OSS, XP, Ubuntu Oh what a tangled web we weave. Advice needed.

Hello,

I am a new owner of DD and TI Home 09. I have so much to learn now. As I am trying to complete some projects using these two seemingly function Packed applications, I am wondering if I bit off more than I can chew?

With DD and OSS...I want to prep my HDD's to give Ubuntu some space to exist. I have XP Home, which I will upgrade to Pro before all this. I want DD and its OS manager to run the boot up of both XP and Ubuntu. XP is my main stuff and I absolutely have to avoid corrupting anything. I want XP to stay the main OS that I use. Ubuntu saved me a month ago and I want to give it a whirl. I just hope that curiosity doesn't kill the cat.

I have 70 GB left on C: (XP). D: drive is only a small restore drive (From HP/Compaq) which I really do not care much about.

I would really like to put Ubuntu on my J: drive which is an USB 1TB Drive (Seagate FreeAgent). I have read some of the material on getting Linux/Ubuntu on a USB Flash drive and it states a little on the USB HDD Drives.

I am not able to easily access my hardware as I am in a wheelchair. It instructs to pull out my physical drive, and change the BIOS to boot to the USB. Then install Ubuntu and then put back the main drive ...man all that stuff seems so difficult. Just to have an option to use Ubuntu.

I would be glad to partition some of the 70 gb on my C: drive, if I could be sure that Ubuntu or GRUB would not be taking over as the OS boot manager. I bought DD/OSS and I would be a terrible waste of money if I could not use what I paid for.

The OSS info on Acronis advertises that it can boot over 100 OS's. I am not so sure about that as I read the support forums and the knowledge bases. I am just saying that it seems rather scary.

What would you do?

Thank you for helping me. If I get a dual boot with Ubuntu.

BarJabba

 

Personally, I wouldn't recommend running a "main" OS from a USB drive.

Can you post a screenshot of what DD (in Manual Mode) shows for your current drive layout?

Have you created an Entire Disk Image backup (using TI) of your internal drive?

OSS usually doesn't have a problem booting into Linux. It's best to install GRUB into the Linux partition's boot sector. I do it this way so that each Linux installation is self-contained.

10-20GB of space is fine for just messing around with Ubuntu. The swap partition doesn't need to be very large (even 1-2GB is probably more than enough). I don't think my swap partition even gets used.

 

"Personally, I wouldn't recommend running a "main" OS from a USB drive."

Oh, I am sorry, I did not mean to say that I had XP Pro on a USB drive. I have my XP on the usual C: drive and that is a Maxtor with 70 GB left. I think I meant that I would be willing to use that 70 GB for Ubuntu, but, I really just want to use the USB drive....it's huge!. I also do not want Grub or anything Linux to take over where I have to rebuild, repair, or reinstall anything. I just wanted to keep my XP in charge and left alone. I prefer that I use OSS as my manager at boot up.

"Can you post a screenshot of what DD (in Manual Mode) shows for your current drive layout?"

Sure, see included file.

"Have you created an Entire Disk Image backup (using TI) of your internal drive?"

Nope, I just asked about that in the TI forum. If you have any advice, that would be nice. I am into step by steps tutorials. I wanted to put the image on the USB as well. As I read your guide (thank you BTW) I see that it may be possible to have all the recovery process in one place. That is convenant. I don't mind using a DVD to boot to first though. I have a lot of LightScribe DVD's on hand. I know I should fo this operation first though...right?

"OSS usually doesn't have a problem booting into Linux. It's best to install GRUB into the Linux partition's boot sector. I do it this way so that each Linux installation is self-contained."

I totally agree with that. All I need is some step by step direction. I have read some texts on installation, but, some things aren't so clear to me. I am a developer and have been in computing since 1983, so , you would think this would be a no brainer for me. I never used these products (DD & TI) and Ubuntu before. So, I am on a steep learning curve here. It seems the install of Linux distros are a little problematic if you are not sure about how this OS installs and what it expects.

"10-20GB of space is fine for just messing around with Ubuntu. The swap partition doesn't need to be very large (even 1-2GB is probably more than enough). I don't think my swap partition even gets used."

