Dual boot problem

I have a PC that was running W98. Installed XP on it. I didn't know it at the time, but the XP installation occured such that afterwards I could dual boot either W98 or XP. That was fine with me.

There are two hard drives in the PC. Disk 1 is 15GB, and Disk 2 is 100GB (which I use for backup). Disk 1 has 3 partitions: C: (W98); D: (data); F: (XP). Disk 2 I use for backups.

The partitions on disk 1 were getting full, so I bought a 40GB drive to replace it. I removed the 100GB disk, and installed the 40GB disk. I created and formatted 3 partitions on it. Then, I copied the files from each of the partitions on disk 1 onto the corresponding partitions on the 40GB disk. I did all that using a utility called "Maxblast4" from Maxtor.

Then, I removed the original 15GB disk, made the 40GB disk the primary disk, and reinstalled the 100GB disk in the PC. Now, it will only boot W98 (it goes right to W98 without displaying the O/S menu). What do I have to do to make it dual boot again?

This is the contents of the boot.ini file located in C:

[boot loader]
timeout=20
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
C:\= "Microsoft Windows 98SE"

NOTE - in the above boot.ini the lines "(3)\WINDOW S... and "...\WINDOWS= "Micro soft..." appear with spaces, but my actual boot.ini file does not have those spaces. I don't know why it shows up that way here.

Thanks.

 

Hi rlambert7.

Since you have placed XP on a new drive without actually installing it, you'll have to do some hot licks to initialize the drive so that it can give support to XP.

There are several ways to do that and since you are experienced you'll be able to judge what's best for you.

You can boot to the recovery Console and run the fixboot fixmbr and bootcfg commands, all of which may be needed.

Another way would be to use XXCLONE (freeware) and invoke its feature of "Make Target Bootable. "

Another way would be to do a repair install to the existing XP partition.

Those are a few ways to fix this issue. You decide which you like best or wait for others to suggest alternates.

The basic need is to get the HD in the shape it would be if XP had actually been installed to it. You may find that the software you used to do the copying of your files can actually do this work for you. I have seen times when the HD installation software asked what OS I planned on using before it proceeded to install the drive. I assume it initialized the drive accordingly at that time.

There you go.

BTW, I can provide you with a boot floppy download that will allow you to test boot the XP partition without doing all this work. That way you can know that you have full hope that it's bootable without the floppy when you make the necessary repairs that have been discussed.

 

BTW, the space that you mentioned in the loader line of your boot.ini file is caused by the software used for this site. There is a way around that as you will see:

[boot loader]
timeout=20
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS= "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
C:\= "Microsoft Windows 98SE"

voila! Click the quote option on this post to see how that is done.

 

Surferdude2, thanks for the info. I downloaded XXCLONE, and installed it, but it doesn't find ANY partitions. FDISK does. How could it be that it couldn't find any partitions?

How can I download that floppy you mentioned?

Thanks.

 

I can't believe that the xxclone program doesn't find any partitions.

That aside, you can download the following executable file to your Desktop:

XP3P1D

Then double click on it and follow the screen directions. It will create a bootable floppy that, when booted, will give you three choices of OS partitions. In your case, boot with that floppy creation in the drive bay and select the 3rd partition. That should get you into Windows XP if all else is well with that drive.

FYI, this floppy will be supplying the MBR and the three bootloader files to enable booting XP. If it does the job, you'll know that the XP installation is bootable and can be repaired to boot without the floppy assisting.

Post back how it goes.

 

After I posted my last question to you I went back and looked at my GOOGLE of XXCLONE. I noticed a link to a forum. I went there, and saw a post that says that might only work with XP. Since my new disk would only boot W98 that's what I had to install it under. I guess I'll have to remove the disks, and put back the original 15GB disk as the primary, so I can boot XP. Maybe XXCLONE will see all of the partitions then.

In the meantime I'll try your download.

BTW is your download like the QBD in XXCLONE?

Thanks.

 

Yes, but not entirely. I made it for your situation specifically. I didn't put the Win98 entry either. If you get booted to XP with it, you can install xxclone to XP and go from there. That was my intent.

 

Well then, I hope I sufficiently and accurately discribed my "situation"

I probably won't try if for a while. I've been sick with a stomach virus(?), and need to go lie down for a bit.

 

You gave me enough info to determine that XP was located on the 3rd partition of the 1st HD (ARC path 0). That was enough.

I'll check you later.

EDIT: the latest version of xxclone is 0.58.0 and should work with Win98.

