Windows reads boot.ini from wrong partition

[Marc M]

Hi guys,

I'm using WinXP (Home) on my System.
To keep my System clean (which I need for office) i've mirrored the
primary XP-Partition (let's call id hd0.0 for convenience) to another
partition on the same drive (for gaming and testing - hd0.1).

I'm using a partition manager (grub) to select the boot partition on
startup. Until this time i was only able to boot the original
installation on hd0.0, but not the mirrored one.
So I had to edit the boot.ini file and add the two XP installations here
too.

Now I can choose my first partition hd0.0 in the Grub-Boot-Manager and
boot my first XP-Installation. Then i have to "confirm" my selection a
second time, when the Windows Bootloader appears.

When I try to boot my second WinXP installation hd0.1 (for gaming) i
have to choose it in the grub-bootloader AND also in the following
XP-Bootloader :-(

When I try to select one Installation in the primary bootloader and
choose the other installation in the XP-Bootloader the system crashes.

A bit weird is: I did not install a XP-Bootloader on my second
Installation and it was not installed at the time i've mirrored the
first partition to the second one.
So - no matter from which partition i am starting: Windows reads it's
own bootloader always from the first partition (and does not even bother
that the first partition is hidden when i'm trying to boot from the
second partition...)

So my guess is, that i have "mirrored" the information where on the disk
windows searches its bootloader - and so it loads it from the same place
regardless which partition i'm booting.

I've also tried to fix this problem with the bootfix-tool from the
recovery console with the result that windows does not even detect a
valid filesystem on the partition i have just *aahmm* "fixed"...
(By the way - is there a workaround for this strange behaviour of bootfix?)

Both copies do work so far - but I have always sit in front of the box
and select the boot-partition twice - and it drives me mad...

After uncountable long nights of reading and testing I'm running out of
ideas - well and patience...

Do you have any ideas how to tell windows to load the boot.ini (and
everything that depends on it) from that partition I'm trying to start
from - without reinstalling Windows XP for the second partition?

Is there perhaps any static byte in the bootsector of the
XP-Installation whicht points to the partition from that windows loads
it's bootloader - so i could easily change it with an diskeditor?

Thanks a lot for some ideas,
-Marc-

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Marc,

In Windows XP, you can only have one system volume (Windows calls the volume
containing the boot files the system volume, and the one containing the
system files the boot volume) regardless of the number of installations. You
would need to use a bootloader (other than grub) that can effectively "hide"
each installation from the other, and allow the mirrored one to "see" itself
as the sole installation on C: (if it sees itself as anything else, it may
not boot correctly). One solution would be BootIT NG from
terabyteunlimited.com.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Marc M]

Hi Rick,

thanks a lot for your hints.
When I piece the informations together i could get windows to work in
the desired way when i fake the partitiontype-id of the "rival"
partition at boot time to something that windows can not handle (for
example a ext3 linux partition)?

Well - I'll give it a try...

-Marc-

 

[Timothy Daniels]

I'm using WinXP (Home) on my System.
To keep my System clean (which I need for office) i've mirrored the
primary XP-Partition (let's call id hd0.0 for convenience) to another
partition on the same drive (for gaming and testing - hd0.1).

I'm using a partition manager (grub) to select the boot partition on
startup. Until this time i was only able to boot the original
installation on hd0.0, but not the mirrored one.
So I had to edit the boot.ini file and add the two XP installations here
too.

Now I can choose my first partition hd0.0 in the Grub-Boot-Manager
and boot my first XP-Installation. Then i have to "confirm" my selection
a second time, when the Windows Bootloader appears.

When I try to boot my second WinXP installation hd0.1 (for gaming) i
have to choose it in the grub-bootloader AND also in the following
XP-Bootloader :-(

When I try to select one Installation in the primary bootloader and
choose the other installation in the XP-Bootloader the system crashes.

A bit weird is: I did not install a XP-Bootloader on my second
Installation and it was not installed at the time i've mirrored the
first partition to the second one.
So - no matter from which partition i am starting: Windows reads it's
own bootloader always from the first partition (and does not even
bother that the first partition is hidden when i'm trying to boot from
the second partition...)

So my guess is, that i have "mirrored" the information where on
the disk windows searches its bootloader - and so it loads it from
the same place regardless which partition i'm booting.

I've also tried to fix this problem with the bootfix-tool from the
recovery console with the result that windows does not even
detect a valid filesystem on the partition i have just *aahmm*
"fixed"...
(By the way - is there a workaround for this strange behaviour
of bootfix?)

Both copies do work so far - but I have always sit in front of the
box and select the boot-partition twice - and it drives me mad...

After uncountable long nights of reading and testing I'm running
out of ideas - well and patience...

Do you have any ideas how to tell windows to load the boot.ini (and
everything that depends on it) from that partition I'm trying to start
from - without reinstalling Windows XP for the second partition?

Is there perhaps any static byte in the bootsector of the
XP-Installation whicht points to the partition from that windows
loads it's bootloader - so i could easily change it with an diskeditor?

Have you tried to set up each WinXP installation as a mono-boot?
When you cloned the first OS onto the 2nd partition, the initial
startup of the clone recognized the first OS and edited the boot.ini
file to give the option to start either OS. I would try to re-edit the
boot.ini file back to a mono-boot condition by removing the entry
for the other OS. That is, remove the entry in the first OS's boot.ini
that points to the second partition, and remove the entry in the second
OS's boot.ini that points to the first partition. After you verify that the
correct OS is appearing in the boot menu when you use grub to
select the partition, you can edit the timeout value in each boot.ini
back to 0.

OTOH, all this may be crap. Try it and let me know.

*TimDaniels*