Re: Can I boot of an XP System disk, nested in a logical volume

Thank's for your quick response.

We'll that settles it, I'll boot of Partition Magic or some other kind of
magic and fix it that-a-way.

Regarding MBR remembering: It's been a long time since I messed with
partitions like this, but in the back of my head I have this fragment about
boring registry hands-on editing, 'derived Disk ID's' and the 'Master Boot
Sector' -- that's S as in 'Senile'. Oddly enough, something as quaint as '4
bytes' and '01B8h' also pop's up, when thinking about it. Any idea?

A follow-up on drive letter assignments: Is it possible that a cloned 'XP
system disk' could end-up as a 'Blue Screen of Death' -- not knowing which
partition it actually belongs to?

A final question: Is there an environment variable in XP that tells me where
the boot-up actually happens?

// MPT

"John John" wrote:

See inline for more comments and answers.

First we should make sure that we are on the same page and that we use
the same terms else we will all be hopelessly confused! The Microsoft
nomenclature defines the following:

*Boot Partition*
The boot partition contains the Windows operating system and its support
files. By default, the Windows operating system files are in the WINDOWS
folder, and the supporting files are in the WINDOWS\System32 folder.
The boot partition can be, but does not have to be, the same as the
system partition. There will be one, and only one, system partition, but
there will be one boot partition for each operating system in a
multi-boot system.

Note On dynamic disks, this is known as the boot volume.


*System Partition*
The system partition refers to the disk volume that contains the
hardware-specific files that are needed to start Windows, such as Ntldr,
Boot.ini, and Ntdetect.com. The system partition can be, but does not
have to be, the same volume as the boot partition.

Note On dynamic disks, this is known as the system volume.


*Logical Drive*
A volume you create within an extended partition on a basic disk. A
logical drive can be formatted and assigned a drive letter. Only basic
disks can contain logical drives, and a logical drive cannot span
multiple disks.

For the purpose of this discussion when referring to basic or MBR disks
the terms partition and volume are interchangeable. However, when
referring to Dynamic Disks the term volume is solely used, Dynamic Disks
do not contain partitions, they contain Dynamic Volumes or Logical Volumes.


A CP/M to XP/P-traveller wrote:

Hi, I'm in a bit of a fix.

I have a non-working Windows XPP-system disc (assigned C:) and I have a
clone of that one on a secondary HDD (assigned D:). Non-working, of course.
Accoring to support, both C: and D: requires "a bit of registry tweaking" and
a Windows 98-startdisk -- using that specific version of /fixmbr. Something
that I'm not going to do.

So, in a logical volume, I have a freshly installed, working and active
Windows XPP-system disc (assigned E:) -- or at least %SYSTEMROOT% says so. An
E-disc I'm hoping to keep as a final C:-disc, if all goes well.

That won't happen. The boot volume must always keep the drive letter
assigned to it when Windows was installed. If you want to change the
drive letter onto which Windows is installed you must reinstall the
operating system. Furthermore, when Windows is installed drive letter
assignments are based on the order in which the drives are enumerated
and on a predetermined set of rules. Based on the predetermined set of
rules a logical drive can practically not or almost never be assigned
drive letter C:. Perhaps you mean something else by the term "logical
volume", see above for definitions.


Question 1: Can I boot of a logical volume with a system disc (E:) in it?

Once again, we need to make sure that we are using correct terms, see
above for definitions. Windows can be installed and booted on a logical
volume and the boot volume letter assignment does not matter. The
System volume however cannot be a logical volume, it must be an active
primary partition.


Question 2: Deleting the C: and D:-discs (primary partitions) won't XPP MBR
still 'remember' the then deleted C: and D:-disc, keeping me stuck on a E:
assigned-system disc?

The MBR does not store or remember drive letters. Drive letters are
stored in the Mount Manager's database. The Mount Manager's database is
stored in the registry at:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices

Keeping the Mount Manager's database in the registry ensures drive
letter persistence on NT operating systems. As long as the disk
signature remains the same and as long as the drive letter assignments
remain in the Mount Manager's database the drives will persistently keep
their letter assignment. The point is moot however because the drive
letter onto which Windows is installed cannot be changed anyway.


Question 3: Is it possible to *** safely *** convert the logical disc into a
bootable dynamic volume, keeping the E:-system disc intact and working?

I assume you mean "basic" disk? Yes, but you cannot have multiple
operating systems (multi-boot) on the disk. When you convert the disk
to dynamic the partition entries for all but the current Boot and System
partitions will be removed.


I might add, I want to keep it as Windows XPP standard as possible; no boot
managers or the likes.

It's too late for that, your setup is hardly standard as it is now and
it will be barely standard after you convert the disk to dynamic!

John

References/Sources:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/100525
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306559
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314470
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/234048
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309044
And The Windows 2000 Help Files.

.

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