OS Selector help needed

good morning MC , I started over from scratch with the logical experment . I followed the instructions to the t . I just need to get my bootwizz edited now to see iff oss can boot it . In this scenario the new logical vista is drive e: . Its e: here in vista 1 and its also E: at boot to the dd cd . I have already sent the bcdedit set device commands with e: inserted . Presently OS doesn't detect it at all . I think its all ready to try . Also yesterd I had one freak instance where I tried the vista on Hdd 2 and I got the error msg bootmgr missing . I sat thinking for a moment and then all of a sudden it booted it sucessfully . I then rebooted , tried the other ops and when I came back to try it again it never would worked . It had check the disk swapping box in properties again on its own . I haven't been able to figure it out but one thing I do know now is that its possible .

 

I just ran a test on this using a similar (but simpler) setup. Two drives: Vista 1 on Drive 1, Primary 1 partition; Vista 2 on Drive 1, Logical partition.

I used TI 11 (8,101) to image Vista 1 and restore it to the Logical partition. TI made the necessary BCD changes so I didn't need to do them manually.

I changed the Hidden Sectors value of the Logical partition so it was correct and cleared the MountedDevices values.

I then installed OSS to the Vista 1 partition and added the Vista 2 (Logical) entry manually (I set Vista 2's entry so that Vista 1 was Active and hidden). Vista 2 booted normally with no "winload.exe" error. However, Vista doesn't seem to assign drive letters properly when another Primary partition exists (on Drive 2). So it gave the Primary partition on Drive 2 C: and gave D: to the Logical Vista partition. This is similar to the assignments you got when you booted to the Vista DVD and checked.

I fixed the drive letters and it then booted normally. Disk Management shows everything is on the Logical partition.

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Can you answer the following for your computer's current state?

What is the Hidden Sectors value you set for the Logical partition?

Did you image and restore or did you copy with DD?

Did you check the BCD (bcdedit) output for the Logical partition before you ran the corrections? If not, don't worry about it. I'm just curious if they were already correctly fixed by TI.

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The C: drive letter assignment will have to be manually added to the MountedDevices key for the Logical Vista. This can be done from Vista 1.

1. Boot into Vista 1.
2. Start the Registry Editor.
3. Load the system hive from the Logical partition (instructions in Post #14).
4. Browse to the Vista2_Logical\MountedDevices key and look at it. Is it empty? It should only have (Default) if you cleared it per the instructions.
5. Right-click under (Default) (in the white space) and select New >> Binary Value from the pop-up menu.
6. Name the new key: \DosDevices\C:
7. It will most likely display "(zero-length binary value)" in the Data column.
8. Now, you need to find the correct value for the Logical's C: drive assignment. Browse to the Vista 1 MountedDevices key (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices) and look at the E: entry. This is the value you need to copy to the C: entry for the Logical Vista's MountedDevices.
9. Right-click on the \DosDevices\E: entry and select Modify... from the pop-up menu.
10. Right-click in the Value data: box and select Select All from the pop-up menu. This will highlight the data.
11. Right-click again and select Copy.
12. Now, browse back to the Vista2_Logical\MountedDevices key, right-click on the \DosDevices\C: entry you created, select Modify..., right-click into the Value data: box and select Paste from the pop-up menu. Click OK to save the changes. This will place the E: value from Vista 1 into the C: value key for Vista 2. When you boot Vista 2, it will already have the C: letter correctly assigned to the correct partition (the Logical) partition.

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Before I make changes to the BOOTWIZ.OSS file, what is on the J: partition? OSS has a Vista entry (the "Vista... (2) entry) booting to it. Is this another Vista installation or is it from before?

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Edited to correct step 12 to say \DosDevices\C: instead of \DosDevices\E:.

