Getting XP to keep C: for system drive on dual boot installation

Well dang it! If it ain't one thing, it's another.

Okay, I've got Vista installed to it's own new partion. I've got DD10 with OSS installed and the OSS screen appears and boots into XP just fine.

Now I'm ready to install my XP into it's own partition.

Before starting the XP install from the CD-ROM I booted from the DD10 rescue CD and ran DD from that and hid my existing Vista partition. The plan was that when I installed XP it would just ignore that existing Vista partition entirely.

I start the XP installation and get to the point where it asks me where to install XP. I tell it to create a new partion. It does, but it assigns drive letter E:. It's still seing the Vista partion even though I've hidden it and wants to assign that partion as C:, and the CD-ROM drive is D:, so this new partion gets E:.

I think maybe it's just a display issue with that intial setup screen so I let the entire XP install continue and finish. Goes through just fine, but sure enough, when I boot into XP, it's STILL drive E:! I try to change it to C: through Disk Manager but it tells me I can't change the drive letter of the System drive (which does make sense actually).

The next thing I tried was using DD (from the rescue disk again) to delete the XP partition I had just created, and then create a new but unformatted partion using DD. Then I boot from the XP install CD again hoping maybe with the Vista partion hidden and this partion not hidden (I even made it Active) that XP would take this existing partion as C:. No such luck. Still wants to assign the hidden Vista partion as C: and the XP partion as E:.

Next thing, I canceled that XP install right there. Rebooted from the DD rescue disk again and used DD to actually format the new partion as NTFS. Reboot from XP install CD, still wants to make that partion E:.

How do I use DD to COMPLETELY hide the existing Vista partion so that the XP install won't see it and will assign C: to it's own system drive? Once I get XP installed in addition to Vista and reactive OSS for the boot, I will configure OSS to hide the opposite OS's partition so each OS will be able to boot itself as C: and won't see the other OS at all.

It's been 5 years since I set up dual boot on my old computer so my memory could be a little vague, but I don't seem to remember having this problem with Partition Magic 8 and Boot Magic. It "just worked". (Although that was dual-boot between XP and 98, and I even kept XP on FAT32 instead of NTFS at that time, doing all NTFS this time on the new PC though.)

Thanks again!!

 

If MudCrab should see this...

I managed to find this thread and MudCrab's post in the 2nd message of this thread.

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=1212376#post1212376

Based on that it sounds like what I'm trying to do should work, but it's just not. Even though I'm using DD to hide the Vista partion and I did make the partion I want to use for XP visible (it was never hidden in the first place) and Active, XP still sees the Vista partion and assigns it C: during the install process.

 

When you boot the XP CD, are you booting directly to the CD or are you booting the CD from the OSS menu?

Did you try deactivating OSS (don't uninstall) before you use DD to hide the Vista partition, set the XP partition Active and install XP? Once XP is installed, you can reactivate OSS.

Did you boot back to the DD CD and start DD and verify that your partition changes were actually made before you tried to install XP?

The XP destination partition must exist and be formatted prior to booting the XP CD in order to have any chance of being detected as C:. When you get to the point that XP does see the partition as C:, let XP's installer do a quick format of the partition to avoid installation problems that occur on some systems.

 

Well, I think I got it. XP is installing now so I'll see how it works once XP actually boots up, but at least that initial screen to select the partion to install XP on did show C: so I think I'm probably good to go. See below for full detail.

Booting XP install CD directly from the CD. Should I try booting it from the OSS menu? Although, will I be able to since I had to disable the CD-ROM drivers to fix that freezing problem? (And at this point I'd have to reactivate OSS, see below.)

I did not deactivate OSS before starting the XP install, but it is deactivated now since I had let the XP install finish the first time, so the MBR is set up to to boot XP, though at this point there is no working XP partition since I deleted it with DD. The partition had been recreated with DD but an XP install had not been completed on it again yet (although in the process of running now as I mentioned above).

Yes. Before I even tried the XP install the first time, I booted from the DD CD, hid the Vista partition, rebooted from the DD CD again and verified that it did indeed show the Vista partion as hidden.

The last attempt before writing the first post in this thread, I did indeed have the partition created and formatted through DD and the XP install still made it E: instead of C:.


So, what solved it? This last time I was in DD, as I hovered the mouse over the partition I had created in DD to install XP to, I noticed that instead of just saying it was an NTFS partion it said NTFS but also something about "0xBB Acronis Hidden Partion". Now, I had never "hidden" this partition, and if I went into the Advanced menu item, "Hide" was indeed an option (vs. Unhide, so I know the partition was not hidden), so I have no idea what this 0xBB partition type is and why DD gave this partition that "type" when I created the partition. BUT, I saw that the existing Vista partion was simply of type "0x7 NTFS" so I changed the XP partion type to that. This time when I booted from the XP install CD it now sees the XP partion as C:. (It still sees the Vista partion but assigns it E:, so I'll have to verify for sure the Vista partion still isn't seen by XP once XP is actually booting by itself.)

Thanks again!

 

MudCrab, if you see this, I'm wondering if you can explain what the 0xBB partition type is and why DD created the partion with that type when I used DD to create the partion. Not a big deal but it's some quirk in the system. I'm just curious for my own inqusitive knowledge.