Re: Multiple Copies Of XP??

Tech-Archive recommends: Speed Up your PC by fixing your registry

From: buckaroobanzai (buckaroobanzai_at_discussions.microsoft.com)
Date: 12/10/04 

Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 14:23:02 -0800

An excellent set of instructions!!
But what is "MRB"?

"Timothy Daniels" wrote:

> "Brian Graham" wrote innocently:
> > The more that gets installed, the slower the OS gets.
> >
> > I'd like to be able to boot multiple versions of XP
> > so that I can have different OS's for different uses,
> > keeping the gaming partition(s) nice and clean for
> > the fastest possible response.
> >
> > Can this be done?
>
>
> Oooo.... Hot Button topic in a Microsoft newsgroup!
>
> Answer: Yes, you can, and it's easy, but MS feels
> that it is a violation of its EULA to have more than
> one copy of its OSes installed with only one license
> (i.e. one payment to MS).
>
> Here's how to do it: Copy the partition containing
> the OS to a primary partition on the 2nd HD. Include
> the MBR as well in the copying, and tell the utility
> to mark the destination partition "active". With cloning
> utilities such as Symantec's Ghost or Partition Magic,
> this is easy. You can also sign up as a beta tester
> and download a copy of xxClone (from xxClone.com),
> or you can download the free cloning utility from
> Seagate's website which will copy an entire HD's
> contents to a 2nd HD.
>
> Once the copying is complete, shut down the PC.
> DO NOT start up the PC again until you have
> disconnected the original HD - by disconnecting its
> data cable or its power cable. Then start the PC.
> The BIOS will automatically go to the next HD in
> its boot sequence and try to boot the new HD.
> The new HD will appear to have the old OS, and
> it will boot up normally. Then shut down the PC.
> Note that it's important to NOT let the newly-booted
> OS see the old OS or it the new OS will set pointers
> to system files in the old OS and the the new OS
> will thereafter be dependent on the continued
> presence of the old OS in order to function.
>
> After the new OS is booted up, it becomes an
> independent clone (an "adult", if you will), and it
> can thereafter be booted with the old OS visible
> to it. You can now do as you want with the old HD.
> If you reconnect it in place without changing the
> Master/Slave setting via its jumpers or its position
> on the IDE cable, you can at this point do dual-booting
> by just readjusting the boot sequence in the BIOS.
> Whichever HD is at the head of the BIOS's boot
> sequence (i.e. boot priority list) will boot up.
>
> If you want to dual-boot using the WinXP boot
> manager, you will have to add another line to the
> boot.ini file in one or both OSes. (See below
> for boot.ini details.) Upon startup, the HD at
> the head of the BIOS's boot sequence will be
> given control. The ntldr program in its "active"
> partition will look at its boot.ini file and go to the
> partition that boot.ini directs it to (by either default
> due to timeout or by keyboard choice by the user)
> and load the OS that it finds there.
>
> Setting boot.ini -
>
> For a single-boot OS, the boot.ini file should look
> something look like this:
>
> [boot loader]
> timeout=0
> default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
> [operating systems]
> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Old WinXP" /fastdetect
>
> This says that 0 seconds will be given for you to make up
> your mind on which OS to load, which in this case is the
> one option (arbitrarily called "Old WinXP" or whatever you
> want) that is identical to the default. Since you won't have
> time to input a preference, the default will load.
>
> rdisk(0) means to load the system on HD at relative position 0
> to the start of the boot sequence (in this case, your 1st HD).
>
> partition(1) means to load the system found on partition 1
> (i.e. the 1st partition).
>
> WINDOWS means that the system will be found in folder
> named WINDOWS under the file system root C:.
>
> What you want in boot.ini to do dual-booting should look
> like this:
>
> [boot loader]
> timeout=20
> default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
> [operating systems]
> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Old WinXP in 1st HD" /fastdetect
> multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="New WinXP in 2nd HD" /fastdetect
>
> The 2 differences are that the timeout has been increased from
> zero, and a 2nd entry has been made under [operating systems]
> to point to the partition containing the 2nd OS.
>
> With the 1st HD at the start of the boot sequence and the partition
> containing this boot.ini file being marked "active", this boot.ini
> file will be accessed, and it says that the old WinXP is on the
> 1st partition of the 1st HD, and that the new WinXP is on the
> 1st partition of the 2nd HD. Keyboard input from you will then
> select which OS boots, and you will have 20 seconds to make
> up your mind - after which the default will boot if you don't choose.
>
> Whichever OS that is loaded calls itself the "C:" drive and it
> names other partitions that it sees with other letters of the
> alphabet.
>
> If you want to have either HD control the dual-booting,
> you'll have to adjust the boot.ini file in the 2nd HD as well.
> The only difference between the two boot.ini files is that the
> HD boot sequence position in "rdisk()" is reversed - both in
> the default OS entry and in the two entries for the OS options
> under "[operating systems]" (to correspond to the reversal in
> the BIOS's boot sequence that would cause the 2nd HD to
> be selected). That is, interchange rdisk(0) and rdisk(1) so
> that the meanings of "the 1st HD" and "the 2nd HD" will make
> sense. (You can leave "partition()" unchanged if both OSes
> reside on partition 1.)
>
> You can keep track of which OS is running by putting
> something unique on the desktop of each OS or by
> setting the background differently. You can also check it
> by looking at the dialog box in Disk Management -
> at (rt-clk)My Computer/Manage/Disk Management.
>
> You can go further, making multiple OS clones, each on a
> primary partition on the 2nd (or 3rd or 4th) HD and the
> boot.ini files adjusted accordingly. I keep 4 copies on a
> backup HD in a removable tray, each on one of the 4
> possible primary partitions of the HD, each bootable,
> for use in archiving and in case the original OS on the fixed
> internal HD gets mangled or the HD fails. I have never
> tried putting a clone on a partition on the same HD because
> I'm not sure about the need or procedure to make the source
> OS invisible during the 1st bootup of the clone OS - or if it's
> even necessary. If you find out, please let us know!
>
> Have fun.
>
> *TimDaniels*
>
>
>
>
>

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