Two 'versions' of WinXp on the same pc?

[Sumgod]

Hello One & All!

Any info I can glean here will be much appreciated.

Briefly what I want to do is have two 'versions' of WinXp Home on one pc
with a choice of which to boot to.

The first, WinXP1 say, would have all the usual stuff (antivirus, pictures,
mp3s, docs, etc).

The second, WinXP2 say, would only have software for recording audio (i.e.
all other software including antivirus would be uninstalled - got to say I'm
not too sure about leaving off the antivirus but that's the thinking at the
mo').

So when I switch on the pc it would by default boot to WinXP1 unless I chose
(somehow?) to load WinXP2.

How do I go about doing this?

Background: The C drive has been partitioned. The drive with the current OS
is 54.8GB with 6.98GB free. The other partition is also 54.8GB. When/If I
get the two WinXPs installed I can distribute whatever free space there is.
Also got two external hard drives for data.

Options I've considered (having extensively googled):

1. Make a backup of C using Acronis True Image and save to external hard
drive (I've done this). Make an Acronis Rescue Disc (done). Boot from the CD
and 'restore' the image of C to the second partition. Will this work?

2. Clone the C drive using Acronis and install onto the empty partition.
Will this work?

I've seen mention that drive letters may be a problem. See here:
http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/partsigs.htm

Seemingly a way around this is to "clear the table of partitions and drive
letter assignments" using regedit (mentioned in above article - see link).
The article also advises not to let the new XP partition to 'see' the old XP
partition. Unfortunately no advise on how to do this is mentioned.

I would guess someone will suggest setting up a another user account
specifically for recording. Personally I'm not keen on different user
accounts having experienced probs with passwords and settings previously
(though this was on ME!).

Many thanks - Chris

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hello One & All!

Any info I can glean here will be much appreciated.

Briefly what I want to do is have two 'versions' of WinXp Home on one pc
with a choice of which to boot to.

The first, WinXP1 say, would have all the usual stuff (antivirus,
pictures, mp3s, docs, etc).

The second, WinXP2 say, would only have software for recording audio
(i.e. all other software including antivirus would be uninstalled - got to
say I'm not too sure about leaving off the antivirus but that's the
thinking at the mo').

So when I switch on the pc it would by default boot to WinXP1 unless I
chose (somehow?) to load WinXP2.

How do I go about doing this?

Background: The C drive has been partitioned. The drive with the current
OS is 54.8GB with 6.98GB free. The other partition is also 54.8GB. When/If
I get the two WinXPs installed I can distribute whatever free space there
is. Also got two external hard drives for data.

Options I've considered (having extensively googled):

1. Make a backup of C using Acronis True Image and save to external hard
drive (I've done this). Make an Acronis Rescue Disc (done). Boot from the
CD and 'restore' the image of C to the second partition. Will this work?

2. Clone the C drive using Acronis and install onto the empty partition.
Will this work?

I've seen mention that drive letters may be a problem. See here:
http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/partsigs.htm

Seemingly a way around this is to "clear the table of partitions and drive
letter assignments" using regedit (mentioned in above article - see link).
The article also advises not to let the new XP partition to 'see' the old
XP partition. Unfortunately no advise on how to do this is mentioned.

I would guess someone will suggest setting up a another user account
specifically for recording. Personally I'm not keen on different user
accounts having experienced probs with passwords and settings previously
(though this was on ME!).

Many thanks - Chris

There are several ways to do this. One of them works like so:
- Ask your friendly computer dealer for an old disk. 4 GBtyes will
do very nicely.
- Make it your primary master disk and install the free boot loader
XOSL on it.
- Reconnect your existing disk as a slave disk.
- Add your existing WinXP installation to the XOSL boot menu.
- Use Acronis to WinXP to your second partition.
- Instruct XOSL to hide the two installations from each other.

When it's finished and done you will have two completely
independent and mutually invisible installations of WinXP
on your disk. You can select each at boot time. Each will
run off its own drive C:.

There is, of course, a certain amount of detail work to be
carried out. Post again if you wish to go down this track
and need more details.

By the way, your disks are getting dangerously full. You should
have at least 20% spare capacity on each partition.

 

[Anna]

Hello One & All!

Any info I can glean here will be much appreciated.

Briefly what I want to do is have two 'versions' of WinXp Home on one pc
with a choice of which to boot to.

The first, WinXP1 say, would have all the usual stuff (antivirus,
pictures, mp3s, docs, etc).

The second, WinXP2 say, would only have software for recording audio
(i.e. all other software including antivirus would be uninstalled - got to
say I'm not too sure about leaving off the antivirus but that's the
thinking at the mo').

So when I switch on the pc it would by default boot to WinXP1 unless I
chose (somehow?) to load WinXP2.

