Guest GusGus Posted August 21, 2007 Posted August 21, 2007 Please excuse me if this isn’t the right forum to ask this question, but here goes. I have two hard drives on my computer. The original one, 80 GB, came with Windows XP home installed. I later installed a 120 GB hard drive to backup my files to. What I want to know is this: Is there a way to make both of my hard drives bootable so I can have two Windows XP Home operating systems on the same computer. I understand that this is legal. If it is, I would need step by step instructions on how to do this. I am moderately computer literate! I really appreciate any help I can get on this subject! P.S. If this isn’t the right forum, could you please direct me to where I can get this information? Thank You. GusGus
Guest Gary S. Terhune Posted August 22, 2007 Posted August 22, 2007 Re: Dual Boot This is the right forum. First, WHY do you want to do this? I do it all the time, but I have good reasons, like setting up test installations to experiment with, or setting up other operating systems. What's your reason? -- Gary S. Terhune MS-MVP Shell/User http://www.grystmill.com "GusGus" <GusGus@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:43BBCF2A-5AC6-4660-9D26-7297F6AD0B54@microsoft.com... > Please excuse me if this isn't the right forum to ask this question, but > here > goes. I have two hard drives on my computer. The original one, 80 GB, came > with Windows XP home installed. I later installed a 120 GB hard drive to > backup my files to. What I want to know is this: Is there a way to make > both > of my hard drives bootable so I can have two Windows XP Home operating > systems on the same computer. I understand that this is legal. If it is, I > would need step by step instructions on how to do this. I am moderately > computer literate! I really appreciate any help I can get on this subject! > > P.S. If this isn't the right forum, could you please direct me to where I > can get this information? Thank You. > GusGus
Guest teh XKnight Posted August 22, 2007 Posted August 22, 2007 RE: Dual Boot Not exatly sure as to why you would want to do this either; however, microsoft has an article in their database that explains how to do it fairly well. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/289022 The following line would let the windows bootloader know that this OS exsists in the system. multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect The count starts from zero on the disks and from one on the partitions. Fastdetect, if I recall correctly, tells the bootloader to assume that the OS is there and not to scan for it. This could cause the computer to freeze if no OS is there. I think that you would modify the "disk" to 1 to use the second disk, but this all depends on your setup. Feel free to add and play with the second line but don't change the exsiting OS line or you won't be able to boot at all. Be sure and add a timeout and as always backup the original. "GusGus" wrote: > Please excuse me if this isn’t the right forum to ask this question, but here > goes. I have two hard drives on my computer. The original one, 80 GB, came > with Windows XP home installed. I later installed a 120 GB hard drive to > backup my files to. What I want to know is this: Is there a way to make both > of my hard drives bootable so I can have two Windows XP Home operating > systems on the same computer. I understand that this is legal. If it is, I > would need step by step instructions on how to do this. I am moderately > computer literate! I really appreciate any help I can get on this subject! > > P.S. If this isn’t the right forum, could you please direct me to where I > can get this information? Thank You. > GusGus
Guest Ken Blake Posted August 22, 2007 Posted August 22, 2007 Re: Dual Boot "GusGus" <GusGus@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:43BBCF2A-5AC6-4660-9D26-7297F6AD0B54@microsoft.com... > Please excuse me if this isn't the right forum to ask this question, but > here > goes. I have two hard drives on my computer. The original one, 80 GB, came > with Windows XP home installed. I later installed a 120 GB hard drive to > backup my files to. What I want to know is this: Is there a way to make > both > of my hard drives bootable so I can have two Windows XP Home operating > systems on the same computer. I understand that this is legal. If you mean doing this with a single license, no it's *not legal. It would be a violation of the terms of the license agreement. Moreover, why do you *want* to do this? Unless you have some special need, there's really no advantage to doing it. One more comment. Backup to a second drive internally mounted in the computer is the about the weakest form of backup there is. I don't recommend backup to a second non-removable hard drive because it leaves you susceptible to simultaneous loss of the original and backup to many of the most common dangers: severe power glitches, nearby lightning strikes, virus attacks, even theft of the computer. In my view, secure backup needs to be on removable media, and not kept in the computer. For really secure backup (needed, for example, if the life of your business depends on your data) you should have multiple generations of backup, and at least one of those generations should be stored off-site. > If it is, I > would need step by step instructions on how to do this. I am moderately > computer literate! I really appreciate any help I can get on this subject! > > P.S. If this isn't the right forum, could you please direct me to where I > can get this information? Thank You. > GusGus
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