Then that is what I will do. I do have the space, but, wasting space is not a good thing too.

Would you help and let me know what the best course of action? Maybe send step by step links or point where to look for that which is best for my situation. I would be a time saver for me if you have already have clear precise instructions. I get a little comfused and unsure when other devices are involved. Like the guide you have, it talks about Flash drives and it does mention USB drives too, but, I do not know what steps belong to which device. Would be nice to make a separte guide just for USB HDD's...just for us dunderheads.

I just want to do what is right and avoid problems that I may not be able to fix.

Thank yo so much! I really do apretiate it. I also am not beyond giving consideration for help of this sort.

BarJabba

 

I realize that. I meant that I don't recommend running any OS that's going to be used for more than "playing around" from a USB drive. Windows can't be run from a USB drive without tweaking it. Linux is more flexible in that area.

I would save the USB drive for your backup images -- you'll need to put them somewhere.

Some boot manager will have to "take over" the booting process. You can use GRUB or you can use OSS (or another boot manager). The point is, no matter what you use, XP will not remain in charge and the boot manager will most likely require a repair or reactivation at some point. You will have to learn how to do this if you plan to multi-boot.

Absolutely. This is one of the most important steps. I've found many times that creating an Entire Disk Image prior to beginning the addition of another OS or partitioning can save a lot of time. Very often, if something goes wrong or doesn't come out how I want, I just restore my image and start over, knowing this time how to do it correctly.

Read through the guides linked in the other thread. Just make sure you check the box for the Entire Disk. This will let you do an Entire Disk Image restore, if needed, and put the entire disk back into its current state.

I'm not quite sure which guide you're referring to here. Is it the Grub4DOS guide? While geared toward flashdrives, the procedures are exactly the same for USB hard drives or even internal drives, for that matter.

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Before you begin, you need to do the following:

1. Create a TI CD.
2. Boot to the TI CD and make sure it can see your internal drive(s) and USB drive. If you have an image on the USB drive, make sure TI can validate it successfully.
3. Create a DD CD. Make sure to include both the Full Mode and Safe Mode versions. If you're planning on using OSS, make sure to also include the OSS programs.

Note: If you haven't installed TI and DD yet, install DD first (it's the older program) and then TI.

When you create the CD, you can include the TI, DD and OSS programs all on the same CD.

Even if you create a bootable flashdrive or USB hard drive with TI/DD/OSS, it's still a good idea to have a CD.

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What version of Ubuntu are you planning on installing?

---

If using OSS, you'll want to make sure it works correctly on your computer. This means installing it before you install Ubuntu and making sure it works okay with your existing XP installation. If it doesn't, then you'll probably be better off using GRUB or something else.

Understand that both OSS and GRUB can be removed easily if you have a backup image from TI or a standard Microsoft OEM or retail XP CD. If you have a brand-name XP CD or "Restoration CDs/DVDs", they may not allow booting into the Recovery Console.

 

Yes, I agree. It is nice to know that I am just learning Ubuntu. I need to test an issue I have with my new Dual Core not being utilized. I was hoping before I knew this, that I was thinking of putting a VHD of Win7 on the USB HDD. Now I know, thank goodness.

I want OSS to be my boot manager if at all possible. I know nothing about GRUB (weird name). I want Ubuntu to have its own partition on the USB drive, but would give it room on my XP partition (using the free space). I still want Ubuntu to have its own partition. I also just meant that I wanted OSS to display it for selection at boot up. XP would be the default OS though.

I have copy/pasted info I receive on these and other forums and put it in my MP Inquiry program. So, I can alsways get my tutorials and all other kinds of texts and be able to pull them up quickly.

I was confused in reading the USB Flash drive bootable. You answered my confusion on the USB HDD. That it applies to both. I am going to go through the guide again and maybe get it into a different format, just to fit what I am used to in my profession. No biggy. I had thought that they were two different animals and that was why I did not understand. It's ok, I sometimes confuse myself.

