Dual Booting - Drive Letters and Hiding Partitions

[Zxian]

Hey everyone,

Don't know if this is in the right place... please move it if it isn't.

I've got a quick question about dual booting. I've done some searching, but nothing's come up with what I'm looking for.

I've got the trial version of Win2K3 and my copy of XP Pro. I'd like to set up my system so that when I choose my OS (either by the default boot.ini method or a boot loader) it loads into that OS and has the OS installation partition set as C:\ and the other system's partition is hidden.

What would be the best way of going about this? Are there any good boot managers that will allow me to do this easily?

I've tried installing XP first and then 2K3, but then the partitions don't show up as I'd like them...

The reason I'd like to do this is because I'm thinking of setting up my system as a server (either with Win2K or Win2K3...) but also being able to play games in XP. When I install games in XP after the above mentioned, they try to put themselves on the wrong partition...

Thanks for any help!

[praveenkumar_ht]

Hey everyone,

Don't know if this is in the right place... please move it if it isn't.

I've got a quick question about dual booting. I've done some searching, but nothing's come up with what I'm looking for.

I've got the trial version of Win2K3 and my copy of XP Pro. I'd like to set up my system so that when I choose my OS (either by the default boot.ini method or a boot loader) it loads into that OS and has the OS installation partition set as C:\ and the other system's partition is hidden.

What would be the best way of going about this? Are there any good boot managers that will allow me to do this easily?

I've tried installing XP first and then 2K3, but then the partitions don't show up as I'd like them...

The reason I'd like to do this is because I'm thinking of setting up my system as a server (either with Win2K or Win2K3...) but also being able to play games in XP. When I install games in XP after the above mentioned, they try to put themselves on the wrong partition... 

Thanks for any help!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

you can try bootitng

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/bootitng.html

[jaclaz]

You need a boot manager with the ability to hide partitions BEFORE the NTLDR/BOOT.INI/NTDETECT.COM take control (and you will need TWO primary partitions, each with a OS install).

That I know of there are these FREEWARE solutions:

1) XFDISK

minimal

(needs a DOS diskette)

http://www.mecronome.de/xfdisk/index.php

2) gnu grub

http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/

http://gnuwin.epfl.ch/apps/grub/en/index.html

lots of features, non-graphical

3) XOSL

http://www.ranish.com/part/xosl.htm

FULLY graphical, lots of features, mouse support

There are some other ones, the smallest I found was this one:

PARTITA

http://www.pedrofreire.com/crea1_en.htm

that fits ENTIRELY in the first 512 bytes

jaclaz

[Zxian]

Hey there,

Thanks for the replies. I'll look into some of the boot managers listed.

I'm wondering about the second thing on my wishlist. Is there any way of hiding the partition for XP while I'm installing 2K3? Are any of these boot managers capable of setting up OS partition "groups"? i.e. When an OS is loaded, this group of partitions are visible.

Thanks again for the help.

[jaclaz]

Just read my post above.

That is the reason (hiding partitioning and having two different partitions as C:) why you need another bootmanager.

In all other cases the XP/2003 built-in NTLDR would have been enough.

jaclaz

[Zxian]

I did read your post above, and I had tried setting up the system with BootItNG, but when I went to install the second OS, the first partition showed up still, listed as C:.

Is there perhaps a guide where I can find more information on how to set this up properly?

Thanks again for your help.

[jaclaz]

No, sorry, but you did not read my post.

I did not provide the suggestion of BootItNG (not that it is not good, but it is not Freeware).

I gave you the links to three different programs that would achieve the hiding of the other partitions at bootup.

However you can do it manually, just to try.

Have a look at the info you can find here:

Basically, you need TWO PRIMARY PARTITIONS.

To make them you will need a third party tool, a freeware one is Ranish Partition Manager, but there are many other (not freeware) and even the XFdisk linked above can do it, though it is less "exact" in sizes.

Both partitions should be formatted (either FAT, FAT32 or NTFS) you can do it during the installation of the first OS or using some utility.

