Re: Installing a second operating system on a second drive

Hii Pegasus. You do not have any Partitions active when you start the install of Windows 2000 except the one you are goiing to install Windows 2000 on. If it is not on the Primary IDE Channel harddrive then so be it. Windows 2000 setup will see that partition as C wherever it is.

You switch between the two OSs when the native Windows 2000 boot loader comes up. That is because the small partiton will be active when the Windows 2000 Setup is done. Windows takes care of that.

You do NOT hide the small boot partition. It is not necessary or relevant. The ONLY active partition is the one you are going to put Windows 2000 on before Windows 2000 setup. It's not active so not an issue.

The boot loader (3rd party) I mention is one way to go I am not arguing with that. I just was pointing out a 3rd party boot loader is not necessary. Windows 2000 has one and it works. It will also see his other install by default of the new Windows 2000 setup. Everything will be good to go after the new install.

The small boot partion can be 7MB which is FAT12. The startup files will occupy about 500Kb. The same is true for Windows 2003 but because of its bug it needs the small boot partion to be over 25MB. Go figure!!!

--
George Hester
_______________________________
"Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@xxxxxxx> wrote in message news:OSMIXDzZFHA.1152@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> What you propose is an interesting approach to multi-booting.
> What you have not really explained is how you're going to
> switch between the two OSs, each of which must be visible on
> drive C:. You also did not say how you will hide the small
> boot partition. I have the tools to do it but does the OP have
> them?
>
> All of this is quite nicely and automatically handled by the
> boot loader I suggested. I'm aware, of course, that everyone
> has his preferences. When I'm given two equivalent choices
> then I will always go for the one that follows the KISS
> principle - that's why I mentioned XOSL.
>
>
> "George Hester" <hesterloli@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:%23eE%23WZyZFHA.720@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Not really. The Windows 2000 Boot loader is good enough. If you want the
> install on a drive that is not on the Primary IDE channel AND you want it to
> be C then you need to make a small partition on the Primary Channel
> Harddrive 15MB is good enough for Windows 2000 (55MB for Windows 2003 is
> enough - in point of fact this is a bug in Windows 2003 - but who cares?) at
> the beginning of the harddrive. Then when you are ready to install the op
> sys and before you do, you have to make that partion on the other drive the
> Active Partition. That has to be the ONLY active partition. Then that
> partition will show as C when you choose it in Winsdows 2000 Setup. Trouble
> is Windows 2000 will not let you install there because it is not on the
> Primary IDE channel. It will tell you it needs to write a small set of
> startup files to the Primary IDE Channel harddrive. That is where your
> small partition comes into play. You choose that. (This part is a little
> tricky flollowing the correct prompts) The install should also see your Op
> sys you have now. The Boot Loader native to Windows 2000 is sufficient to
> choose the particular op sys you want to boot.
>
> Now how are you going to do this partition manipulation? Let me know if
> that is what you want to do I'll tell you how to do it. It requires a
> trick. You make an Active Partition on the Primary IDE drive. Then you
> make the partion on the other harddrive Active. Then you go back and delete
> the partion you made active on the Primary IDE harddrive. Software used to
> do this will complain. Point is NO PARTITION at all on the Primary IDE
> harddrive can be Active. Ignore it.
>
> --
> George Hester
> _______________________________
> "Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:#Lo#ZikZFHA.2984@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >
> > "Testpilot Mike" <Testpilot Mike@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
> message
> > news:D972E905-7353-4FF3-8C30-83B9A3C65E41@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > > I have three harddrives on my computer. One of the three has an
> operating
> > > system, win2K pro. How can I install win2K Pro on a second harddrive.
> All
> > the
> > > drives are formatted.
> > > Thank You, Mike R.
> >
> > Simple:
> >
> > - Boot the machine with your Win2000 CD.
> > - Select the destination for the second Win2000 when prompted.
> >
> > Note that the second copy of Win2000 will have a system drive
> > letter of D: or E:. This means that it must always run under that
> > drive letter. It therefore relies on the presence of drive C:. If
> > you want a truly modular multi-booting installation, with no
> > dependencies, then you must use a third-party boot manager,
> > e.g. XOSL (free!).
> >
> >
>
>

.

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