I installed OSS ok. I was surprised to find that it booted right away. It showed a number of OS's (windows versions) I did not have. I have in my boot.ini file three boot options. OSS also showed an unknown OS at the bottom of its list. It was XP Home that was the default. I started looking at OSS help files before going on. Well, it froze after reading for a little bit. I rebooted and I did not see OSS again and now no boot manager is shown and it just boots to XP Home. I don't know what changed. I thought I would get aquinted with OSS first before activating it, but, it activated itself on install. I think if I don't get the boot manager to display, I will be putting up another thread. Do you know about this? Is there a key on boot up that I need to press on boot up or some configuration in OSS program that addresses this? I know this should be in another thread...sigh!

I don't rightly know the Ubuntu version. I think it is version 8 something. I can get an ISO of the newest if I need to. My Brother-in-Law gave me copy of the live cd which saved my butt last month. I will be going into that cd to find some info it has on my CPU. So, when I do this, I will mention the version.

I know that for sure. I complained to HP support about not giving me a vehicle to do an OS repair. I have to rebuild the HAL. The 10 disk set they sold me(what a bafoon I was for buying them) were just a complete format and reinstalling the image as it was when I bought it and their crapware. The problem I am having is with thier image of the OS to begin with and they omitted that info when I was requesting those disks. I am cosidering a BartPE as well. I will be upgrading my mobo/CPU/Ram next year, so, I maybe doing this all over again.

Thank you so much for your help. I will finally learn and be able to complete the tasks that I have for DD, TI and OSS. I just think that since I am new at Acronis software, I should go the easier way if possible. Like maybe consider using a Bootable media DVD instead of booting the USB drive for the time being. Maybe when I get comfortable with the apps, I then can arrange things better.

Oh, I did purchase a CD from Acronis with my apps and it has my RegKeys printed on it. I just read, that I can use that as a boot up CD and do not have to create one. Is that true?


BarJabba

 

Unless you mean something else, a VHD is a virtual hard drive file used by Microsoft's Virtual PC program. If you're planning on running Windows 7 in a VM from XP and putting the VHD file on the USB drive, I don't know if it will work. There probably wouldn't be a problem with the file being on the USB drive (except for it being slower), but VPC 2007 may not work properly with Windows 7 (I haven't tried it). Also, if done this way, Windows 7 wouldn't be a boot entry in OSS. You'd have to boot into XP, start VPC and then start the Windows 7 VM.

GRUB (Grand Unified Bootloader) is the default boot manager used by Ubuntu.

As far as I know, either way should work.

I did some editing and added some more notes this morning. Hopefully, it will be more clear.

Were the other Windows versions it found entries in your boot.ini file? OSS uses this file to help determine what's installed.

Please don't start another thread for this. Keeping your problems with OSS in this one thread will make it easier to follow.

Have you tried reactivating OSS? I'd try this first.

When you set the default, did you tell it to boot directly and not show the menu? You should still see the "ESC and F6" message for a few seconds when you boot the computer if OSS is still activated.

As stated previously, it's good to have a working CD too.

If the CD (or CDs) has the latest builds of the programs and all of the programs are available when you boot the CD, then you should be okay using them. If the OSS programs are not on the DD CD, then you definately need to create a DD CD that includes them.

 

Thank you so much for conversing with me on this.

"Unless you mean something else, a VHD is a virtual hard drive file used by Microsoft's Virtual PC program. If you're planning on running Windows 7 in a VM from XP and putting the VHD file on the USB drive, I don't know if it will work. There probably wouldn't be a problem with the file being on the USB drive (except for it being slower), but VPC 2007 may not work properly with Windows 7 (I haven't tried it). Also, if done this way, Windows 7 wouldn't be a boot entry in OSS. You'd have to boot into XP, start VPC and then start the Windows 7 VM."

