Trying to set up Dual boot Windows XP & Windows 2000

[David Deley]

I'm trying to set up a dual boot system with Windows XP on one partition
and Windows 2000 on the other partition. So far it hasn't worked. When I
install the 2nd OS, the 1st OS stops booting.

So I'm looking into Boot Manager programs. They talk about "hiding" one
partition to make things work. If I set up a dual boot with a Boot
Manager program, then when I boot into one OS, will I still be able to
access files from the partition the other OS is on?

 

[John John]

In which order are you installing the operating systems? If you install
Windows 2000 after Windows XP it will replace the ntldr version that was
installed by XP and replace it with its own. The Windows 2000 version
of ntldr cannot boot Windows XP, make sure that you have the XP version
of the file in the root of the active partition (usually C:\).

John

 

[Jim Robin]

Dunno if this will help but I did the same on one of my PCs - It had XP
installed and I installed win2000 on another partiton. Doing that meant
that I "lost" the XP boot but found that using the "repair" utility on the
XP CD fixed it again!

Good luck,

Jim

 

[philo]

I'm trying to set up a dual boot system with Windows XP on one partition
and Windows 2000 on the other partition. So far it hasn't worked. When I
install the 2nd OS, the 1st OS stops booting.

So I'm looking into Boot Manager programs. They talk about "hiding" one
partition to make things work. If I set up a dual boot with a Boot
Manager program, then when I boot into one OS, will I still be able to
access files from the partition the other OS is on?

No...don'd bother to use a 3rd party boot manager.

Install win2k first.
during the initial part of the installation divide the disk up into two
partitions.

Install win2k on the first partition.
after it's installed, install XP on the second.
by default your system will dual boot and XP will be the default...
but the default OS can easily be changed if desired


that's all there is to it...no 3rd party utilites are required

 

[John John (MVP)]

The Microsoft instruction is to always install the older operating
systems before the newer ones. In the case of Windows 2000 and XP it
doesn't really matter but keep the following in mind:

1- If you set up your dual boot by following the typical Microsoft
instructions Windows 2000 will be installed on the Active (System)
partition. The shared system files Boot.ini, NTDETECT.COM & ntldr will
also be in the root folder on this partition.

2- The Windows 2000 version of the shared files NTDETECT.COM & ntldr
cannot boot a Windows XP installation, the Windows XP version of those
files are aware of Windows 2000 and can boot the older operating system.
When you install Windows XP after Windows 2000 is installed the XP
installation routine will replace these file with the XP versions. If
you install of Windows 2000 after XP is installed or if you do an
in-place upgrade (repair install) of Windows 2000 after XP is installed
it will replace the XP version of the files with the older Windows 2000
versions. After the installation or the repair you have to replace
those files with the XP versions, the files can be extracted from the
Windows XP cd.

John

 

[John John (MVP)]

See inline:

I really mean it, I'm a total Ludite...

Thanks John, just a little more clarification if possible.

You said:

"The Microsoft instruction is to always install the older operating
systems before the newer ones. In the case of Windows 2000 and XP it
doesn't really matter but keep the following in mind:

1- ..... The shared system files Boot.ini, NTDETECT.COM & ntldr will
also be in the root folder on this partition."


The XP repair was run just before I got the message that my question
had been answered. XP then booted up and I have been able to also
leave it, boot up 2000, leave it and back to XP. So it looks like the
dual boot is working.

When you repaired XP it replaced the Windows 2000 version of the shared
system files, if you were to now repair Windows 2000 it would replace
the files again with its version and once again Windows XP would no
longer boot. To fix this without a repair install of XP you need only
replace ntldr and NTDETECT.com with to ones from the XP CD or from the
XP i386 folder on the XP drive.

But, I keep getting from one faction, that because the systems have
their own hard drives, order of installation shouldn't matter. I have
read about order of installation and everything seems to indicate older
system first, with a partition. You mention partition in your reply.

It doesn't matter, if you do a dual boot installation the Microsoft way
there will only be one System drive, the files ntldr, NTDETECT.COM &
Boot.ini will be located in the root folder of the System drive. What I
said about the installation order and shared System files applies
whether you are installing Windows to different partitions on a single
hard disk or to separate hard disks. Open the Disk Management tool when
you are booted to one or the other Windows installations and you will
see that the System Drive remains the same, only the Boot drive changes.
To open the Disk Management tool enter diskmgmt.msc in the Start
Menu Run box.

I understand partition to mean a partitioned hard drive which the OS
share.

But in this system, they're not, they've each got their own hard
drive.

The have their own partition on separate hard drives, yes they do reside
on dedicated hard drives but they both boot using the same ntldr,
NTDETECT.COM & boot.ini files. Search for these files and they should
only be in the root folder of one of the hard disks. When your computer
boots it follows a "Boot Order" unless you change this order in the BIOS
it will always boot to the same hard disk and the same Active partition.
When your computer boots to the selected hard disk it launches the ntldr
file found there and ntldr will read the boot.ini file and present you
with the boot menu asking you which operating system you want to boot.
When you make a selection it will then start the Windows installation on
the appropriate hard disk and partition. Look for the boot.ini file on
your computer, it should only be found in the root folder of only one of
the drives. Boot.ini is a hidden system file, you may need to change
the Folder View options to see the file. Open the file with notepad and
look at the contents and you will see the boot paths to your operating
systems.

What am I and others in the household not getting?

Are there some components of both programs that have to share space
somewhere outside of their respective hard drives, and that is what
causes the problem?

Yes, as I said earlier, both operating systems share and use the same
ntldr, NTDETECT.COM & boot.ini file, they both share the System partition.

I'd rather get the difference of opinion settled so everyone knows the
answer and why it has to be done one way. Not with a partitioned hard
drive, but with each OS having its own hard drive.

All hard drives are partitioned, even if there is only one partition on
the drive it is still a partition. A hard disk without partitions
cannot be used.

We should make sure that we are on the same page and that we use
the same terms else we will all be hopelessly confused! The Microsoft
nomenclature defines the following:

*Boot Partition*
The boot partition contains the Windows operating system and its support
files. By default, the Windows operating system files are in the WINDOWS
folder, and the supporting files are in the WINDOWS\System32 folder. On
Windows NT and Windows 2000 the operating system files are in the WINNT
folder, and the supporting files are in the WINNT\System32 folder.
The boot partition can be, but does not have to be, the same as the
system partition. There will be one, and only one, system partition, but
there will be one boot partition for each operating system in a
multi-boot system.

Note On dynamic disks, this is known as the boot volume.

*System Partition*
The system partition refers to the disk volume that contains the
hardware-specific files that are needed to start Windows, such as Ntldr,
Boot.ini, and Ntdetect.com. The system partition can be, but does not
have to be, the same volume as the boot partition.

Note On dynamic disks, this is known as the system volume.

John

 

[Kate]

I have a dual HD laptop with that came with XP Pro. I'd like to have a
dual boot with Vista. I installed Vista on the second drive but it
wouldn't finish the install after the first reboot. So I swapped drives,
installed Vista on what was now the first drive. It couldn't find XP. I
swapped back and it can find but won't boot Vista. It says it's not
complete or some such and if I choose that option (over Older Version of
Windows) it takes me to the System Restore screen
Kate

 

[John John (MVP)]

Try setting the boot order (in the BIOS) to the Vista hard drive first
then see if you can add the XP installation to the Vista Boot loader
with this: http://www.vistabootpro.org/

John