multiple copies of XP on one disk?

On my old system I installed and ran 2 versions of win 98 via bootmagic.

I would like to do similar on a new laptop I've bought with XP (however there is no XP installation CD just a "recovery" CD so I presume I cannot "install" a second copy).

Is it feasible to use partitionmagic to partition my laptops disk into 2 or 3 then
1. use Norton Ghost to create an image of the (original but shrunk) partition containing XP.
2. use that image to create a second copy of XP in the new empty partition.
3. Set up bootmagic to make the 2 XP partitions invisible to each other and an option to boot using eithe partition.

I have a vague recollection of having to do something similar once with Win 98 - I've a feeling PM complained about duplicate vol labels but gave me the opportunity to change one of the labels.

Is XP as straight forward as Win 98 for dual booting multiple versions?

Thanks for any advice

 

The way you have described it should be able to work. Bootmagic will have to hide the first partition when you are booting to the second partition. However, an easier way to do this would be to just edit the BOOT.INI file after you put the image on the second partition.

If the second XP installation is on the second partition you would add a line that reads like this:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect

If the existing file says partition(1) the new one is (2), or if the existing is (2) make the new one (3).

With this setup you will be bale to access files from either partition.

DRD

 

I copied the boot drive to a second physical drive once and XP detected it on re-boot and automatically set the dual boot up without me taking any further action. Sometimes this stuff is easier than we imagine! I'm guessing the same thing would happen if you copied to another partition of the same drive.

http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?p=67711#post67711

(That was prior to the BB crash when I had another id.)

 

Thanks for the comments guys. It sounds like it will be straight forward so I will give it a go.

 

I have just one question.

Why would you want two copies of the OS on THE SAME HD ?? It does not make sense to be. Because an HD crash and they are BOTH gone.

BillyBob

 

Um - I thought this might raise some eyebrows.
I'm new to XP and perhaps I'm still thinking in Win98 terms - on which I found 3 sep copies very useful ,one for my son who could do what he liked without "endangering" my version, and a "test" environment where I might have things like apache webserver and mysql installed (I once found I had been infected by a trojan in this "account" - despite my cautious nature ). It was also easy to run ghost in one Windows partition to restore another.

I know XP provides improved separation of users and security - however many of my friends systems have still been "infected" by their kids(??) despite having latest patch state, firewall, AV, BHO/start-up guards etc.
I may be wrong but in these circumstances a second copy of XP (with a common data area partition) may still be of use to me - and as my ultralight laptop only has one disk the second XP copy has to go there.

This is the wrong thread but talking about security - advice seems to be to access the internet from XP with a non admin user. However when I changed my parents PC so their accounts were no longer admin they were no longer able to print (I seem to recollect that XP said file and printer sharing had to be enabled - but I thought from a security viewpoint this was also a no no) whats the solution?

Cheers

 

XP-home or XP-pro? They require a slightly different approach.

You can set up an XP load so your kids can't cause bad things to happen but it has to be done properly and I'm guessing the friends who've had problems didn't get it just right. Easy enough to do but knowing exactly what to do can be a little tricky.

Also, what version of XP on your parent's machine? No problems giving a non-admin account access to the printer (without file & printer sharing which is only needed if you want to share a printer over a network) but again, home & pro do things a little differently.

 

Thanks for the reply Newt. My parents PC is not networked and runs XP Home.
It was some time ago when I looked at the PC - I changed their users to "Limited" and the printer no longer produced any output (though there was no HP or Windows msg to say it couldn't print) when users were changed back to admin printing was okay again (tried this a few times). I have a vague recollection that on trying to find the problem XP "told me" I needed to set file/printer sharing (but I didn't try it to see if solved problem).

You say there is no problem giving access to printer - have I missed something - do I have to grant access to printer?

I don't expect I'll get to the bottom of this - and I am away for 8 weeks from Sun so I am not going to be able to have another look.

Cheers

 

XP-home only allows security tweaks if you boot to safe mode and log on using the administrator account so you need to do that.

Then open the printer folder, right-click on a printer and in properties you should see a security tab (not shown in normal mode on XP-home). Add the account they use to log on and give it permissions and they should be good to go.

Here is what the window looks like on XP-pro and I think the XP-home one is similar or identical. I need to double check from home since these pics are from my work system and using a network printer rather than one physically connected to my local PC. If it is very different I will put up a new set of pics but I think this is pretty much what you will be seeing.

 

Thanks Newt, very clear explanation - I will give it a go when I get back from my travels.

 

I have a question or two.

If as wrigs1 wants to do by having more than one copy of XP on the same HD, How does System Restore handle this. ?

By doing this aren't a lot of references to various things going to be wrong ?

Won't they still point to the original positons on the original C: drive ?

And if some things are changed in the original, won't it make problems for the 2nd copy that was made using an image ?

BillyBob

 

Well you could be right.

I'm in Hungary at mo, so cant get at details but:

I partitioned my disk (data areas + to partitions for 2 copies of xp), cloned a copy across to the new partn, relabled the partn vol lab so wouldn't be the same as orig.

used boot magic to hide original c drive from new "c" partition.
but when I boot into 2nd copy of xp it aborts saying missing file (cant remember which tho file IS present on "new c:" partn. This prob did not hapn 4 me on my old system when i did same with win 98.

I was hoping it might just require edit of cloned boot.ini file but from what your saying (in my laymans terms) is that xp uses pointers to physical disc addresses not logical pointers that can be edited?)

cheers