 

Sounds good . Sorry it took me so long to get back . Everything got messed up but I have it all simplified and ready . I'm including a pic of dd taken from xp1 . These drive assignments are exactly the same in vista . I'm also including the brand new bootwizz.oss so throw the other away . I'm including a pic of mounted devices edited . Presently in this config the new vista is drive F in windows and drive H when viewed from boot by either DD or TI .

I think you might have made a typo in your last post ?

( Name the new key: \DosDevices\C:

It will most likely display "(zero-length binary value)" in the Data column.
Now, you need to find the correct value for the Logical's C: drive assignment. Browse to the Vista 1 MountedDevices key (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices) and look at the E: entry. This is the value you need to copy to the C: entry for the Logical Vista's MountedDevices.
Right-click on the \DosDevices\E ?? I just assumed you did and did C:

That J partition you referred to was the old vista 2nd drive experenment . Its gone now .

The hidden devices value for this vista 2 partition is 257248908

I created this partition , booted from my ti cd and then restored the saved image to this logical partition . I think its all properly prepared and ready . I'm crossing my fingers a new bootwizz will kick it off . The other 3 op sys are working flawless but nothing is hidden from anything ATM . Let me know if yo need any other info . thanks much .

 

Unless I'm misunderstanding you, it's not a typo.

When booted into Vista 1, you need to copy the data value from the drive letter assigned to the Vista 2 (Logical) partition to the C: drive entry in the Vista 2 registry.

In Post #26, E: was the Vista 2 partition when booted into Vista 1. In your XP screenshot in Post #28, F: is the drive letter assigned to Vista 2.

Whatever the data value is from the booted Windows for the the letter assigned to the Vista 2 partition is the data value you need for the Vista 2 registry's C: entry.

Is that more clear or more confusing?

If you boot into Vista 1 and post a screenshot of the current Disk Management and also of Vista 1's MountDevices entries, I can tell you which one needs to be copied into the mounted Vista 2 system hive's C: value.

 

its drive f and thats what pasted for the c entry I created .in the managment picture it looks like vista 2 new is an I but its really F . The dm screen cuts off the edge of the F . thanks I think I meant to say I thought this was a typo "

Now, browse back to the Vista2_Logical\MountedDevices key, right-click on the \DosDevices\E: entry you created, select Modify..., right-click into the Value data: box and select Paste from the pop-up menu. Click OK to save the changes. This will place the E: value from Vista 1 into the C: value key for Vista 2. When you boot Vista 2, it will already have the C: letter correctly assigned to the correct partition (the Logical) partition. I didn't create an E or F entry , just a C: entry , correct ?

 

It was a typo. I was thinking it was the first "E:" reference. The one in step 12 was supposed to be C:. I've edited the post.

You have the correct value in Vista 2.

I have to make a call right now, so it may be a few minutes before I get the updated file posted.

 

np , send when ready , thanks

 

Try this file. I set it to hide both XP partitions and the Vista 1 partition and to have the first XP partition as the Active partition (instead of the Vista 1 partition).

I'm not sure if it would be better to disconnect Disk #2 on the first boot-up attempt or not. If it fails with it connected, you might try it with it disconnected.

Otherwise, if you get a boot error, post back with it, but don't make any changes.

 

ok I tried it both ways but got the winload error . everything is still the same . haven't changed anything . thanks

 

Vista 2 Logical is SP1 or SP2? I think you said it was SP1.

Try it with no hidden partitions and Vista 1 as the Active partition (use the attached file "c").

If that doesn't work, try the "d" file.

I've got another test I want to try.

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The only other thing that's really different from my test was that I didn't need to do the BCD file edits. I don't think TI 11 is doing anything else, but maybe it would make a difference.

You might try restoring the Vista 2 image back to the Logical partition and skipping doing the bcdedit changes. You will need to do all the other changes (Hidden Sectors, MountedDevices, etc.). I would also copy the BOOTWIZ folder from the Vista 2 partition before you do the restore and then place it back after the restore so that OSS won't change the partition's ID value.