Tutorial on Boot.oss file and how to edit

[catman915]

Can anyone point me to a tutorial on how the boot.oss file works and how to make changes to affect the configuration? Thanks

[MudCrab]

I don't know of any tutorial on editing the BOOTWIZ.OSS file. Was there something specific you needed to know about it?

It's just a plain text/xml file. I recommend using the Windows Notepad program to make any changes. The file mostly consists of Disk, Partition and OS section entries.

If you make incorrect changes or changes that OSS doesn't like, it will usually remove them on the first boot or loading of OSS.

If you are able to use the OSS program to make changes, that's the safest way to do it.

[catman915]

Thanks for the response. The problem I'm trying to resolve is being unable to install Vista 64. My setup is as follows. I have Six hard drives drive numbers are as per DD10. Xp32 is installed on a partion on #1, Vista 32 is installed on #2, Xp64 is installed on a partition on #6.
All three boot and run using OSS. Settings for boot order are XP32-disk1,Vista32-disk1 and XP64-disk5. To be honest I don't remember how I came to this point as I had major problems installing Vista 32, I think i installed to disk 1, made an image with TI11 then restored it to #2 and restored XP32 image to #1. I think XP64 installed from OSS ok. When I try to install Vista 64 I make all other installs hidden but XP64 won't install because it says it needs to write something to #1 and can't. When I installed Vista 32 I remember that if I didn't hide #1 it installed the Vista Boot manager so I haven't unhidden #1 as I don't want to have to go through the Vista boot manager. by the way the Partition I'm installing to is set Pri-Act like the others.
Hopefully this makes sense. If everything stays as is with the existing three systems and I could get Vista64 installed without the Boot mnanger and it would work in Oss I'd be a happy camper. Would appreciate any assistance in my Quest! Having read many of your posts I've included the bootwiz.oss file from #1. I can furnish any further info you need. Thanks.

[MudCrab]

Hopefully, you have a current backup of all your OS drives (it sounds like you probably do).

It seems that XP64 is on Drive #6, though you state both #5 and #6. Is Vista64 going to be on a drive by itself or on a partition with another OS?

I think what you are attempting to do should work. I would try the following for installing Vista64. Realize that if Vista64 is being installed on a drive that has another OS that the other OS partition must be hidden.

Go into the BIOS and note the current Boot Order for your drives. The BIOS may list the drives in one list or there may be a separate list for the Hard Drives. The order is important because some BIOS's use the order list to determine the order in which the drives are shown to an OS. You want the order to remain as it is so you don't have any problems.
Now, either disconnect the other drives, disable them in the BIOS or (at least) make sure all the partitions are hidden. I would suggest disabling them or disconnecting them to keep them safe. If you disconnect them, make sure you remember which cable goes to which drive.
Set the Vista64 hard drive as the Boot Drive in the BIOS. This will let the installer see it as the primary/booting "main" drive and hopefully it will no longer want to write to a different drive. If the other drives are disabled or disconnected, the installer won't even see any other drives.
Make sure the Vista partition is set as the Active partition.
Install Vista.
Once Vista is up and running okay, reconnect/reenable the other drives, enter the BIOS and make sure to set the Boot Order/Drive Order to the same as it originally was.
When you boot back to Drive #1, OSS should find the new Vista drive and setup an entry for it. Check and make sure the OSS entry settings are correct for the Disk Order and for which partitions you want hidden.

[catman915]

XP64 is on #6 per DD but the boot order to get it to work in oss is #5. I have hidden all active partitions but the one on #4 where I want to install V64 with DD and tried to install it through Oss and it still failed.

[MudCrab]

That's why I'm saying to not try and install it through OSS. Install it directly to the drive you want. The OSS drive and any other drives should be disconnected or disabled when Vista64 is installed. Vista seems to be a lot more picky about how it's installed than XP is.

