HOW to modify boot.ini for OS Selector to "see" copied partition?

[jpw]

Sorry in advance if this is an "obvious" question but I sure don't see an exact answer anywhere in the docs or forums...

If I want two bootable partitions (one being a copy of the other one) apparently (from posts in this forum) I have to modify the boot.ini file or for some reason OS Selector can't "find" the other partition and its cpy of WinXP. (As an aside, that seems like the job of the Disk Director software; why doesn't IT offer to do this when it copies a partition with WinXP?)

Several posts refer to modifying the boot.ini file. One post referred to the Microsoft note that shows "how" to modify the boot.ini file.

But can anyone explain "what" the modification to make to the boot.ini file? Like exactly what command? Apparently I have to plug in the name of the OS (can it be any name I choose like "My 2nd Copy of XP"?) AND I have to plug in an ID#. But what is the ID#? It's all greek to me!

Thanks!

[NickWhitehead]

Here's a boot.ini:


[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINNT="W2000 - Main installation" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(10)\WINNT="W2000 - Archive boot" /fastdetect


This one has a choice of two OSs, the default being 'main installation'. The key bit you are referring to is the partition number - partition(n) above. The numbers are assigned when the partitions are created, and I'm not at all sure you can edit them afterwards. You can see the number by adding that column to the partition display in DD. You therefore need to edit boot.ini to put the right number in. boot.ini lives in the active primary partition that is the starting point for the boot. This may be - probably is in a simple single OS case - in the same partition that the OS resides in, or it may not. The OS can actually be anywhere - any disk, primary or logical partition etc.

[bodgy]

rdisk(x); x = the physical hardrive number so if you have one harddrive this number is 0 if you have 2 hardrives the one on the primary IDE or SATA not set up as raid will be 0 and the secondary one will be 1.

For example I have my OS's on SATA1 so my entry is

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="You can have any name you want between the quote marks" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect sos

Partition numbers start at 1 and increment for each extra partition you have.

So if you only had one partition (just C: drive) then your partition number is 1. In your system you have at least two partitions so one of your XP's will have a 1 in partition and the other a 2.

Below is my actual boot.ini entries for 3 OS's.

[boot loader]
;timeout=20
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
;multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /sos /noexecute=optin
;multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINDOWS="winXP test" /fastdetect/sos
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\WINNT="W2K" /fastdetect
;

Ignore the SOS switch, that just makes XP tell you what its doing at bootup and shutdown.

Colin