How to make XP / Vista dual-boot Independently

[spacesurfer]

Since E: is active, when booted with grub4dos in the menu.lst I did not see the makeactive directive

for (hd0,0) partition. So when booting Vista (hd0,0), C: will not be assigned to (hd0,0) but to (hd0,2).

Is is correct? And then it would cause problem to Vista. Maybe same problem when booting from XP (hd0,1).

Am I missing something?

I doesn't matter which partition is active. That is irrelevant when using Grub4Dos.

If Vista is C: and XP is D:, then booting Vista will make Vista C: and booting XP will make XP D:. However, booting XP may make Vista something else, like E: but that can be changed in disk management.

So, you do not need a makeactive directive.

[Prognathous]

Very nice configuration. Is there a way to modify it so that a D:\ partition (for data, user profiles etc...) is squeezed in between the XP partition (on C:\) and the Vista and WinPE ones (on E:\ and F:\ respectively)?

Prog.

[zzzz]

Anyone knows how to make the active drive (the one that has the OS booted) become drive C?

Like before I had Vista on C and XP on D (if I'm using vista). When I booted to XP, the XP drive became C and Vista drive became D.

But now (after a new reinstallation), they stay the same regardless what OS I boot into. Why is that?

[ailef]

the easy way i use is the boot bios menu

i install xp with no other hd installed then i unpplug the xp hd and plug the vista hd to install then i choose on the bios menu which hd i want to boot on.

so if one or the other got a prob i can boot anyway on the working OS.

[spacesurfer]

Anyone knows how to make the active drive (the one that has the OS booted) become drive C?

Like before I had Vista on C and XP on D (if I'm using vista). When I booted to XP, the XP drive became C and Vista drive became D.

But now (after a new reinstallation), they stay the same regardless what OS I boot into. Why is that?

I believe your D: drive is a partition on the same drive, right? If so, go to disk management console and choose to make your vista partition and make it active. then, when you install vista (which you will have to reinstall), it should pick up that partition as your C: partition, AFAIK.

[netizen]

Bit confusing for me, but your presentation is very good, and I try to understand reading again and again, and try to install both OS. Thanks for your work.

[barkoopman112]

Hello World!

There's something i try to achieve but it's not going the way i want it to go. I'm stuck =P

I've read many forums and all I found was the advise not to do what i want to do. But that doesn't bring me forward. I'm aware of the risks and i'm trying to keep them at a zero level.

ok, i think you're ready for my question by now.

I want to create a dual-boot, both vista. One vista to work on, one to play games. When I want to play a game want to put the work vista into hibernate, and boot into the game OS. When i finish gaming I could just restart my pc and go on working. The two OS'es don't share partitions or drives to prevent problems when awaking from hibernate.

The problem is that vista disables the dual-boot option when going into hybernate. Is there a way to by-pass the hybernated OS and boot into the Game-OS?

I would really like it if it's possible..

Is it possible with the TS solution?

[bboy_sonik]

If anybody wants an alternative, I use a boot manager called XOSL which is about a million times more simple. But of course, a little research is required.

XOSL allows me to boot Server 2008 on my main partition, XP on my THIRD partition, and OSX on my second harddrive =)

I could never get grldr to work the way I wanted it, but this is a good guide! Anywho, for all those interested check it out at http://www.ranish.com/part/xosl.htm it works very well and its 100% free =) Peace

EDIT:

Is there a way to by-pass the hybernated OS and boot into the Game-OS?

Sorry, there isn't. It's impossible. Somebody once figured out how to do it by editing the MFT to make it NOT boot the hibernated system, but then when they restored the original sctor blocks to "resume" the hibernated OS they always got BSOD's. Bummer. This is something I spent days researching friend, I know it's hard but just get over it and it'll be easier

Edited January 12, 2009 by bboy_sonik

[setedivento]

Hey Spacesurfer, thank you for your guide, that's exactly what i was looking for!!!

Just a little hint:

you did not specify to copy ntdetect.com to E: . without it in E:, the only ntldrxp and boot.ini files won't allow Windows Xp to boot up....

thanks again! bye!

Edited February 4, 2011 by setedivento

[Guest Blueberries]

i install xp with no other hd installed then i unpplug the xp hd and plug the vista hd to install then i choose on the bios menu which hd i want to boot on.

[Cixert]

On 7/27/2008 at 12:26 AM, zzzz said:

Anyone knows how to make the active drive (the one that has the OS booted) become drive C?

Like before I had Vista on C and XP on D (if I'm using vista). When I booted to XP, the XP drive became C and Vista drive became D.

But now (after a new reinstallation), they stay the same regardless what OS I boot into. Why is that?

Caution only change the letter if the operating system previously used another letter. The letter change means that Windows does not find the paths of many files and does not work well.
The drive letter is determined within the operating system registry.
Part 1:
Change the drive letter from the operating system itself:
-Start+run+regedit
-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices
-To change C: to D:
\DosDevices\C: rename to \DosDevices\Z:
\DosDevices\D: rename to \DosDevices\C:
\DosDevices\Z: rename to \DosDevices\D:
-Restart.

Part 2:
Changing the drive of one operating system from another operating system.
Edit the registry remotely:
-Start+Run+regedit
-Select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
-Go to menu File+Load subtree
-Find the SYSTEM file in the folder of the other operating system (on XP \WINDOWS\system32\config)
-Load SYSTEM and choose any name.
-Follow the steps indicated in part 1.
-Select the loaded subtree.
-Go to menu File+Download subtree.

Edited March 22, 2023 by Cixert