[catman915]

I tried your suggestion but had no luck. Then I did it a different way, XP has always been my default system installed on the boot drive so I simply formatted the drive and installed Vista 64 to it without a hitch. When done it would repeatedly boot to Vista 64 every time I rebooted the machine. I then created an image of the V64 system, restored my image of XP and everything was back to normal. I can select and boot to either XP, XP64 or Vista32 through OSS.
I then restored the new image of Vista 64 to a partition on another drive and it was detected by OSS but it will not boot to it in Oss. I tried all disks as the boot disk in OSS with no luck. If I understand what you said I have accomplished the same thing doing it the way I did and it should boot through OSS. Would appreciate any further suggestions. Thanks

[MudCrab]

-{ Quote: "If I understand what you said I have accomplished the same thing doing it the way I did and it should boot through OSS." }-
There are some differences. However, it should still work.

When you say it won't boot from OSS, are you getting an error message?

Can you post the updated BOOTWIZ.OSS file for your computer in its current state?

I would also need to know the drive and partition you used. A screenshot of DD in Manual mode might also help since you have quite a few drives and partitions.

[catman915]

No errors it just starts as usual with a cursor in top left corner of screen and proceeds no further, normally the cursor disappears in a second and the boot proceeds. Attached are screen shot of DD10 and Bootwiz.oss from Bootwiz directory on boot drive.

[MudCrab]

In my tests, Vista does not like the Disk Order (disk swapping) feature of OSS.

Since the Vista32 installation is booting correctly with the drives in their original order, I would try unchecking the Disk >> Specify boot order manually checkbox option for Vista64 (or leave the option checked but make sure the disks are in the standard BIOS order [as in Vista32's entry]) and see if it will then boot okay.

[catman915]

If I use the same disk order as V32 or uncheck the manual order it boots into V32. I tried hiding the V32 and it gives me an "autochk program not found" and reboots.

[MudCrab]

Can you boot into Vista32 and do the following:

1. Start the Command Prompt in Administrator Mode (http://www.themudcrab.com/vistaadmincp.php) and run the bcdedit command. Post or attach the output.

2. While still in the Command Prompt, run the bcdedit command on the Vista64 partition. Post or attach the output. The command would be:
bcdedit /store X:\boot\bcd
...where "X" is the drive letter assigned to the Vista64 partition.

It's possible the BCD file for the Vista64 installation is incorrect.

[catman915]

I've included a screen shot of the two because I couldn't figure out how to get the .log file in text. I've also attached the two log files from the boot directory.The screenshot on the left is the V32

[MudCrab]

The BCD files shown seem to be pointing to the correct partitions.

Do you get the same results when you run bcdedit (with no parameters) as when you run it the way you did (bcdedit /store c:\boot\bcd)? I ask because sometimes Vista will actually pull up a different BCD file if one is not specified and that one is the one used to boot. Your Vista32 is booting properly, I just want to make sure it's using the BCD file on the Vista32 partition (everything should still point to the C: partition).

If you use the Disk Order feature in the Vista64 OSS entry and set the Vista64 drive so it's second in the list instead of first (it would be in place of the Vista32 drive), does it make a difference?

[catman915]

If I don't use the whole path the command fails. I tried the disk order and it doesn't work. I noticed that when I'm in XP and look at the config for V64 in OSS it says that the system files are located in E:\. In case I don't understand how to do this, I start from XP and install the OSS then when I want to use a different system I reboot and select the system from the OSS window. Am I supposed to install OSS from all Systems and reboot from each system using it's copy of OSS? I've attached the config for V64.

[MudCrab]

OSS is installed correctly and you are trying the right things. You can install OSS in each Windows OS as you desire, however it is not required in order to work. OSS doesn't have to be installed in any OS if you don't want to.

When you run OSS in XP, what drive letter is used for the Vista32's files and what drive letter is assigned to the Vista32 partition? Same question for Vista64.