I have a few websites that explains what I am thinking of doing as far as a VHD. I kinda would rather the Win7 have it's own partition and run without a depleated RAM because of booting XP first. I guess it is looking like I am going to have to use VM Ware or follow the instructions on these sites.
See:

http://www.geekeleet.com/index.php/2009/02/03/dual-boot-your-pc-with-windows-7-on-a-vhd/

http://thelazyadmin.com/blogs/thelazyadmin/archive/2009/02/10/create-a-bootable-windows-7-vhd.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wubi_(installer)

https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=80EDE31D-3509-407B-A896-0BEEA8705589&displaylang=en

This is for installing Ubuntu on the USB HD. I can do the Win7RC thing while installing Ubuntu to the USB Drive.
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/category/install-to-usb-hard-drive/

I really don't care where things go as much as I want to be sure I can uninstall them when time comes. I just want to test them out on a single computer. There is no use to have them on different machines as I need to know how they work on my current hardware. I don't have the funding anyhow. I have more links on this if you want some more.

"Were the other Windows versions it found entries in your boot.ini file? OSS uses this file to help determine what's installed."

I really not so sure, I know I had 1) Windows Home 2). Windows Home (Tune up back up) and 3. The recovery console. I had a XP Pro listed, which I don't have yet. I had one other and the unknown. I have a D: partition which is a FAT32 and it is the HP/Compaq restore stuff. I am getting rid of this since having TI Home 2009. I'd like to get rid of anything I can get rid of that has to do with this big OEM. Not a happy camper of late.

I did have the XP Pro install disk in the CD drive, but, that couldn't be considered a full OS right? I am just not familar with OSS yet.

"Please don't start another thread for this. Keeping your problems with OSS in this one thread will make it easier to follow.

Have you tried reactivating OSS? I'd try this first.

"When you set the default, did you tell it to boot directly and not show the menu? You should still see the "ESC and F6" message for a few seconds when you boot the computer if OSS is still activated."

Ok, I won't start another thread. I have done nothing yet with OSS excpet install it. When I rebooted, after install, it showed that XP Home was all ready the default, that I do remember. I did not select anything at all, except the help files. Upon doing the cold boot due to the freeze, it did not show back up and it went directly to my normal OS. After editing this message I will take a look more at OSS. I need to know that it is going to behave (at least until I get more proficient at it). The Esc and F6 probably show, but things go by so fast my "eye/brain" connection doesn't notice it fast enough. Maybe there is a way to get this and any other options show a little longer? No worries, I'll catch up soon.

I did make a CD through the Media Creator. I have LightScribe and I came up with real neet label for it. I had LightScribe for the 3 years I have had this comuter and I am just beginning to use it. It looks really cool. I never could use paper labels. I kept fudging things up and using a marker was just plain ugly.

I have been successful in creating my first image to the USB drive. I now think I should have partitioned my USB HDD first. DD does this ok right? I can keep the image and back ups in its own partition and then give Ubuntu it's own as well. I'll have to decide how much and how to divide it up. Now that I know that I will have to give Win7 some room on my C: partition. I just can't afford to mess things up. There was a time, when on the job, that I had three machines at my disposal. I could just test and learn stuff by doing first then reading the manual next. I was much more of a risk taker then.

I am pretty sure that I have the latest builds. I know that they make thier CD's with the builds I bought and they print the regkeys on the label. The OSS was in the version of DD that I purchased, so, I assumed it would be on the CD. I had to look for the install of OSS, as it is a separate thing.

BarJabba

 

I have been reading everything that Acronis offers about OSS. I still do not get the menu at boot up like it initially did. I did find the "Activation" selection in "Tools". I find the info that is in the Knowledge base on line and the Help files I have, and I find it is really barely sufficient. Comming to the forums for such necessary pertinent info is good but some more KB and Help files are needed on this utility. I spent a greater majority of time learning on the forums.

Don't get me wrong, this forum is fantastic! I am so glad it is available. After reading everything available in those two resources, I am still unconfident to do too much with this utility. I have also notice the same typr of complaint in some of the other Acronis products from other forum members. Hats off to those who have spent thier time and effort in helping those of us who are not acquainted with Acronis appications.