EDIT: Don't make the mistake of copying the download file to a floppy!!! It is a self executing file that you double click and follow the screen directions. It will ask you to put a blank floppy in the drive bay to write the necessary file to make that a boot floppy.

 

OK. I put my original 15GB disk back in the PC as the primary drive, and the new 40GB disk as the slave. I ran XXCLONE to copy all of the files of my XP partition (F: on the original drive) to the corresponding partition on the new drive (I think it was "I: "). Then, I ran the "Make Target Bootable ". I took out the original drive, and made the new drive the primary drive. I tried to boot, and it DID dual boot! However, there is a bit of a problem. Whether I boot the original drive to XP or W98 the first partition comes up as "C: ". With the new drive, if I boot to W98, the first partition is "C: ", but it's "E:" when I boot to XP.

I noticed XXCLONE has a function to change drive names, but when I tired to change "E:" to "C: ", it says I can't change the system partition. I was able to change the data partition from "H:" to "D: ". Is there any way I can make the first partition be "C:" when I boot XP?

Thanks.

 

Win98 insists on being installed to the first partition of the HD so it is always dubbed the C: drive. XP has no such limitation.

I have never tested the following using Win98 and XP dual boot but I have done it with XP to XP dual boot.

That said, in your circumstance you'll have to edit the proper Registry Key of the XP Registry. It is named:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices

Open that key and in the right pane you will see the drive designations listed like this:

"\\DosDevices\\A: "
"\\DosDevices\\C: "
"\\DosDevices\\D: "
"\\DosDevices\\E: "
"\\DosDevices\\F: "

There will be lots of other data there but pay no mind to it.

Make the change that you desire and reboot for effect. I would recommend that you switch the drive letters of the OS's and not change any others.

In your case it would be swapping E: and C: if I understand you correctly. To do that, first change the present C designation in the displayed string to X, then change the E designation to C, then change the X designation to E.

The X intermediate designation is necessary to avoid duplication of strings and getting a refusal error.

All of this editing is done to the XP Registry. Do not edit the Win98 registry.

 

Thanks for the info. I went and looked in the XP registry and found what you mentioned. Actually, I found the following:

/DosDevices/A:
/DosDevices/C:
/DosDevices/D:
/DosDevices/E:
/DosDevices/F:
/DosDevices/G:
/DosDevices/H:
/DosDevices/I:

I think I need to clarify the situation. When I ran XXCLONE I had both disks in the PC, the original and the new one. In that case "C:" was the W98 partition on the original disk, "D:" was my data partition on the original disk, and "F:" was the XP partition on the original disk. I'm not absolultely certain, but I think "E:" was on the new disk, and it corresponded to the "C:" partition of the original disk. "H:" corresponded to "D: ", and "I:" corresponded to "F: ".

However, right now, there is only one disk in the PC, the new. It looks like the registry is "remembering" the other partitions even though they actually do not exist at the momemt. I think I can probably accomplish what I want to do, but I'm not exactly sure what to do. Here's why I'm puzzled. Right now, with only the one disk in the PC, I have 3 partitons, "E: ". "D:" (it was "H: ", but XXCLONE did let me rename the "H:" to "D: "), and "F: ". I'm puzzled why that one did not come up as "I: ". Can I just delete all the "/DosDevices/" lines but the ones that have "C: ", "D: ", and "F: ", or do I have to change the "/DosDevices/E:" to "/DosDevices/C: ", and delete the line that currently has the "C: "?????

Thanks.

 

Don't let that key info overwhelm you. You can delete the entire main key and it will be recreated on next boot. Then it will only contain the drives currently in use.

As you are seeing it now, it contains all of the past drives that have ever been mounted. It's like a past record and some of it is no longer relevant. You can ignore them or dump them, the system won't be crippled either way.

What you need to keep in mind is that when you boot the XP system you must have the drive letter that it is assigned to agree with what it was when XP was installed. That way all the Desktop shortcuts will point to their proper executables.

If you have any doubts, boot to XP and check some of the Desktop shortcuts properties and verify what drive letter is the target. Change by editing the Registry Key I mentioned if necessary to assign the proper drive letter.

Then reboot and check that the Desktop Shortcuts work as intended.

Obviously, if they work properly now before you make any changes, you should not change the drive letter or else you will lose functionality of a major portion of the installed software. In other words, if the existing shortcuts point to the E: drive and that's the drive letter that is currently assigned, then leave things alone. If however the Shortcuts point to the C: drive and your drive letter is E:, you'll need to edit the Registry as outlined.

 

OK, I think I've got it. Thanks.