Save a copy of your BOOTWIZ.OSS file. What happens if you delete the system_root_identifier=... section of the Vista64 entry? Keep the drives in the BIOS order. OSS may just put it right back in, but it's not required when booting Vista from a Logical partition or a Primary partition when OSS can't find Vista.
<id3020881975 boot_as_ms71="0" boot_as_os2="0" boot_cd_entry="0" boot_partition="3873327521" bootname="bootsect.sys" icon="icon_sys_vista" language="english" lba="1" name_template="%n%l %l(%ll%l)" nthide="0" os_type="ntvista" system_root_identifier="0000000000000000000000000000000006000000000000004800000000000000007e00000000000000000000000000000000000001000000ae4948c500000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000\Windows" use_manual_disks_order="1" write_boot="1">

[catman915]

XP32 is files-C and Drive is C
XP64 is files-F and Drive is K
Vista32 is files-D and Drive L
Vista 64 is files-E and Drive J.

Files drive is from OSS and Disk is from "My Computer" or DD

[catman915]

I tried deleting the entry. No change in performance and the entry was replaced. I assume I should restore the original file?

[MudCrab]

You can restore the original.

I'm going to add the Vista64 entry in manually and attach the BOOTWIZ.OSS file so you can try it.

[MudCrab]

Here's the BOOTWIZ.OSS file with the Vista64 manually added entry. The settings are for the XP and Vista32 partitions to be hidden. Try it that way first. If it has the same problem, try hiding the XP64 partition so that the Vista64 is the only unhidden Primary partition.

[catman915]

I replaced "boot.oss" with yours, rebooted and tried, it didn't work(frozen cursor top left). I hid xp64 and no change. I looked at config for"Manual 64" there were no folders or files listed so I added them manually and retried. Now it looked like it was booting but when it got past the intro graphic it stopped and said "autochk program not found - skipping autochk" then it rebooted.The other three systems boot as before? I appreciate your help and only hope you don't charge by the hour!

[catman915]

I did a little playing and tried unhiding the V32 partition and it booted fine except it booted the V32 system. I though that if it was installed to the main drive as it was, that it didn't care about other drives and had everything it needed on that drive?

[MudCrab]

-{ Quote: "I did a little playing and tried unhiding the V32 partition and it booted fine except it booted the V32 system. I though that if it was installed to the main drive as it was, that it didn't care about other drives and had everything it needed on that drive?" }-
It does. The problem is how Vista boots. Frankly, I'm surprised that you're getting Vista32 to boot with the settings it has. The fact that bcdedit without using the /store parameter can't pull up the BCD file says that something is not normal.

Can you boot into Vista32 and post a screenshot of what Disk Management shows for your drives?

I'll try to run a few tests on this scenario and see what I can find out.

[catman915]

Here's the screenshot. BTW I don't know if I told you but to bootV32 I have to set the disk to "1" instead of "2" which is where it is. Not so with XP64 as it is on "6" and it boots with disk set to "6".

[MudCrab]

When you reformatted the XP drive and installed Vista64, were all the other partitions/drives visible? If so, it would be a good idea to check what your drive letter assignments are.

Can you post another couple of screenshots?

Start Vista32 and run the Registry Editor. Browse to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices key. You'll see your drive letter assignments on the right side of the screen. If you need to, scroll down to get to them (sometimes there are a lot of \??\Volume... entries. Take a screenshot.

Now, load the System Hive of the Vista64 system and browse to the same key. Take a screenshot. Instructions on loading another system's hive is detailed in this post. (http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1191656&postcount=71) Note that you're not going to be deleting anything or making any changes, but you can follow the instructions to load, view and unload the Vista64 System hive.

Make sure to include the Data column in the screenshots.

[MudCrab]

-{ Quote: "BTW I don't know if I told you but to bootV32 I have to set the disk to "1" instead of "2" which is where it is. Not so with XP64 as it is on "6" and it boots with disk set to "6"." }-
Thanks for that info. It makes more sense now. However, how come the BOOTWIZ.OSS file didn't have the drive swapped? Was it because of various things you tried or do you have to make this change every time?

XP seems to be a lot less fussy about booting from other drives.

[catman915]

No once I set it it works ok from then on. Here are the Reg entries.