I need to know how to see what each shortcut in the OS listing refers to. I would like to see what I would see in boot.ini. The disk/partition numbers and where on the drive the folder it boots with (e.g. "C:\cmdcons" for the recovery selection. I am trying to find out what OSS is really refering to, especially the recovery console selection, it is too vague. In the screenshot included, you will see the "XP Pro" that I do not actually have installed. Also, the "Unknown OS" reference, both of which could be the "Recovery Console".

The other two references I hid and then unhid them to show that these were installed upon first instance of OSS. They are obviously duplicates made by OSS on its own...why". I am conserned about any application doing these kinds of things w/o user asking for it. So, I look in the KB and help in the app and nothing shows as to what and why OSS is doing this.

Is OSS a stable utility? I bought the two (DD & TI) because of this utility and the Try&Decide functions in DD. I am happy with my purchase and I want to be proficient and want to avoid any "hard to fix mistakes" on my part.

BarJabba

 

Is the computer booting directly to Windows with no OSS message?

Have you tried reactivating OSS from the DD CD or only from Windows?

Acronis seems to be working on adding new information to their KB. Hopefully, it will continue to get better.

If you right-click on the OSS menu entry and select Properties, you can see the settings for that entry. In the Files section, you can see the associated files. This includes boot.ini for XP. If you select the file and click the Edit button, the file will open and you can view/edit the contents. Please note that if you need to make changes to a boot.ini file when using OSS, this is the correct method to use (changing the file in the partition doesn't usually work).

These may be referring to "extra" entries in the boot.ini file or OSS may have just mis-detected them (it happens).

OSS will sometimes redetect an OS. This seems to happen mostly with Linux, though it does sometimes happen with Windows. If the duplicate comes back after you delete it, it's usually best to just hide it. If OSS keeps redetecting an OS and adding it again and again, you're probably not going to like OSS for a boot manager.

This depends on the system. On some, it's fine. On others, it has problems. The main problems are the inflexibility of the program for manual configuration and the ability to turn off "auto-detection" features.

I also bought DD for OSS and ended up liking DD a lot more than OSS.

 

You're welcome.

Thank you for posting the links. It looks interesting. I may try it and see how it works. However, I seriously doubt that OSS will be able to boot directly into a system setup this way.

OSS will detect and keep track of OS/bootable CDs/DVDs. This may be what caused this. A Windows CD in the drive will show up in the OSS menu (if OSS works properly with your CD/DVD drive).

Yes, partitioning is DD's main function. It's not necessary to create multiple partitions on the USB drive just for image storage. If it will help with your management of files or for OS installations, then it may be needed.

You would need to resize (shrink) the existing partition and leave the amount of space you need for the Ubuntu "root" and "swap" partitions.

 

Just a little update:

I tested the Recovery Disk in TI. I selected all my programs (DD, TI, & OSS). I am happy to report success in boot up of the boot DVD. I am not as happy how I had to do it though.

I go into hibernate at a certian time (late at night ) and it boots up at my usual wake up time. It's gets me off the computer and make me get some sleep.

Anyway, I had both TI and DD up so when I come back to my computer I can get to what I was doing the night before. Well, it come out of hibernation just fine as usual, except that TI went right into into a process, without my say so. I had not set a schedule for incrementals yet and I found out it was making a full back up instead. Well, I couldn't even access anything because this takes all 100% of the CPU. Mouse and clicks took a very long time to react. I did finally stop the process and reboot.

I put the recovery disk in becuse I thought this would be an optimun time to see if it boots. I needed to verify the image anyway. I went to the boot selection screen and chose the CD Drive. I selected from the recovery boot screen and selected TI full and got into that program.

Later in this process, the progress bar seemed to stop moving and it was still in the "initializing..." process after one half hour. So, I went to cold boot(I really try to avoid this). I booted to normal Windows.

I am happy that I have a bootable DVD and the Acronis menu with all my sofware available for selection. The only complaint is that the resolution is too low and buttons and info is clipped or to far off the screen. to easily deal with.

I would like the initial CD recovery menu and the program I chose to be at least 800x600(I prefer 1024x768 ). I know that I can alter the resolution of OSS menu, but, I haven't seen that option in DD or TI booting through the recovery CD.

