Problem with dual boot?

[geide]

Here is what I wanted to do. I have an existing W2K system and wanted to ad and XP system. I also wanted to use OSS to accomplish this. This is what I did.l


1. I installed OSS.
2. I added a new hard drive and created on primary partition. I proceeded to install Windows XP into that partition. When I was finished with that i could dual boot using windows boot loader.
3. I activated OSS and was able to dual boot using OSS and all seemed good, until the next morning it would not dual boot. I could boot into W2K, but not the XP system, it would just hang with a blinking - in the upper left corner of the screen.
3. When the W2K system booted, it first said that it had an invalid boot.ini file. I edited that to include boot the W2K and XP boot information.
4. Now when I boot the W2K system it comes to the windows boot loader and I can select either W2K or XP and either one boots correctly except that XP is using the drive letter G for the system drive.
5. If I use OSS to try to boot the XP it just hangs.


Here is what I would like to do:

1. Get XP to boot using OSS. When it boots, I want it to use drive C.


Would it be easier to delete XP system and start from scratch to set this up. Or is there some way to easily fix this?

Any help would be appreciated.

[MudCrab]

First take a look at this thread as it deals with installing XP on a 2nd hard drive: Need help with dual boot Vista & XP (http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=178481)

If you're going to use OSS, then you don't want to use the Windows boot loader.

You want XP to be drive C: so you need to make sure to do the following:

Reformat the XP partition/drive so that it is empty. Reconfigure/fix the Win2K boot.ini file so that it works properly to boot directly to Win2K. If you don't want Win2K to see the XP partition/drive, then you'll need to edit the OSS menu entry for Win2K so that the XP partition is hidden and enable "Force hiding of partitions" in the Advanced section.

Make sure OSS boots into Win2K okay and that all works properly.

Reinstall XP, but make sure to "hide" the Win2K partition when you do. Also make sure the XP drive is first in the drive list. To do this, boot into OSS, put in the XP CD and wait for the XP CD menu entry to show up. Then right-click on the XP CD entry and setup the options before you install XP. Once the options are set for the CD, double-click the XP cd menu entry and start the install process. When XP install reboots OSS may come back up. If it does, double check the settings are correct for XP (XP drive listed first in the disks lists, Win2K partition hidden) and then click the menu entry to continue the install. If OSS doesn't come backup, continue with the XP install and when it's finished, reinstall OSS (in XP) or boot from the DD cd and reactivate OSS.

[geide]

Thank you very much for the help, it was just what I needed. I am now booting thru OSS into both XP and W2K and each system has it's own C drive.

I do appreciate the help.

Gary