition (partition D) and use the boot menu to choose which copy will boot ?

If this is possible, how it can be done ?

I have the license (2nd license) to do this, so don't send comments like
"Read the EULA etc."

If this cannot be done with Windows XP Pro, Can I do this with Windows 2000
Professional ? how it can be done ? (I have License for 2000 Prof. too)

Thank you in advance
Mattheos Cotzias

You can easily do it. Just do a normal installation and select the
desired partition when prompted. However, you should be
aware that the native Windows boot manager is very basic. If
you install your second copy of WinXP on drive D: then this is
where it has to remain forever, even if you decide later on that
you no longer need the installation on drive C:. This is frequent
subject in this newsgroup.

To create a truly modular multiple boot installation, where
no OS is dependent on any other OS, you need to take the
time to familiarise yourself with a proper boot loader. XOSL
is one of them, and it's free.

 

[Guest]

Thank you Pegasus.

One more question: Will my 1st XP installation on C or the 2nd XP
installation (the new one) share files, DLLs, settings, user settings, user
profiles etc with the othen installation ? For example if i Delete all files
from D or C will the other system work without any problem ?

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

No. As you said, independent systems. You can use the Files and Settings
Transfer Wizard to copy your settings from the first partition (old
computer) to the second (new computer). You will have to reinstall any
programs you want on both onto the second partition just like you did in the
first.

 

[Timothy Daniels]

One more question: Will my 1st XP installation on C or the 2nd XP
installation (the new one) share files, DLLs, settings, user settings, user
profiles etc with the othen installation ?

No.


...if i Delete all files from D or C will the other system work
without any problem ?

It depends. You can delete data files and uninstall programs
independently, but if you use one partition (in this case, the C: partition)
as the system partition (the one with the boot files) for multi-booting
and you don't designate the 2nd partition as an "active" partition
during installation, the WinXP installation CD *might* not create the
2nd partition with its own boot files, and then the 2nd partition won't
be independently bootable if the 1st partition (C goes away. This
is just a "heads-up" and it might not actually occur. Just check the
2nd partition for boot.ini, ntldr, and ntdetect.com files just below the
root level. If you want the 2 installations to be truly independent with
the ability to back each other up in case of drive failure, you can
install WinXP in 2 hard drives independently, each in a partition
called C:and adjust the boot.ini files in both to include the other as
an option during boot-up. When one boots up, it will be C: and it
will call the other something else - usually D: . This is the equivalent
of making a clone of one installation in another HD and multi-booting
to either of them. I have 5 or 6 clones at any one time resident on
3 drives, and I can boot into any of them using the boot files in any
of them, and I can select which partition within a HD by setting the
"active" flag in that partition and by selecting the HD via the BIOS's
hard drive boot order.

*TimDaniels*

 

[Guest]

I have tried this but without suchess.

I boot with the Windows XP DVD Disc 2428.5 Jan 2005 (Windows XP Professional
with SP1a English) and choose to install a new copy of XP Pro SP1a,
specifying the second partition on my dsik (Partition d. The copy of files
from the DVD to my HDD gone well (in D: there is a new folder "WINDOWS") and
after the copy finished my system re-boot but with no luck. (The Boot menu
now has 2 WinXP.)

But when I choose the new WinXp I get the message :
"Windows could not Start because the following file is missing or corrupt :
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll
Please re-install a copy of the above file"
The file hal.dll is there (D:\WINDOWS\system32\hal.dll dated 31/03/2003
14:00 version 5.1.2600.1106)

Note : my first WinXP installation is a WinXp PRO SP2 (english)

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Let's have a look at the contents of the hidden file c:\boot.ini!