I am now going to deactivate OSS temporarily and partition my USB drive. As far as Windows 7 RC, I will try the VM ware stuff, because it should be the most safest route to take. I can just just uninstall it via VM ware. I probably won't like any degredation of system resources that this may create. After all, I am just preparing to migrate when it goes retail. I also will confirm my orginal CPU issue by booting the Ubuntu and/or Win7. I am looking for them both to not only see both of the cores and offer the correct drivers, but in the actual use of the 2nd core. XP Home sees both of them, but cannot use the second one. My mobo uses socket 939 and its top CPU is an AMD X2 4800+ and I have a 4400+. The BIOS is not the issue, it does recognize it just fine and all drivers and AMD CPU software is current and loaded. Just trying to get the OS to rebuild the HAL.

After this, I will instantiate "Try&Decide" when going to the upgrade of the OS. No one has said that this was not a good idea (to upgrading the OS), so, here I go!

 

What graphics card are you using? As far as I know, the default for DD is 800x600 and for TI 2009 it's 1024x768. Are you getting 640x480?

It shouldn't be necessary to deactivate OSS to do this.

Running Windows 7 in a VM will not let you know if it's going to work correctly when installed directly on the physical hardware. I would recommend installing Windows 7 normally and giving it a real test.

If you want to run Windows 7 to give it a test run to see if you like it, then it may be worth setting up a VM for Windows 7. If you like it, you can then proceed to install in directly on the computer.

I'm not understanding what you mean about using T&D when you upgrade the OS. Do you mean when you upgrade from XP to Windows 7? T&D won't work in that type of scenario. A better solution is to create a backup image of the drive before you upgrade. You can then restore the image if needed.

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It sounds like TI didn't run properly from the CD. Were you finally able to validate the image file?

 

XFX GeForce 9600 GSO 1 GB. I am at 1024x768 and have had no issues since putting it in. TI, in Windows, conforms to this resolution. When in the Recovery CD, TI is in a much lower resolution. It looks like 320x480(). I haven't been in anything but my current res., so, all I know is that when going through the CD it is too low. I do not know about DD, as I haven't been in the recovery version of that yet.

I read somewhere that this was a good protective option. I did not mean to say that it was necessary. I do not remember which thread that was. Would it hurt anything either way? I am unsure about T&D and may just invoke it for a few minutes, do some minor edit, and cancel changes to see if it as any issues.

Thing is, I am a little nervous about just installing it. I do not want to mess up my current system. I do not wish to do a wipe, and I do not have a exact duplicate machine to do it as a full install that takes over everything (MBR, ect,). If I can do it the way you suggest and eventually remove it, keeping my current OS intact, please let me know. I have heard that Windows 7 wnats to be the final boss of the MBR and partition. That is why on MS they are suggesting to have it on a different system than your work system. This would not work, as I wouldn't be testing on my current hardware and I don't have another system.

I have read problems with TI where the image was not restored because of whatever reason. This problem came at the wrong time and the person did have to do a complete wipe of the HDD and install the OS. I am not so familar with the software I bought, and I have to get a liitle trust going. So far, there are a few "quirks" and unexpected behaviors. Nothing damaging, but, it all goes to me wondering if I am getting myself in too deep.

When I tried to do a verification of the image under the recovery version of TI, it seemed to get stuck and wasn't ultimately verified. Maybe I should try it again? I will do a verification in the windows TI. If it is successfully verified, then I will know the image itself is actually good. If TI, under recovery, can't even verify the image, then what use is it? I need to be sure I can restore an image, at least. I'll keep trying, so I can be relatively secure in the Acronis software.

I think that is a right way. I only really need it to expose my CPU information and see if it utilizes both cores. If XP Pro Upgrade doesn;t fix the issue, I will look to Ubuntu and then Windows 7. I will be getting hardware upgrades next year, in time for Windows 7 reslease. I will have to stay stay with the CPU as it is until then, if I cannot resolve that issue.