One of the two partitions will become marked "Active" i.e. the value 80 will be written in the related partition entry.

This partition will get letter "C:", the other one will get letter "D:".

In your BOOT.INI file there will be an entry similar to this one:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows="Microsoft Windows XP"

this means that the System directory is to be found on the 1st partition "partition(1)" of the first hard disk "multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)", see an explanation here:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=43610

and links.

Now you use for example this FREEWARE:

Beeblebrox

http://students.cs.byu.edu/~codyb/

to:

1) remove the "80" active state from the 1st partition and write it to the s2nd (in the boot column)

2) if you want to hide the partition you set (in the Type column) a "hidden type value:

NTFS non hidden=07 NTFS hidden=17

FAT non hidden=06 or 0e FAT hidden=16 or 1e

FAT32 non hidden=0b or 0c FAT32 hidden=1b or 1c

see here:

http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/partitions/partition_types-1.html

Reboot from OS installation CD (the 2nd OS) and redo the above.

Now you install one of the three bootmanagers I linked to.

Before doing ANY of the above, you should make certain that you have understood HOW the booting process works, and how the partitioning and formatting is made:

http://www.ranish.com/part/primer.htm

Though it is aimed to a different scope, you might find this small tutorial of mine interesting:

http://home.graffiti.net/jaclaz:graffiti.n...B/USBstick.html

Also, the partition hiding is not strictly necessary, if you change the active partition setting, that partition will be "C:" and the other one will be "D:", leters will be reversed when you cahnge settings back.

jaclaz

[Zxian]

Hey jaclaz,

Thanks for the info.

I had read your post, and looked at the boot managers that you listed, but I mentioned BootItNG since it can also hide partitions on bootup (as per the website). I tried for a while to get Partita to work, but I couldn't figure out how to actually install it on the harddrive. I had a Win98 boot disk with all the required files, but no luck. I'll give it another shot with GRUB, since it seems to have the best documentation.

I also remember reading that if a partition is located beyond the 1024 cylinder boundary, it will not be bootable. Does this refer to the active partition, or just the system partition?

As it says on the site regarding partition types:

07 Windows NT NTFS

It is rumoured that the Windows NT boot partition must be primary, and within the first 2 GB of the disk.

Thanks again for your help!

[jaclaz]

I also remember reading that if a partition is located beyond the 1024 cylinder boundary, it will not be bootable. Does this refer to the active partition, or just the system partition?

That is true up to a certain point, it was a limit of the BIOS on elder machines (accessing HD through INT13 in CHS instead of LBA), see here:

http://www.essaysample.com/essay/000982.html

it should not apply on modern PC's/OS's.

07 Windows NT NTFS

It is rumoured that the Windows NT boot partition must be primary, and within the first 2 GB of the disk.

The partition where (talking about NT based systems) NTLDR, BOOT.INI and NTDETECT.COM reside MUST be PRIMARY.

The actual OS files (i.e. /WINNT or /WINDOWS ) can be on another partition, that can be either Primary or a Logical Volume inside an Extended Partition, but this does not apply in your case, if you want to have two alternate partitions, BOTH of them MUST be PRIMARY.

Installing Partita is quite simple, you must boot from the diskette while having BOTH partitions visible, then:

partita <-shows partition info->

partita /1:BIG <-names the first partition ?BIG?->

partita /2:small <-names the second partition ?small?->

partita /d:1 <-sets partition #1 as default->

partita /t:30 <-sets the timeout before default partitio is chosen->

partita /1-234 <-when partition #1 is chosen, 2,3 and 4 are hidden->

partita /2-134 <-when partition #2 is chosen, 1,3 and 4 are hidden->

As said, you should try the settings are correct before going on.

If you need to manually set the partition table from the DOS diskette, you can use Ranish Partition Manager.

jaclaz

[Zxian]

Ok, I'll give this a shot over the weekend when I've got some free time.

Thanks for all the info and help! Much appreciated!

[jaclaz]

You are welcome.

Post results.

jaclaz