 

[Guest]

boot.ini (located in c:\ root)
------------------------------------------
[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional D:" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional C:" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
--------------------------------------------

Timeout was 1, but I changed to 5 to have time to choose the XP in C:

I think that the problem is that NTDETECT.COM (dated : 31/03/2003 14:00) and
ntldr (dated : 31/03/2003 14:00) or other boot file/sector wants the hal.dll
(and maybe some other dlls too) to be version SP2 and not SP1a. The hal.dll
file in my XP SP2 stup in C: is dated 03/08/2004 21:59 (version 5.1.2600.2180)

I am downloading the Windows XP SP2 ISO from MSDN to give another try.

Any comments are welcomed.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I suggest you modify the number (x) in these two lines:

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(x)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(x)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional"

Change it from (2) to (3) or even to (4). Do not touch the one that
reads (1)!

boot.ini (located in c:\ root)
------------------------------------------
[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional D:" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional C:" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
--------------------------------------------

Timeout was 1, but I changed to 5 to have time to choose the XP in C:

I think that the problem is that NTDETECT.COM (dated : 31/03/2003 14:00) and
ntldr (dated : 31/03/2003 14:00) or other boot file/sector wants the hal.dll
(and maybe some other dlls too) to be version SP2 and not SP1a. The hal.dll
file in my XP SP2 stup in C: is dated 03/08/2004 21:59 (version 5.1.2600.2180)

I am downloading the Windows XP SP2 ISO from MSDN to give another try.

Any comments are welcomed.

Let's have a look at the contents of the hidden file c:\boot.ini!


in
message news:[email protected]... "WINDOWS")
and corrupt
:

 

[Guest]

That didn't help at all.

I will try in a few moments to instal the XP Pro with SP2.

I suggest you modify the number (x) in these two lines:

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(x)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(x)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional"

Change it from (2) to (3) or even to (4). Do not touch the one that
reads (1)!

boot.ini (located in c:\ root)
------------------------------------------
[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional D:" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional C:" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn
--------------------------------------------

Timeout was 1, but I changed to 5 to have time to choose the XP in C:

I think that the problem is that NTDETECT.COM (dated : 31/03/2003 14:00) and
ntldr (dated : 31/03/2003 14:00) or other boot file/sector wants the hal.dll
(and maybe some other dlls too) to be version SP2 and not SP1a. The hal.dll
file in my XP SP2 stup in C: is dated 03/08/2004 21:59 (version 5.1.2600.2180)

I am downloading the Windows XP SP2 ISO from MSDN to give another try.

Any comments are welcomed.

Let's have a look at the contents of the hidden file c:\boot.ini!


in
message I have tried this but without suchess.

I boot with the Windows XP DVD Disc 2428.5 Jan 2005 (Windows XP
Professional
with SP1a English) and choose to install a new copy of XP Pro SP1a,
specifying the second partition on my dsik (Partition d. The copy of
files
from the DVD to my HDD gone well (in D: there is a new folder "WINDOWS")
and
after the copy finished my system re-boot but with no luck. (The Boot menu
now has 2 WinXP.)

But when I choose the new WinXp I get the message :
"Windows could not Start because the following file is missing or corrupt
:
<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll
Please re-install a copy of the above file"
The file hal.dll is there (D:\WINDOWS\system32\hal.dll dated 31/03/2003
14:00 version 5.1.2600.1106)

Note : my first WinXP installation is a WinXp PRO SP2 (english)

 

[Guest]

I tried to install it also from a Windows XP Prof. SP2 CD but the same error
about hall.dll occurs. (see prior post)

Any ideas ?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I tried to install it also from a Windows XP Prof. SP2 CD but the same error
about hall.dll occurs. (see prior post)

Any ideas ?

I suggest you modify the number (x) in these two lines:

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(x)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(x)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP
Professional"

Change it from (2) to (3) or even to (4). Do not touch the one that
reads (1)!

I don't know what's going on but it may be time to pull
the plug and do this thing properly, i.e. with a real boot
manager rather than with the native Windows boot
manager (which is about as basic as they get).

Are you willing to try a different approach? It will cost
you a small amount of time and effort but no money.