I meant that I was going to use T&D to ungrade from XP Home to XP Pro. I am doing this to inact a HAL rebuild and to give me Pro. My original issue with my cores brought me to Acronis DD & TI. I also wated to get Ubuntu on board. So, here I am. I saw one other state that I would be better off not using T&D for it, or anything for that matter. This is disappointing, as I bought the software based on those functions.

I will have done this in windows after this message. In the recovery?Nop. I wouldn't know why or how it did not run properly. Maybe I should give it another try?

Hope you are having a nice time of it.

 

Quick, I need to get my original boot.ini at startup. I installed the OSS as you know and now I con't see the recovery console choice. I need to see the listing of each shortcut in OSS that shows which on is the recovery console.

Like this:
[boot loader]
;timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptOut /TUTag=0LFWTF /Kernel=TUKernel.exe /usepmtimer
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (TuneUp Backup)" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptOut /TUTag=0LFWTF-BAK /usepmtimer
;C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons

I uploaded all my OSS menu listing. Just in case that is something you need to see.

 

Most monitors will display the current resolution if you select the correct menu option (an Info screen, for example). This will help determine which resolution is being selected. There are ways to change this if TI supports the change on your card. Can your computer boot from a USB flashdrive? It's easier to make the changes with a flashdrive.

It shouldn't hurt anything. You may be getting mixed up with manually installing a new OS. In those cases, I do recommend deactivating OSS.

T&D is a feature that you'll just have to try and see if it works on your computer. You may not have any problems with it.

I don't blame you for feeling nervous about it, especially since you're currently unsure of how well TI is going to work.

All versions of Windows want to take over the MBR and the booting of other Windows installations. However, I think the main reason Microsoft recommends installing Windows 7 to a non-production system is because Windows 7 is not finalized yet. That being said, there are lots of people who are currently running it as a "main" OS.

Do the verify with TI in Windows. Then do it from the TI CD. If TI from the CD has problems, try the quiet acpi=off noapic option detailed in Section II of the PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU POST thread and see if it helps. Otherwise, you may need a custom build from Acronis Support to correctly support your computer's hardware. Alternatives are to create a BartPE or WinPE CD that contains TI.

That is an interesting idea. It may work. It really depends on what gets changed in the upgrade to Pro. I would recommend having a backup before you try this. Hopefully, TI will work well for you.

 

You can add the options to boot into either the Safe Mode or Recovery Console options. Details can be found in this thread (the main instructions are in Post #. If you have any questions about the procedure, post back.

 

Sorry for the long delay in response. I've been ill this last week.

I am taking what you instruct to see if it works. I would like to see OSS at boot up, as I still do not get it at boot up. It is activated and I did have the default OS selection to XP Home. I would like to always have OSS come up at boot. Is there a F-Key or something that I should be pressing at boot time?

Also, what would happen if I deleted all OSS's shortcuts? Would it start all over and put what it sees in the boot.ini back in? Do I have to select a default? I think that if I could deselect a default OS shortcut and leave OSS w/o a default, shouldn't it always appear at boot up for me to select?

BTW. Thank you so much for all your help on this forum. I am not the only one that totally appreciates it. I personally think you aught to get some consideration for the work you do here.

My Current System
http://valid.canardpc.com/cache/banner/592172.png

 

That's too bad. Hopefully, you're feeling better now.

Are you saying that the OSS boot menu is never displayed? That the default selected OS just boots?

When OSS boots, you should see the follow text prompt for a few seconds:

Note that if you want to press either ESC or F6, you'll need to press the key before this message appears or it seems to do nothing.

Next, you should see this:


Finally, the OSS program and menu should appear.

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The default OS is just the one that is highlighted (selected) in the OSS menu when OSS starts. It shouldn't automatically boot unless that option is selected. This setting can be changed from OSS. Select Tools >> Options >> Startup Options and then select the Disabled option.

This would kind of like uninstalling OSS and reinstalling it. The operating systems would be redetected on reboot. I wouldn't try this unless it's necessary.

Check the option shown above and see what it's set at. If you don't have OSS installed in Windows, try pressing ESC when the computer is booting and see if you can get into OSS that way.

Thank you for the kind words.