Add two more WinXP installations to already existing system

[xabbuu]

Hi folks,

I have the following problem which I think can be solved with the PLoP Bootmanager but not being a computer expert I need some guidance on the how to ...

My present situation:

- Off-the-shelf WinXP Prof installation on Samsung HDD
- HDD seems to be faulty (periodically requires CHKDSK, low level HDD diagnostics reveals some errors and suggests low level formatting)


That's what I want to end up with:

- I want to have two new WinXP installations on a new HDD which do not see each other (one for serious work, one for online gaming)
  (By the way, do I need two WinXP licences for that?)
- However, I want to keep the old system running until the new installations works fine
- I want to be able to either boot the old system or one of the two new installations

Is it possible to accomplish that with the boot manager? If yes, what would I have to do? I would very much appreciate your advice.

Thanks!

[Elmar]

yes its possible, did you read this example?
http://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager.html#ex1

i an give you additional help if you want.
make a backup of all your data before you start

regards
elmar

[xabbuu]

Hi Elmar,

Thanks for your quick reply. Yes, I read this example. As far as I understand, that's the way I should proceed to have 2 WinXP installations on one HDD which do not know from each other.

The question remains: How do I include the existing WinXP-Installation on the 2nd HDD into the boot manager?

Thanks for your help!

[Elmar]

you mean?

first harddisk: 2 new xp
second harddisk: the old xp

[xabbuu]

Yes, the second HDD (with old XP) will be removed by the time that the the new systems are running properly.

[Elmar]

for the xp on the second harddisk you have to select an empty profile
name set to "xp old" or whatever
visible to yes
linked partitions: on hdb, partition 1 press "b"

esc for saving
thats all.

don't forget, you have to setup your boot.ini that xp boots from the second hard disk

[xabbuu]

...
don't forget, you have to setup your boot.ini that xp boots from the second hard disk

I am afraid, I don't know in which way I have to change the boot.ini of the 2nd HDD ...

[Elmar]

change the rdisk(0) to rdisk(1), but make a new entry for testing to see if it works

example:

Code Select Expand


[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP HD2" /fastdetect


[xabbuu]

Elmar, Thanks for your help so far.
I'll go ahead and see how far I get.
I'll let you know how things are working.

[Elmar]

maybe the ntldr of xp requests a boot.ini on the first hard disk. in this case, add a new entry to the boot.ini's of your new xp's with the rddisk(1) to start the old xp. then you start the old xp with the windows boot menu of your new xp's

[plutino]

Hello.
I've two version of Windows XP installed on two different disks. I installed plop on the first hard disk, and it recognized two os correctly.
If I choose the first version of XP from the plop boot menu, it starts normally. But if I choose the second version, the first version of XP starts again. I tried to change the boot.ini entries (on the first disk and on the second), and it seems to me that always the boot.ini of the first hard disk is used.
How can I start the second XP, avoiding changes to boot.ini of the first disk? Why always the first os is booted?

Thanks.

[Elmar]

aha, ok, then you have to add an entry to the boot.ini of the first harddisk. if you don't want to change the boot.ini of the xp in the first hard disk, then you have to create a small partition with ntldr and a boot.ini to start the xp on the second hard disk.

[plutino]

This means that plop is unable to directly boot a os from the second hard disk?
Can you give me other informations about this?

Thank you.

[Elmar]

This means that plop is unable to directly boot a os from the second hard disk?
Can you give me other informations about this?

no, this means that plop is not able to boot xp from the second hard disk, because xp itself is not able to do this. its no problem for plop to start vista or any linux from the second hard disk because those systems are able to boot from the second hard disk.

btw. if you try to install xp on the second hard disk, it will always create a boot partition on the first hard disk if there is no fat or ntfs partition.

[plutino]

Ok, now it's clear.
I saw that other boot manager, like GRUB, OSL2000, XOSL, can swap the disks, and boot Windows from the second hard disk.
Is this possible to do with plop? Or have you in mind to add this possibility in a future release?

Thanks again.

[xabbuu]

Elmar, Thanks for your help so far.
I'll go ahead and see how far I get.
I'll let you know how things are working.

OK, I got what I wanted to have, at least partially. I now have two installations of Win XP Prof on my new HDD which do not see each other. Everything worked out nicely with your boot manager in that respect - thanks for your nice tool. However, I somehow managed to mess-up the boot sector of my old HDD when I tried to incorporate it into the boot manager. I am afraid the reason is that I chose wrong settings of 'cleared' flags with the old HDD. Now I can't boot anymore from that disk and I don't see any of the files on it when I boot one of the new Win XP installations. While this is not a major desaster since I have backups of most of the files it would still be nice to have access to the contents of this HDD again. In your manual you mention something about a role-back possibility... Is that a complicated procedure?

Thanks!

[Elmar]

has th boot manager the partition data of your xp on the second hard disk imported (hdb1)?

[xabbuu]

has th boot manager the partition data of your xp on the second hard disk imported (hdb1)?

No, the boot manager did not recognize any partition on the second HD. I could not select something like hdb1.

[xabbuu]

Hi Elmar,

have you got any suggestions on how to solve the boot problem with my old HDD? Or how I could access the files on it?

Thanks!

[Elmar]

if there is no hdb1 entry in the partitions menu of the boot manager, then its only possible to access the files when the mbr entry is repaired with the help of the winxp boot sector that is still on the harddisk