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Dual Boot x32 and x64

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by chuckmg, 2005/08/15.

  1. 2005/08/15
    chuckmg Contributing Member

    chuckmg Inactive Thread Starter

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    I have a new PC running Windows XP Pro x64. Have been running Windows XP Pro in my old computer. Was planning on installing WindowXP Pro on new x64 PC in a new partition. I was then planning to restore the C-drive from my old PC into the x32 partition on the new PC in order to avoid having to reload all applications again. Is this feasible? Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

    Chuck
     
    chuckmg,
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  2. 2005/08/16
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    Chuck
    No problem there - I currently triple boot to XP Pro SP2 / XP Pro x64 / Windows Vista Beta 1.
    This is not possible - when an application is installed many components of that application are installed to Windows folders - hence it is not possible to copy applications from one install of an OS to another.

    It may be possible to clone the old C drive to the new partition using Ghost or similar, but the hardware is not the same and I think there would be problems.

    Best bet is to bite the bullet and start feeding CD's into the m/c :)
     
    PeteC,
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  4. 2005/08/16
    chuckmg Contributing Member

    chuckmg Inactive Thread Starter

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    Thanks Pete. But now I have a worse problem. In trying to load Windows XP, I must of messed up where the system is trying to boot from. Now when I try to boot, just before Windows should come up I get a blank screen. About all I can get up are the System Settings, the Boot menu, and the Recovery console.

    About all I can think of is to reinstall Windows XP x64 in the empty boot partition which is where I think the system is trying to boot from and then correct things from there. I was trying to use Boot Magic when I ran into the problem which is why I think the system is trying to boot from the wrong/empty partition. I re-installed Windows XP x64 from a current image file and that succeeded ... but didn't help the booting problem.

    What software do you use for dual-booting?

    Chuck
     
    chuckmg,
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  5. 2005/08/16
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    In Recovery Console try running fixmbr and fixboot or use the Boot Magic emergency disk - if you made one.
    No third party software - Windows sorts it out. If you load, say XP then boot from the x64 CD and indicate where it should be installed Windows generates the boot.ini to cover both installs and a menu on boot to select which OS to boot. Add a third OS and Windows does the same. This is true, AFAIK for 32/64 bit systems, but if Win 98 is one of the OS's it should be loaded first - it is very difficult to load it after XP.
     
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  6. 2005/08/16
    chuckmg Contributing Member

    chuckmg Inactive Thread Starter

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    Have a problem with fixboot since if, in Recovery console, I do a 'dir c:', it brings up the x32 & not the x64 boot partition. The x64 C-partition can not be accessed. Since my data is on disk-1, not disk-0, maybe I should just reformat the drive and start over. What do you think?

    Chuck
     
    chuckmg,
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  7. 2005/08/16
    chuckmg Contributing Member

    chuckmg Inactive Thread Starter

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    I restored x64 and then reinstalled x32. x32 installed fine but has no support for 2 monitors. I thought that support was in Windows XP Pro.?? On the PC running x32, I installed a Matrox dual-mode adaptor way back before Windows XP. Both monitors are active under x64, same machine. Do I need to get a different driver?

    When I try to boot x64, I get a message that "Windows root\system32\ntoskrnl.exe is either missing or corrupted. Please re-install" I re-copied ntoskrnl.exe from the x64 CD but when I reboot, I get the same message. ??

    Restored x64 again. Now Windows XP Pro x64 boots but Windows XP Pro is no longer on the boot menu. To say I am a little confused is putting it mildly.

    When x64 was restored, I indicated that it was the active partition.
     
    chuckmg,
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  8. 2005/08/17
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    First option is to check out the boot.ini and try an edit (back it up first :)). Your boot. ini should look something like this ...

    Code:
    [boot loader]
timeout=5
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" /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN /FASTDETECT
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(7)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows Longhorn" /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN /FASTDETECT /USENEWLOADER
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(5)\WINDOWS= "Windows XP Professional x64 Edition" /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN /FASTDETECT
    The above example is from my m/c which, as I posted previously, is triple boot. NB - the default timeout is 30 secs, I set mine to 5 and Window s in the second line should be Windows - this is a quirk of the Board.

    Basically ignore the Longhorn line - my default boot is to XP Pro and thus comes first - your's is x64 and should be first. Do note the spaces before the forward slash towards the end of the lines.
     
    PeteC,
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  9. 2005/08/17
    chuckmg Contributing Member

    chuckmg Inactive Thread Starter

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    Pete,

    Many thanks. Changing boot.ini did it!

    Cheers,
    Chuck
     
    chuckmg,
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  10. 2005/08/17
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    Great news - thanks for the update!
     
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  11. 2005/08/18
    chuckmg Contributing Member

    chuckmg Inactive Thread Starter

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    Pete,

    This only because I forgot to rate this thread.

    Chuck
     
    chuckmg,
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