Can I have two systems on one drive

[zakum]

Hi, If I partition my C: drive can I install XP on both, but have each partition a different file system?

The reason I`m asking is I`m sick of the kids screwing my system, so I thought if I install xp on a fat32 for the kids they cannot see my 3 drives which are ntfs.

Does that make sense?

[Takeshi]

Qu1: Yes of course.

But

Qu2: XP using FAT32 CAN see XP NTFS partitions.

Only Win9x FAT32 canNOT see XP NTFS.

[zakum]

Thanks for the quick reply.

Well that doesn`t solve my problem. lol

Have to win the lottery and buy them there own.

[redxii]

Give them their own account and make it a limited user account. Be sure to be using NTFS as well. Then they can only screw with their own account and not beyond it.

[Tylerpestell]

Well, I just started using this great program called BootIt NG and it is an amazing piece of software.

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

With this you would be able to easily configure 2 windows xp installations/partitions one for your kids and one for you. You just select which one at startup.

Then you just configure there Windows xp to not even see your drive using windows disk management.

You could even setup a backup partition so the kids could go crazy on theres and all you would have to do is restart, copy the backup partition to there partition and they are back up and running. Incase you happen to screw up the system, or it is running slow due to any number of reasons, you could also use the backup partition. It is much easier then installing windows XP everytime something goes wrong.

I usually have 3 partitions myself

Windows XP - 5Gb

Windows XP Backup - 5Gb

Files - Whatever is left on the drive

I put all my videos, pictures, documents, desktop on the Files Partition no reason to have all that stuff on the OS partition just makes it harder to backup and restore.

So I guess yours would have 4 if you used my idea.

What do you think?

[Spyvie]

All you have to do is go into administrative tools/computer management/disk management, right click on the partition or drive you want to keep private and tell windows not to assign a drive letter.

Your partition or drive will be invisible to the uninformed in the OS you do this in, give them a user account without administrative permissions to be safe.

I dual boot XP/Vista and I hide each OS partition from the other OS this way, just so program installations don’t get confused.

Edit: sorry, I didn't read the whole thread... what Tylerpestell said.

Edited September 4, 2006 by Spyvie

[zakum]

Thanks for all your comments, I will give it a try

[-I-]

exept for the fact that if you have a 5gb system partiotion you only need so mutch as 2gb (actualy even less but i take it on the safe side), for your backup (using ghost images, with high compression enabled),

[Tylerpestell]

exept for the fact that if you have a 5gb system partiotion you only need so mutch as 2gb (actualy even less but i take it on the safe side), for your backup (using ghost images, with high compression enabled),

You are right, 5gb is a lot for just windows. I was just using that number to be safe, since I don't know how much he messes with Windows. I usually relocate the page file onto the (files)D:\ and disable hibernation. Which leaves my C: usually around 800Mb used. Which makes for much quicker backups/restores.

I found out BootIt NG can save the images to files on any NTFS/FAT32/FAT Partition it doesn't need its own partition. So I only have 2 partitions now C:\ 2gigs and D:\ 248gigs and the image files are only about 400Mb. I would make the C:\ even less but some programs insist on putting somethings on the C:\ like Visual Studio 2005 even though I install it to the D:\ it installs 384Mb of stuff on to the C:\

I would never go back to Norton Ghost after using BootIt NG.

[zakum]

C: drive is 200gig, D and E are 160gig drives

[Aegis]

Remove the NTFS driver from the FAT32 XP. Open up regedit.exe and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Ntfs

Then set the "Start" key to 4. Shouldn't be risky at all if you know what you're doing.

[Takeshi]

Yes you can hide this and that, or set policy (n/a in XP HE) but nothing is absolutely foolproof. Kids are smart and sooner and later they'll find their way to overcome whatever you do. For a start, blanking/resetting the admin password is sooooo easy.

Having a dual boot system is easy to implement and giving the kids limited user accounts would be appropriate. Set appropriate folder permissions and have a good backup strategy. The average home user can manage all these. The more complicated you make it, the higher the chance of something would go wrong.

You might want to consider this:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sharedaccess/default.mspx

[zakum]

Just watched the two films on microsoft, looks very interesting.

Looks like I`ll have to change my Unnatended disk to log in now.

Definately looks good. Thanks again

[Andromeda43]

Just watched the two films on microsoft, looks very interesting.

Looks like I`ll have to change my Unnatended disk to log in now.

Definately looks good. Thanks again

I'm sorry,,,,,did I miss something or do I just not understand the problem?

Windows XP provides everything you need to keep one user out of another users stuff.

Logon passwords take care of the first layer of protection. Then you can lock files and folders on the HD to prevent someone from futzing with them.

Extra dirves, partitions, all that mumbo jumbo don't mean anything.

Use what Microsoft has already given you in Windows XP.

KISS.......(keep it simple stupid)