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Dual booting Windows 98 & XP: Dual boot command missing?

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by sassomiro, 2004/08/04.

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  1. 2004/08/04
    sassomiro

    sassomiro Inactive Thread Starter

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    Hi to all in this interesting forum site...
    well actually i have 2 OS on my pc Win98 SE & WIN XP,
    I don't know what happened, i lost the opportunity to either choose if i want to boot win98 or winXP, automatically the winXP screen pop up without letting me choose the other OS.
    i don't know if someone can help me with a command that i can get back the choosing options screen.
    any help is really appreciated.

    A nice day to all,
    ==Sasso
     
    sassomiro,
    #1
  2. 2004/08/04
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    To start with - in XP right click on My Computer > Properties > Advanced > Startup and Recovery > Settings.

    At the top of the page check that both your OS's are in the drop down list and that the time to display List of Operating Systems is not set to zero - 30 secs is default.

    If this fails to solve your problem come back.
     
    PeteC,
    #2


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  4. 2004/08/05
    sassomiro

    sassomiro Inactive Thread Starter

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    PeteC thank you for your info, but i did this before, and the 30sec are already choosed.
    i got this command:
    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

    can i add the same command by adding windows 98 on the winXP place?
    and what are these numbers between brackets?
    what are these words stands for?
    Multi(0)? rdisk(0)?

    thx a lot
     
    sassomiro,
    #3
  5. 2004/08/05
    charlesvar

    charlesvar Inactive Alumni

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    Hello sassomiro,

    What it should look like.

    [boot loader]
    timeout=30
    default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
    [operating systems]
    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect
    C:\= "Microsoft Windows"

    Yours:
    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

    In \Windows\pss what does boot.ini.backup look like? - its a notepad file.

    Regards - Charles
     
    charlesvar,
    #4
  6. 2004/08/05
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    This is but one line from your boot.ini file. In My Computer > Properties > Advanced > Startup and Recovery > Settings click on the Edit button - this will open your boot.ini.

    For a single OS you should see 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 Professional" /fastdetect

    For a multiboot system you should see ....

    [boot loader]
    timeout=30
    default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS
    [operating systems]
    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows Longhorn" /FASTDETECT
    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /FASTDETECT /EXECUTE

    What do you see? If no 98 then your boot.ini has got fouled up - back with more later

    BTW Disk(0) is the master drive and the partition no. self explanatory.
     
    PeteC,
    #5
  7. 2004/08/05
    sassomiro

    sassomiro Inactive Thread Starter

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    it looks like there's no 98 in the boot.ini
    if i add the command myself to the boot.ini, shall it recognize the second OS?

    thx again PeteC for your generous knowledge

    Charlesvar, thank you too

    ==Sasso
     
    sassomiro,
    #6
  8. 2004/08/05
    charlesvar

    charlesvar Inactive Alumni

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    Yes, you can do that, but since this is Pro, something I should have taken cognizance of, wait until Pete concurs or not.

    Still would be interested in knowing about the boot.ini.backup file
    Regards - Charles
     
    charlesvar,
    #7
  9. 2004/08/05
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    It can be done if you are confident enough .....

    One Installed Operating System Is Missing from the Startup Menu in a Multiple-Boot Computer

    and

    HOW TO: Edit the Boot.ini File in Windows XP

    Please be aware that I have not used either of these methods and you do so at your own risk. A good backup is essential

    First follow Charles' suggestion - what is in the boot.ini backup ?

    This is to be found in the root drive C:\boot.bak - you will need to go to Tools > Folder Options > View and check 'Show hidden files and folders' and uncheck 'Hide protected operating system files' (remember to reset these settings when you have finished.) to see it. It will open in Notepad.
     
    PeteC,
    #8
  10. 2004/08/05
    sassomiro

    sassomiro Inactive Thread Starter

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    Charles...
    these are from boot.ini

    [boot loader]
    timeout=30
    default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
    [operating systems]
    multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
     
    sassomiro,
    #9
  11. 2004/08/05
    sassomiro

    sassomiro Inactive Thread Starter

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    if it's a risk, i'll forget about it...
    it's my brother's computer, and he's working on it...
    thanks anyhow,

    ==Sasso
     
    sassomiro,
    #10
  12. 2004/08/05
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    It would still be interesting to know what is in the boot.bak file - this may well hold the key to simply restoring the startup menu.
     
    PeteC,
    #11
  13. 2004/08/05
    charlesvar

    charlesvar Inactive Alumni

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    OK, looks good, is this boot.ini.backup?

    The reason I would like to know is if like you someone loses the boot.ini, that they can see what the original looks like.

    BTW, before you make this change or any change to the system, create a manual System Restore point. This also would apply to any process or software install that changes the system.

    That way you can be a bit more bold :)

    Regards - Charles
     
    charlesvar,
    #12
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