[MudCrab]

You drive letter assignments appear to be correct.

If it's not too much trouble, can you post the current BOOTWIZ.OSS file (with the correct settings for Vista32 to boot)?

I'll let you know what I find out on the tests.

[catman915]

Here you go. V32 boots with this one and the disk entry should be #1.

[MudCrab]

This is one thing I'm not understanding. Here are the disks as listed in the file (Disks #1-#6 as #128-#133). Disk #129 is the Vista32 drive.
<disks>
<id408505168 bios_num="128" crc="609700928" real_bios_num="128" serial="57147" size="976773167" />
<id3966377343 bios_num="129" crc="488392058" real_bios_num="129" serial="16344" size="488397167" />
<id2785510717 bios_num="130" crc="976761414" real_bios_num="130" serial="15871" size="976773167" />
<id3456510135 bios_num="131" crc="766804970" real_bios_num="131" serial="12686" size="976773167" />
<id3844003991 bios_num="132" crc="268641939" real_bios_num="132" serial="41414" size="488397167" />
<id3570171770 bios_num="133" crc="209952014" real_bios_num="133" serial="7136" size="625142447" />
</disks>
Here are the disk as listed for the Disk Order Vista32 entry:
<disks>
<disk bios_num="128" id="408505168" />
<disk bios_num="129" id="3966377343" />
<disk bios_num="130" id="2785510717" />
<disk bios_num="131" id="3456510135" />
<disk bios_num="132" id="3844003991" />
<disk bios_num="133" id="3570171770" />
</disks>
As you can see, the order is not changed. Does OSS still show the same "order" as in the screenshot in Post #15? That doesn't show any order change either.

---

Here is the Disk Order for the XP 64 entry. This one shows the XP 64 drive as the first drive (#128) and I assume that OSS also shows this when you look at the Properties of the XP 64 entry.
<disks>
<disk bios_num="133" id="408505168" />
<disk bios_num="129" id="3966377343" />
<disk bios_num="130" id="2785510717" />
<disk bios_num="131" id="3456510135" />
<disk bios_num="132" id="3844003991" />
<disk bios_num="128" id="3570171770" />
</disks>

[MudCrab]

I have duplicated part of the problem. However, several things are different in my tests:

I used Vista Ultimate 32bit on three drives (haven't tested with XP on Drive 1)
I copied the drives instead of restoring the Vista image
I tested booting into each Vista by setting it as the booting drive
I installed OSS from the DD CD
I did the tests in a VM

OSS found all three Vista installations and setup the entries, including the Disk Order settings. However, any attempt to boot Vista 2 or Vista 3 resulted in Vista 1 booting. The solution was to simply uncheck the Disk Order feature.

You previously stated that that didn't work for you, so something is different there. Another difference is that bcdedit will pull up a BCD file when I don't use the /store parameter. It should be noted that in each case the BCD file pulled up is always the Vista 1 BCD file on the booting drive regardless of which Vista is currently booted.

In Post #4, I suggested installing Vista64 to its drive when it was the only drive connected and therefore the booting drive. In Post #7, you said that didn't work, but you didn't go into details. Why didn't it work? Vista64 should have installed normally to the drive just as it did to the XP drive? What went wrong?

Right now, I leaning towards using the imaging restore method as the possible culprit, though it could also be something different with Vista64. I don't currently have Vista64 so I can't run any tests. I'm curious if you tried to put another Vista32 in place of Vista64 if you'd have the same problems.

