dual boot

[billyboy]

I currently have my disc partitioned into 3 segments. Winme is in my "C"(fat32) xphome is in my "D" (ntfs)and "E"is for storage. It has worked fine until the other day.I booted up and all I got was a boot "ini" failure and a "hal.dll" failure. I was able to recover the xp but my system no longer gives me the option for dual boot and won't boot into "C" at all,it boots right through to "D". I can still access my "C" partion from xp. Does anyone know of a way to recover my system to dual boot?I think it should just be a matter of getting the right file(s) in the right place. None of my drives were backed up.

[CptMurphy]

Well, your boot.ini file, which is in the drive which holds your %systemroot% folder, was rewritten to only have on OS as an option. For example, your's should proabably look like this:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows ME "

FYI, home can't be configured with ntfs.

[billyboy]

Thanks for the reply m3n70r. Initially I had installed winme in "C" first and installed xp in "D".Both partitions were fat32. I got a message one day while ripping a movie that said something like"I needed to convert to ntfs to be able to use all available space" or something like that. I looked up how to convert fat32 to ntfs and that was probably a big mistake but I went forward with it and everything was fine. The only difference seemed to be the fact that I could no longer see my "D" partition while I was in winme. Other than that it was okay until the other day when it screwed up.

The only partion that I converted was "D"

[CptMurphy]

Yea, the thing is that ntfs can't read fat and the same way around.

[jaclaz]

If I get it right, you have C: (Primary Active Partition) which is FAT32 where it resides Windows ME.

You have D: which is NTFS where it resides XP.

You somehow repaired Windows XP and you lost the option to boot into ME, but booting into XP works as expected.

What you are missing is a bootsector for WinME to be added to the NTLDR menu, i.e. in BOOT.INI.

You can make such a bootsector with BOOTPART:

http://www.winimage.com/bootpart.htm

1) Download it and unzip it in a directory on your C: drive, say C:\BP

2) Under XP open a command prompt and navigate to that directory

3) Issue the command BOOTPART without parameters, it should show a list of your partitions

4) Run BOOTPART WINME C:\BOOTSECT.WME "Windows Millennium Edition"

5) Reboot, you should be able to get the choice to boot into Windows ME

For reference, read these:

http://forum.winimage.com/viewtopic.php?t=278

http://forum.winimage.com/viewtopic.php?t=276

http://forum.winimage.com/viewtopic.php?t=281

jaclaz

[billyboy]

Hi jaclaz. I will try that solution out later on today. Hopefully I can get it back without formatting my "C". By the way.........if I do have to format my "C" and reinstall winme, if My dual boot would automatically return on bootup? Thanks

[billyboy]

Problem is now resolved! I tried the bootpart and it said that it was rewritten but that did not seem to change the boot options or the fact that it booted to xp only. Idid however, access my system files in "C" and opened up my msconfig to look at what it was showing. I clicked on system restore and low and behold there was a restore point there from a few weeks ago. I let the system restore to that date and my dual boot is back and everything is fine. Hopefully this will help others with dual boot systems where at least one is accessible. Thanks for all your help! Does anyone know how to reinstall the hair I pulled out? lol