How do I go about doing this?

Background: The C drive has been partitioned. The drive with the current
OS is 54.8GB with 6.98GB free. The other partition is also 54.8GB. When/If
I get the two WinXPs installed I can distribute whatever free space there
is. Also got two external hard drives for data.

Options I've considered (having extensively googled):

1. Make a backup of C using Acronis True Image and save to external hard
drive (I've done this). Make an Acronis Rescue Disc (done). Boot from the
CD and 'restore' the image of C to the second partition. Will this work?

2. Clone the C drive using Acronis and install onto the empty partition.
Will this work?

I've seen mention that drive letters may be a problem. See here:
http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/partsigs.htm

Seemingly a way around this is to "clear the table of partitions and drive
letter assignments" using regedit (mentioned in above article - see link).
The article also advises not to let the new XP partition to 'see' the old
XP partition. Unfortunately no advise on how to do this is mentioned.

I would guess someone will suggest setting up a another user account
specifically for recording. Personally I'm not keen on different user
accounts having experienced probs with passwords and settings previously
(though this was on ME!).

Many thanks - Chris

Chris:
How does this sound to you?...

I'll assume you're working with a desktop PC and your hard drives are
PATA...

First of all, it's not too clear - at least not clear to me - why you just
don't multi-partition your HDD along the lines you think practical based
upon your anticipated programs & data and let it go at that. Why do you
think you need two hard drives with the identical OS installed on each? Is
your present disk capacity an issue here?

But we'll assume you have good & sufficient reasons for contemplating what
you're contemplating!

Instead of having two instances of the same XP OP on a single HDD, could you
consider purchasing another HDD of whatever capacity you think necessary for
the use you have in mind with that secondary drive? With the cost of hard
disks getting cheaper nearly every day - down to about 25 cents per GB in
today's market - might you consider this? As a matter of fact, since you
mentioned that you have two external HDDs (I'm assuming they're USB
devices), perhaps you might even consider using one of the drives as the
secondary internal HDD assuming, of course, that the disk can be removed
from its USB enclosure without any problems.

In any event, then after installing your new HDD as a secondary HDD in your
system, say as a Slave to your Primary Master HDD or better yet
connecting/configuring that secondary HDD as Secondary Master, use your ATI
program to clone the contents of your primary HDD to the new drive. Delete
from the secondary HDD whatever programs and other data you deem
unnecessary, (ensuring, of course, that you still retain a potentially
bootable OS on that secondary drive) and install what programs & data you
want onto that secondary HDD.

So now you'll have two bootable hard drives, each with the same OS but each
having different programs & data (for the most part). Presumably the system
will boot to the Primary Master HDD (which I'll assume is the drive you
would mostly be working with on a day-by-day basis), however, you would be
able to boot directly to your "secondary" HDD when needed by accessing the
BIOS and selecting that HDD as the bootable drive.

The basic advantage to the above configuration is that the operating systems
would be physically divorced from each other (for the most part) since they
would be residing on separate disks - always a desirable thing when a user
desires this type of configuration. However, when booting to one or the
other drive, the data on both drives could be accessed.

Frankly, in all candor I have to tell you that I'm not at all comfortable
with this whole rigmarole. Having to access the BIOS whenever you would want
to boot into this or that drive is an awkward technique especially if you're
doing this on a common & routine basis. It's workable but not exactly
elegant to my way of thinking. What I would much rather have you do - again,
assuming that for one reason or another you need identical operating systems
on separate hard drives in the same PC - is to use removable hard drives
(mobile racks) to achieve this kind of configuration. That would be the
*real* way to go. But that's another story...
Anna

 

[Sumgod]

There are several ways to do this. One of them works like so:
- Ask your friendly computer dealer for an old disk. 4 GBtyes will
do very nicely.
- Make it your primary master disk and install the free boot loader
XOSL on it.
- Reconnect your existing disk as a slave disk.
- Add your existing WinXP installation to the XOSL boot menu.
- Use Acronis to WinXP to your second partition.
- Instruct XOSL to hide the two installations from each other.

When it's finished and done you will have two completely
independent and mutually invisible installations of WinXP
on your disk. You can select each at boot time. Each will
run off its own drive C:.

There is, of course, a certain amount of detail work to be
carried out. Post again if you wish to go down this track
and need more details.

By the way, your disks are getting dangerously full. You should
have at least 20% spare capacity on each partition.

Pegasus,

Many thanks for your reply and sharing your knoweldge with me. But why do
things have to be so complicated??????? (Banging head against wall!) Time
for a rethink.

Conclusion: This is not as simple as my naivete assumed it to be (also see
Anna's post).

So.........turn the problem around.