[catman915]

Sorry I'm late getting back, I hit the sack early(sometimes one of the shortcomings of being an "Old Fart").
RE: post #30
Oss always has to be set to Disk #1-( 128 ) for v32 to boot even though it is installed to Disk #2 as you said.
In the case of XP64 Oss is set to Disk#6-( 128 ) and it boots fine. I'm no guru so I haven't figured out the significance of the 128-133 designations because I don't know where they come from and where they figure in the overall scheme of things.The numbers above are what I see when I go to Properties in OSS for those entries.
RE: post #31
1) As I recall when I ran bcdedit in v32 from a command prompt, unless I used the/store parameter it said the command wasn't recognized as an internal command. I think I navigated to the root to execute it.
2) When I installed the v64 I went into the bios and disabled all drives but the one I wanted and it installed ok. In fact I can still set the v64 drive as number one in the bios and it still boots right up.
3) I restored V32 image to the former V64 drive. No matter How I config it in OSS it either hangs, Starts to boot and after the microsoft banner gives me the "autochk program can't be found" and reboots or boots up into the first version of v32 on Drive #2. In OSS the folders/files are different for each(ie: D: and E: )
Sorry I can't be of much help but I'm pretty much lost. If you're confused and would like to start over give me a list of what you need or need me to do in the order you want and we could go from there. I've attached the bootwiz.oss again in case it would be helpful. I am assuming that this file is used by the GUI for OSS to make everything happen.


Regarding the 128-133 designations, I understand that the drives need id's for the system and apps to work. What is the basic id and where does it come from and are the other id's(ie: <disk bios_num="130" id="2785510717" />)shown assigned by the apps and/or the system? if this is to complicated to answer in a sentence or two can you point me to info that explains the way it's done?

[MudCrab]

-{ Quote: "Sorry I'm late getting back, I hit the sack early" }-
Not a problem. I was done for the night anyway.

-{ Quote: "Oss always has to be set to Disk #1-( 128 ) for v32 to boot even though it is installed to Disk #2 as you said." }-
Okay. That is consistent with my results.

-{ Quote: "In the case of XP64 Oss is set to Disk#6-( 128 ) and it boots fine." }-
XP boots differently than Vista.

-{ Quote: "I'm no guru so I haven't figured out the significance of the 128-133 designations because I don't know where they come from and where they figure in the overall scheme of things.The numbers above are what I see when I go to Properties in OSS for those entries." }-
I'm not a BIOS expert either. Whether the BIOS starts at number 128 or not really doesn't matter. What matters is the order of the numbers is the order of the drives as seen by the BIOS.

-{ Quote: "1) As I recall when I ran bcdedit in v32 from a command prompt, unless I used the/store parameter it said the command wasn't recognized as an internal command. I think I navigated to the root to execute it." }-
This still bothers me. You shouldn't get an error that the command is not recognized unless the path isn't found.

-{ Quote: "2) When I installed the v64 I went into the bios and disabled all drives but the one I wanted and it installed ok. In fact I can still set the v64 drive as number one in the bios and it still boots right up." }-
Okay. This means that Vista64 is working properly on its drive.

-{ Quote: "3) I restored V32 image to the former V64 drive. No matter How I config it in OSS it either hangs, Starts to boot and after the microsoft banner gives me the "autochk program can't be found" and reboots or boots up into the first version of v32 on Drive #2. In OSS the folders/files are different for each(ie: D: and E: )" }-
This seems to indicate that the problem is not releated to Vista32 vs. Vista64.

-{ Quote: "Sorry I can't be of much help but I'm pretty much lost. If you're confused and would like to start over give me a list of what you need or need me to do in the order you want and we could go from there." }-
I've still got some thinking to do on this.

-{ Quote: "I've attached the bootwiz.oss again in case it would be helpful. I am assuming that this file is used by the GUI for OSS to make everything happen." }-
OSS uses this file to keep track of the disks, partitions and OS installations. OSS also "tags" partitions on the system with their info. This helps it adjust when changes are made.

-{ Quote: "Regarding the 128-133 designations, I understand that the drives need id's for the system and apps to work. What is the basic id and where does it come from and are the other id's(ie: <disk bios_num="130" id="2785510717" />)shown assigned by the apps and/or the system?" }-
As far as I know, OSS just uses a random number. It just needs a unique value to identify the disk, partition, os, etc. OSS then just matches an ID value to the BIOS disk number.

