OSS choosing same xp installation

I am trying to create a dual xp boot installation on one hd. I need one for office 2003 and one for office 2007. OSS recognizes two different xp installations, but boots into the same one regardless of which option I choose at start up. Please help.

Thanks

 

What method did you use when you installed the second XP?

Is each XP supposed to be booting from its own Primary partition or are they both booting from the first XP partition?

Can you attach a copy of the BOOTWIZ.OSS file (instructions can be found here)?

 

--What method did you use when you installed the second XP?
I did a copy partition with disk editor.
--Is each XP supposed to be booting from its own Primary partition or are they both booting from the first XP partition?
They should be booting from their own primary.
--Can you attach a copy of the BOOTWIZ.OSS file (instructions can be found here)?
Attached.

Also, I once had 3 working xp partitions but tried to delete one to give myself more free space and ran into trouble.

Thanks

 

The problem is because you copied the partition and then didn't make the necessary changes to the boot.ini file and the MountedDevices registry entry.

Both OSS entries are setup correctly for how it saw the system. However, both are booting partition(1) (as specified in the boot.ini file) and the MountedDevices C: assignment for the "copy" is still pointing to partition 1.

These problems can be fixed with some editing.

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Fixing the boot.ini file for XP 2:

1. Boot to OSS or start OSS in XP 1.
2. Right-click on the XP 2 menu entry (your Office07) and select Properties from the pop-up menu.
3. Select the Files section.
4. Select the boot.ini file.
5. Click the Edit button.
6. Change the partition(1) reference to partition(2). There are two places that need changed.
7. Click OK to save the changes.
8. This should work. However, you can also edit the boot.ini file on the XP 2 (Office07) partition in addition to the above changes so that they both match.

Fixing the MountedDevices registry entry:

1. Boot into XP 1 (Office03) and open the Registry Editor.
2. Load the XP 2 (Office07) system registry hive and clear the MountedDevices entries (similar instructions can be found here).
3. Unload the XP 2 hive and close the Registry Edit.

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XP 2 (Office07) should now reassign C: to its partition when it's booted and should boot from the correct partition.

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It's recommended to have a backup image of the drive before making changes. Hopefully, you do.

 

Hi Thanks for your advice, I am still having problems. I noticed that in the properties for my XP 2 (Office 07) all the folders reference D:\. I tried to remove these but get a message that this can not be done. Also, I seem to have corrupted my XP 1, but I have seen your other responses on correcting the "missing hal.dll file".

Any advice on the folders referencing d:\ would be greatly appreciated.

 

It would probably help if you posted a screenshot of what DD shows (in Manual Mode) for your drives. In addition, screenshots of what XP 1 and XP 2 show in Disk Management.

What did you do to XP 1? The changes I recommended shouldn't have affected XP 1.

Are you planning on having the two XP installations be able to see each other's partition? This is the way you currently have it setup. It's not one I recommend. I prefer hiding the partitions for the non-booted Windows.

 

I have an image of the xp installation I would like to duplicate, then install Office 2007 on one of the partitions and have a multiboot. You mentioned earlier that I may not have properly copied the partition.

What is the easiest way for me to complete what I am trying to do?

I can easily reinstall the image, copy and then dual boot, but I'm not sure what I did wrong.

Thanks

 

Is the image a TI image? If so, what version and build are you using.

Is XP 1 (the original) working correctly now?

Is OSS still installed and activated?

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You might read through these threads for general instructions on similar procedures:
Second Partition Active (manual instructions for installing in Post #2)
How to duplicate my system for dual boot ? (instructions for doing a DD copy in Post #

Instructions more specific to your setup can be provided.

The screenshots requested in Post #6 would also help.

 

Thanks again, I decided to start over and carefully followed all the steps in yoru posts. I now have everything working. Your posts are very helpful, I wish they were included in the user manual.

Thank you!