I want to:

1. Play music, edit photographs, burn cds/dvds, access the internet, etc and
have the programmes associated with these activities in 'one place';

2. Record multitrack audio in a 'separate place'. Since recording audio is
resource hungry I want to unload as much extraneous (to the recording progs)
software as possible.

Anna seemed to allude to some way of doing this by mentioning partitions
though (relatively) clueless me doesn't quite follow.

Got the feeling that the simplest way might be the user account way. But
would I be able to unload all the non-necessary progs? Might they be simply
hanging about in the background?

Again Pegasus thanks for your help. If you can add any pointers based on
that and the above I'd be grateful.

Regards - Chris

 

[Sumgod]

Chris:
How does this sound to you?...

I'll assume you're working with a desktop PC and your hard drives are
PATA...

First of all, it's not too clear - at least not clear to me - why you just
don't multi-partition your HDD along the lines you think practical based
upon your anticipated programs & data and let it go at that. Why do you
think you need two hard drives with the identical OS installed on each? Is
your present disk capacity an issue here?

But we'll assume you have good & sufficient reasons for contemplating what
you're contemplating!

Instead of having two instances of the same XP OP on a single HDD, could
you consider purchasing another HDD of whatever capacity you think
necessary for the use you have in mind with that secondary drive? With the
cost of hard disks getting cheaper nearly every day - down to about 25
cents per GB in today's market - might you consider this? As a matter of
fact, since you mentioned that you have two external HDDs (I'm assuming
they're USB devices), perhaps you might even consider using one of the
drives as the secondary internal HDD assuming, of course, that the disk
can be removed from its USB enclosure without any problems.

In any event, then after installing your new HDD as a secondary HDD in
your system, say as a Slave to your Primary Master HDD or better yet
connecting/configuring that secondary HDD as Secondary Master, use your
ATI program to clone the contents of your primary HDD to the new drive.
Delete from the secondary HDD whatever programs and other data you deem
unnecessary, (ensuring, of course, that you still retain a potentially
bootable OS on that secondary drive) and install what programs & data you
want onto that secondary HDD.

So now you'll have two bootable hard drives, each with the same OS but
each having different programs & data (for the most part). Presumably the
system will boot to the Primary Master HDD (which I'll assume is the drive
you would mostly be working with on a day-by-day basis), however, you
would be able to boot directly to your "secondary" HDD when needed by
accessing the BIOS and selecting that HDD as the bootable drive.

The basic advantage to the above configuration is that the operating
systems would be physically divorced from each other (for the most part)
since they would be residing on separate disks - always a desirable thing
when a user desires this type of configuration. However, when booting to
one or the other drive, the data on both drives could be accessed.

Frankly, in all candor I have to tell you that I'm not at all comfortable
with this whole rigmarole. Having to access the BIOS whenever you would
want to boot into this or that drive is an awkward technique especially if
you're doing this on a common & routine basis. It's workable but not
exactly elegant to my way of thinking. What I would much rather have you
do - again, assuming that for one reason or another you need identical
operating systems on separate hard drives in the same PC - is to use
removable hard drives (mobile racks) to achieve this kind of
configuration. That would be the *real* way to go. But that's another
story...
Anna

Anna,

Many, many thanks for your extremely detailed, knowledgable and informative
reply. I really do appreciate it.

One thing you've done (and I appreciate this) is to demonstrate that my
naive solution to wanting to record audio separately from other pc
activities (i.e. two version of WinXP) is fairly ludicrous and lacking in
elegance. Oh well, time to think again! (See my reply to Pegasus - post
above)

You stated: "why you just don't multi-partition your HDD along the lines you
think practical".

I'm not sure I follow you totally here Anna.

At the moment I have the internal hard drive partitioned into two (C and
Recording). The two external usb hard drives are partitioned also to archive
data.Ideally what I want to do is separate out the audio recording software
from other software )all are currently in C:\Programs) in order that
recording can be as efficient and glitch free as possible. Achievable?

Thanks again - Chris

 

[M.I.5¾]

Pegasus,

Many thanks for your reply and sharing your knoweldge with me. But why do
things have to be so complicated??????? (Banging head against wall!) Time
for a rethink.

Conclusion: This is not as simple as my naivete assumed it to be (also see
Anna's post).

So.........turn the problem around.

I want to:

1. Play music, edit photographs, burn cds/dvds, access the internet, etc
and have the programmes associated with these activities in 'one place';

2. Record multitrack audio in a 'separate place'. Since recording audio is
resource hungry I want to unload as much extraneous (to the recording
progs) software as possible.

Anna seemed to allude to some way of doing this by mentioning partitions
though (relatively) clueless me doesn't quite follow.