---

Would it be hard to do the following test? Put Vista64 back onto its partition and make sure it boots okay when set as the booting drive (as previously stated). Then enter the BIOS, disable the Vista32 drive and set the XP drive back as the booting drive. Now, boot back to OSS and check your Vista64 entry. Make sure it looks okay, uncheck the Disk Order option (if checked) and try to boot Vista64.

[catman915]

Will do and get back in awhile.

[catman915]

1) Changed bios to boot from V64, worked fine.
2) Disabled V32 in bios
3) Set XP as boot in bios
4) Checked V64 in Oss, all ok, unchecked Manual Order option
5) When I rebooted I got the following message

"Booting Windows Vista
ACPI Vista Loader 2.1.2
Done
Fallback 1
find__set-root /bootmgr"

It locked up there. I also tried to boot V32 from OSS with Drive disabled and got the same message.

[catman915]

I noticed something curious. Even with the V32 drive disabled in the bios it shows up in DD and "My Computer in XP? Is that normal?

[MudCrab]

No, the drive shouldn't show up. You may have to physically disconnect it.

Also, are all of the drives SATA? If so, are all using the same controller (some boards have four on one controller and two on another, for example)?

[catman915]

Here we go
1) The disable action in the bios must work because with the V32 drive disabled neither the V32 or V64 boot. I get the same message as posted in the second last post. With the Drive enabled I can boot to V32 and when I boot to V64 it also boots to V32 successfully.

2) The reason I didn't just unplug the drives is because I don't know which is which without tearing everything apart and doing a lot of experimenting and I'd like to avoid that if possible.

3) All drives are SATA. four of them are on the built in Nvidia NForce 4 controller on the MOB(including the #1XP and #2V32 drives), one is plugged into the ESATA socket on MOB using SI3132 controller which is built in, and the last one is plugged into a Standard Dual Channel card plugged into a PCI slot. XP64 is on one of the last two.
4) I don't remember the details of how they all got there because it's been working for quite a while and once I get hardware working I usually don't mess with it although I think I went to a PCI card to get all 6 drives SATA.

I think your probably correct in thinking that it is somehow related to the software side since the only system acting up is V64 other than the fact that V32 needs Disk #1 pointed to in OSS when it's installed on #2.

[MudCrab]

How about reinstalling both Vista installations onto the Vista32 drive?

If you try this, do the following:

Set the Vista32 drive as the booting drive.
Hide all other OS partitions on the other drives.
Install Vista32 on a Primary/Active NTFS partition.
Hide the Vista32 partition.
Setup the partition for Vista64 (Primary, Active, NTFS).
Install Vista64 to its partition.
Change the XP drive back to the booting drive and boot back to OSS.
OSS should pick up both the Vista installations.
Check the Disk Order option and turn it off on each one.
Do they boot?

If there are problems, you can try hiding the Vista partitions from each other.

I suggest reinstalling (not restoring images) as a test since you have your image backups and it may also clear up the problem with Vista32 not working correctly with bcdedit.

[catman915]

Will try tomorrow and let you know.

[catman915]

Before I begin the test I want to make sure I'm doing it correctly and some of it is a little confusing;

1) Create two partitions on drive

2) go to bios and set that drive as boot

3) boot into DD CD and set all other OS partitions hidden

4) make chosen Partition Prim-Act

5) install v32 to partition

6) boot back to DD CD

7) Hide V32 just installed and make other Part Prim-Act

8 ) Install V64 to the partition

9) go to bios and set XP to boot

10) boot to DD CD and set all Partitions to unhidden

11) Reboot and check OSS performance

If this is correct I'll proceed.

BTW does installing V32 first or V64 first matter?

[MudCrab]

You have the steps correct. It shouldn't matter which you install first. You may also want to have the Windows installer format the destination partition as part of the installation. Sometimes Windows will fuss at how DD formats them (this usually causes an error on the reboot during the installation).

[catman915]

Thanks, I'll get back when done.

