Is this possible

[aladdin1001]

Hi,
First of all i'm running Windows XP Pro
Basically i have my OS setup on "C" I have a spare partition on "D" on the same hard drive. now, is it possible to backup C using True Image then restore it to D, modify the boot.ini in C to point to D as another operating system and have OS Selector recognise it as an operating system? and be able to use it as a secondary operating system? the reason why i want to do this is because i don't want to bother with installing another copy, then install all my default programs and customize their settings and windows and so on and on which will take forever. If yes, can you please explain in step by step the correct way to go about this? or is it as simple as doing the above?

Many thanks in advance

p.s. if this is not possible in acronis os selector or true image, can you please advise me if there are any other programs that can do this. i quite like my os selector though and i'd prefer not to buy another program

[Acronis Support]

Hello aladdin1001,

Thank you for your interest in Acronis Software (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/).

Yes, everything you have described is possible.

Please be aware that you should first prepare your operating system using the Microsoft System Preparation tool (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/faq.html#30) before creating the image of your system partition. In other case your second copy of the operating system will be not bootable. Please note that this is necessary even if you restore the image onto the same hardware in this case.

Here are the actions which you should took to perform the operation you have described:
- Prepare the operating system;
- Create an image of the partition where is your operating system located (Please note that you should not save this image onto the partition where you want to restore this image);
- Restore the image onto the second partition;
- Add the appropriate changes in the boot.ini file of the first partition (Please take a look at this article (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;289022) describing how to edit the boot.ini file.);
- Run Acronis OS Selector and choose the Tools->OS Detect Wizard;
- Choose the "Detect OS on a partition" option and click Next;
- Choose the first partition, set it to Bootable and click Next;
- Select the Non-BIOS disk option and click next;

Please also read the appropriate User's Guides which are available at the Documentation (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/download/docs/) section of our web site.

Thank you.
--
Kirill Omelchenko

[aladdin1001]

I've done what you've described but OS Selector still doesn't recognise the new OS!!!!!
what am i doing wrong.

first, i backed up my system as it is
i deactivated os selector
rebooted
i ran the sysprep utility
I rebooted
booted from ti cd
made a copy of c
restored it to d
restored the original c - pre-sysprep version
reactivated os selector
booted into the system
modified the boot.ini using the bootcfg /D /ID using cmd
launched os selector-tools-os detection wizard
selected c - clicked bootable - then Next
it came up with "no new os is found ...."
went back
started the wizard again
this time selected d - bootable - next
same thing


any ideas........
what am i doing wrong
appologies if i got it wrong

[Acronis Support]

Hello aladdin1001,

Could you please make a screen shots of your step-by-step actions which you took using Acronis OS Selector and Acronis True Image?

Please also create Acronis Report as it is described in Acronis Help Post (http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=55317) and submit a request for technical support (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/my/support/). Attach all the collected files to your request along with the step-by-step description of the actions taken before the problem appears and the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with the solution.

Thank you.
--
Kirill Omelchenko