Got the feeling that the simplest way might be the user account way. But
would I be able to unload all the non-necessary progs? Might they be
simply hanging about in the background?

Again Pegasus thanks for your help. If you can add any pointers based on
that and the above I'd be grateful.

A simpler system (from your point of view) might be to get a copy of
Partition Magic (a useful utility in itself). This comes with Boot Magic, a
boot manager. This allows you to set up both of your XP installations as
drive C: with the other being invisible. When you invoke boot manager and
select the other installation, it shuts down the first, hides it, unhides
the second and away it goes. All this happens transparently. Installation
isn't that much more complicated.

The only down side is that the boot manager must be installed on a FAT32
partition, but as you now have Partition Magic, it is easy to set up a small
partition to hold it.

 

[Sumgod]

A simpler system (from your point of view) might be to get a copy of
Partition Magic (a useful utility in itself). This comes with Boot Magic,
a boot manager. This allows you to set up both of your XP installations
as drive C: with the other being invisible. When you invoke boot manager
and select the other installation, it shuts down the first, hides it,
unhides the second and away it goes. All this happens transparently.
Installation isn't that much more complicated.

The only down side is that the boot manager must be installed on a FAT32
partition, but as you now have Partition Magic, it is easy to set up a
small partition to hold it.

Betwixt and between MI5/6,

Thanks for this. I'll make some enquiries (sound like a squeaky booted
copper!)

Ta - Chris

 

[Sumgod]

Hello One & All!

Any info I can glean here will be much appreciated.

Briefly what I want to do is have two 'versions' of WinXp Home on one pc
with a choice of which to boot to.

The first, WinXP1 say, would have all the usual stuff (antivirus,
pictures, mp3s, docs, etc).

The second, WinXP2 say, would only have software for recording audio
(i.e. all other software including antivirus would be uninstalled - got to
say I'm not too sure about leaving off the antivirus but that's the
thinking at the mo').

So when I switch on the pc it would by default boot to WinXP1 unless I
chose (somehow?) to load WinXP2.

How do I go about doing this?

Background: The C drive has been partitioned. The drive with the current
OS is 54.8GB with 6.98GB free. The other partition is also 54.8GB. When/If
I get the two WinXPs installed I can distribute whatever free space there
is. Also got two external hard drives for data.

Options I've considered (having extensively googled):

1. Make a backup of C using Acronis True Image and save to external hard
drive (I've done this). Make an Acronis Rescue Disc (done). Boot from the
CD and 'restore' the image of C to the second partition. Will this work?

2. Clone the C drive using Acronis and install onto the empty partition.
Will this work?

I've seen mention that drive letters may be a problem. See here:
http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/partsigs.htm

Seemingly a way around this is to "clear the table of partitions and drive
letter assignments" using regedit (mentioned in above article - see link).
The article also advises not to let the new XP partition to 'see' the old
XP partition. Unfortunately no advise on how to do this is mentioned.

I would guess someone will suggest setting up a another user account
specifically for recording. Personally I'm not keen on different user
accounts having experienced probs with passwords and settings previously
(though this was on ME!).

Many thanks - Chris

Update: Just found this: http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/thread-423493.php

Seems dual booting two versions of WinXP is possible (least some folks think
so) and fairly straightforward.

Or is it??????

Chris

 

[Ron Badour]

BootIt Next Generation is available from:
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html and it does partitioning,
makes a compressed image, does many other partitioning chores and is a boot
manager. It is not quite as easy to use as Partition Magic but it is half
the cost and has more features. Unlike the crippled PMagic demo, BING is a
*full function* demo you can try for FREE for 30 days. The web site has a
lot of support articles.

It is fairly simple using this software. Basically, you use the
partitioning software to create another primary partition on your drive.
Then hide the current partition containing the operating system before
installing the second instance of XP. You can then use the boot manager to
select which instance of XP will boot. In the past, I have used this
software to dual boot four systems. Now I use MS Virtual PC and install W98
in it so I can use both systems at the same time.

 

[Sumgod]

BootIt Next Generation is available from:
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html and it does partitioning,
makes a compressed image, does many other partitioning chores and is a
boot manager. It is not quite as easy to use as Partition Magic but it is
half the cost and has more features. Unlike the crippled PMagic demo,
BING is a *full function* demo you can try for FREE for 30 days. The web
site has a lot of support articles.

It is fairly simple using this software. Basically, you use the
partitioning software to create another primary partition on your drive.
Then hide the current partition containing the operating system before
installing the second instance of XP. You can then use the boot manager
to select which instance of XP will boot. In the past, I have used this
software to dual boot four systems. Now I use MS Virtual PC and install
W98 in it so I can use both systems at the same time.

--
Regards

Ron Badour
MS MVP 1997 - 2007