OSS does not recognize partions with XP.

I had a system with XP installed in it. As I have a lot of applications on it and have added a new disc in order to build a new clean environment.

Switching via BIOS I have installed a clean windows XP in the new driver (250 GB), in two partitions, C, BOOT, and D, DATA. C have SO and D have data. I have installed TI and DD on it, and it works properly. So I took a TI full backup.

I would like to have tree environments, BOOT, SAFE and TEST, in the new drive so

I created 2 new partitions, SAFE and TEST, both as primary.
Via TI, restore process, I copied partition C: into SAFE and TEST.
Rename them again to SAFE and TEST, because the restore process left both as BOOT,
Via DD, mark C: (BOOT) as active because DD left TEST (the last one created) as active.

After that I boot the system, under C: BOOT, without problem. At that point I have five partitions, the OLD in one driver and four more, BOOT, SAFE, TEST and DATA, on the second one. BOOT, SAFE and TEST have been created as primary.

Now I have installed OSS, but it does recognize none of the SO installed. I have tried it with OS wizard unsuccessfully, and I cannot mark either partition as bootable. I have to disabled OSS to proceeded. After that I have boot again from BOOT without problem.

Whay OSS did not recognize any SO? Any suggestions? What I have done wrong?

 

Since the XP's are installed on the 2nd hard drive, make sure it's first in the BIOS boot list. Also make sure it's listed first for the OSS OS properties in each OS.

When you copy XP partition (like you did), you need to edit the boot.ini file so that each one points to the correct partition. Right now, they are probably all pointing to the first XP partition.

Also, in OSS, for each XP menu option, you'll need to set that XP partition as active and all the others as hidden.

Can you paste a copy of your current XP boot.ini file (the one that does boot)?

Are you sure that XP is booting from the NEW drive?
Does it still boot okay if the OLD drive is disconnected?

 

Thank you, MudCrab, for your response.

>> Since the XP's are installed on the 2nd hard drive, make sure it's first in the BIOS boot list.

I have XP Pro SP2, and only it, installed in both drivers in the first partition in both, (and I can boot, via BIOS, from either of them). The partition SAFE and TEST was copied, via TI, from BOOT.

>> make sure it's first in the BIOS boot list.

The DVD was there first one. I have move the driver to the first place, and tried again to recognize the SOs. Same result. :-(

By the way, the motherboard is an ASUS P5GD2, and the drivers are SATA.


>> Also make sure it's listed first for the OSS OS properties in each OS.

How can I do this?

>> When you copy XP partition (like you did), you need to edit the boot.ini file so that each one points to the correct partition. Right now, they are probably all pointing to the first XP partition.

Sure you are right!!!

>> Also, in OSS, for each XP menu option, you'll need to set that XP partition as active and all the others as hidden.

Yes. This is what I would like to do, but I think I need, first, that OSS recognizes the XP.

>>Can you paste a copy of your current XP boot.ini file (the one that does boot)?[/B]

-----
[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 Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
-----

>> Are you sure that XP is booting from the NEW drive?

Sure. The content in not the same and the OLD has assigned the letter D: but I think we can fix this later hiding this partition if it is necessary


>> Does it still boot okay if the OLD drive is disconnected?

As I wrote in this moment I has not problem booting into OLD and BOOT via BIOS. The problem is that OSS does not recognize the OS. I have done one test more removing partitions SAFE and TEST and the OSS did not recognize the OS.

 

When you boot into either drive, does XP see the other XP drive?

In the BIOS for the drive order, it's okay to have the CD drive first. I just meant to have the correct hard drive first in the list of hard drives.

If you haven't tried installing OSS from the DD cd, you might try that and see if it works better.

Since you are on separate drives and you don't want to change the BIOS options every time you want to boot the other XP, you need to change the drive order in OSS for each XP entry so that the "booting" drive is first in the list. This option is located in the Properties->Disks section of the OS's options.


After OSS is installed, does it recognize both or only one of the XP's?

If only one, can you attach the "bootwiz.oss" file? This is located in the BOOTWIZ hidden folder on the drive you installed OSS on. You may have to enable viewing of hidden files to find it.

Did it show one XP and one "Unrecognized OS" entry or just one XP?

I asked if you were sure if each OS was booting from its own drive and you said yes because they have different content. That is not what I meant. What I wanted to know is if each drive boots correctly into XP when the other drive is disconnected. This eliminates the possiblity that the bootloader got installed on only one of the drives.

 

>> When you boot into either drive, does XP see the other XP drive?

Yes. They see the other partitions.

>> In the BIOS for the drive order, it's okay to have the CD drive first. I just meant to have the correct hard drive first in the list of hard drives.

This point is OK.

----

>> Since you are on separate drives and you don't want to change the BIOS options every time you want to boot the other XP, you need to change the drive order in OSS for each XP entry so that the "booting" drive is first in the list. This option is located in the Properties->Disks section of the OS's options.

I dont mind to change the BIOS, my final goal is to have three independent partitons, and move the most applications from OLD to BOOT2 / DATA partitons, and if it is possible, use OSS because I think with it I can shadow the OS partitions to the others. Until I have sucessfully moved the aplications I would not remove OLD drive.

>> After OSS is installed, does it recognize both or only one of the XP's?

None. This is the problem!!.

I have power off OLD, and rerun wizard with the same results. "Unrecognized OS" all partitons

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I asked if you were sure if each OS was booting from its own drive and you said yes because they have different content. That is not what I meant. What I wanted to know is if each drive boots correctly into XP when the other drive is disconnected. This eliminates the possiblity that the bootloader got installed on only one of the drives.

I dont if it is relevant, but I only installed OSS in the second drive because I dont like to "touch" OLD partiton because the possibility to lost data.

 

I don't think OSS will work well if you're still going to be changing the boot order in the BIOS to switch. If you're doing that, then don't use OSS.

There is no problem with OSS being installed on the 2nd drive. However, OSS will take over the MBR on the booting drive. This is why switching in the BIOS may cause problems.

Assuming you have your OLD drive first in the boot list and OSS is installed, do you get TWO "Unrecognized OS" menu entries?

These can probably be fixed. See this thread: Windows XP detected as "Unknown"
If you're not hiding the OS's from each other don't change those settings.

Since you are installing on a second hard drive you might also want to read through this thread as it deals with that problem: Need help with dual boot Vista & XP