[thelist] [OT] Dual-boot XP problems - hiding partitions

[Ken Schaefer]

Hi

Why do you need to hide any partitions? XP Pro has a boot loader that
recognises multiple installs.

That said, your boot.ini file located on your system partition may be
pointing to the wrong partition. However that would usually give you a BSOD.
You can use the Recovery Console (accessible by booting off the Windows XP
CD) to edit your boot.ini file, or you can make a Windows NT book disk (it
needs to contain ntldr, ntdetect.com, a properly configured boot.ini file
etc - so, not a setup disk) to boot to either of your installations.

First however, I would try booting the machine into Safe Mode, and see if
you can find out what's going on, or what's going wrong.

Lastly, I would just use the Windows XP boot loader to manage your multiple
installations. Unless there's something unusual about your installation, you
shouldn't need to hide any partitions.

If you need further help with NT related issues I've found the following
list to be quite helpful:
http://www.sunbelt-software.com/community.cfm (the first list: NTSysAdmin)

Cheers
Ken

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: "Tim Burgan" <burgan at iprimus.com.au>
Subject: [thelist] [OT] Dual-boot XP problems - hiding partitions


: I have Win XP Pro, I decided to dual boot a fresh install of
: Win XP Pro to use some different settings.
:
: I created a new partition, and hid the partition my current
: XP setup is on, and made the new partition active.
:
: Installation worked fine and the new OS booted beautifully.
:
: Then I wanted to get back to old setup and partition,  so I made that
: partition active - BUT I FORGOT TO HIDE THE NEW PARTITION.
:
: The old partition loaded fine - but it recognized new hardware
: controller once loaded.
:
: Now if I hide the new partition, the original OS will not boot - it gets
: stuck on the blue 'Windows XP' welcome screen, but it does not say
: welcome - it just has the Windows logo.
:
: Any help about how I can boot my original OS while the new partition is
: hidden would be wonderful.
:
: Thanks
:
:
: Sorry for the Off Topic post - does anyone know of a email list where
: this post would be more suited?
:
: Tim Burgan