[catman915]

Well I followed instructions and installed both systems, both booted ok when drive set to boot in bios and partition set active with dd. When I set boot in bios back to XP and tried OSS I can boot into V64(first system installed) but when I try to boot to V32 (second system installed I can only boot to V64. No matter how I try to set OSS for V32 It either will not boot or it will boot into V64. I've attached the Bootwiz.oss file as it now stands. I tried hiding the V64 part like you said but if I do That it starts to boot but like before after the microsoft banner I get the "autochk program not found...." message and it hangs. It appears to be exactly the opposite of what it was before ie: can only boot into first system installed.

[MudCrab]

I still haven't tested with XP on the first drive and I'm beginning to think that may be the problem. You're right that Vista is just booting the first installation it finds.

If you want to test it, what happens if you leave the booting drive as the Vista drive and then reactivate OSS? When you do this, make sure the XP drive is connected and running so OSS can find its installation.

[catman915]

I'm still not making progress. Thanks for all your time and effort I really appreciate it but it seems that at least in my case it doesn't like both V systems at once. I've decided to use one at a time, if necessary I can restore the other for use. The vast majority of the time I'd use XP anyway. Actually after all the playing around with this issue I've noticed that either v is way slower than XP and I'm not sure I'd want to switch permanently. Thanks again.

[MudCrab]

I have tested with XP on drive 1 and Vista on drives 2 and 3. I could still boot either of the Vista installations okay as long as the Disk Order feature was turned off (just as before). However, neither Vista installation could find the BCD file without using the store path (this is the same problem you had). To me, this seems to point to a Vista problem and how it's looking for the BCD file.

Hiding the XP partition results in Vista2 booting regardless of whether I selected Vista2 or Vista3. This is consistent with your results if I remember correctly.

Hiding the Vista2 partition (XP partition not hidden) and trying to boot Vista3 results in the autochk program not found - skipping AUTOCHECK error and the computer reboots after several seconds. To me, this make it seem like Vista3 is trying to boot correctly but it's actually using some of the files on drive 2 (Vista2's partition).

So... I am able to duplicate the problem with XP and Vista32 and since this is in a VM it pretty much eliminates your computer as the source of the problem (at least from a basic level).

It's been my experience that when using OSS, Vista likes to be on the booting drive. Putting it anywhere else may or may not work properly, especially if multi-booting Vista.

I'm going to try a different boot manager and see if I get the same results.

---

Are you using Vista SP1 for both your Vista installations? I forgot to ask before. I'm using SP1 so if you're not, that's another difference.

[catman915]

Yes I'm using SP1.

[MudCrab]

Well, I tested with BING and Grub4DOS and neither had any problems booting Vista2 or Vista3 with XP on drive 1. Swapping was not maintained (as with OSS), but it also didn't cause any problems (the correct Vista booted). Also, there were no problems hiding any of the non-booting OS partitions (the correct Vista booted).

I also did some "clean start" tests with OSS and was successful with hiding the other OS partitions and still have the correct Vista boot. I was not able to reproduce the autochk error with these tests so I'm guessing it was produced by switching from Vista1/Vista2/Vista3 to XP/Vista2/Vista3 instead of using the same "base" starting point.

I realize that none of this really helps you solve your problem, but it does seem to point to OSS doing something different with the booting process than how BING and Grub4DOS handle it.

[catman915]

In case I want to play around with this some more, what VM product do you use? I tried Vmware and it won't install on a Virtual Machine. Thanks

[MudCrab]

I used Microsoft's VirtualPC 2007 (SP1). I have previously tested VirtualBox and VMWare Player and neither were stable or did what I wanted (I haven't tried the latest versions).

In my tests, I installed OSS to the first hard drive (which was either Vista1 or XP, depending on the setup) and used the DD ISO for the installation instead of installing OSS from Windows (meaning OSS was installed when booted to the DD CD).

Just as in a real computer, the VM's "hardware" is different from your actual computer so tests that work on one system or in one VM don't guarantee they'll work on another.

[catman915]

Thanks. If I solve the problem I'll post.