Problems installing multiple OS's

Howdy!

I tried following the directions in the DDS User's Guide, but the process outlined there does not seem to work if you are not using a floppy drive.
I created the Boot from Floppy link, set in the properties which partition should be active, set the protections on my existing install, and selected the the Boot from Floppy option to start the install. My computer proceeds to reboot, my computer gives me a chance to boot from the CD, but I passed so that the OS Selector would have a chance to work its magic. However, OS Selector just keeps complaining that it can't find my floppy drive.( This computer doesn't have a floppy drive installed, just for the record. )

So, I figure that I should try again, but this time boot from the CD instead of letting it proceed to the OS Selector menu. This leaves me with a nice clean WinXP install along with my existing XP install. However, when I reactivate OS Selector it butchered one of the boot.ini files and left that partition in a weird state where if I select the original XP install, it takes me to the XP boot loader which has a valid entry and an invalid entry that I can't remove.

I know there is a duplicate OS option, but I need a clean install of XP, so that isn't an option. My goal is to have 4 different Windows OSs on my drive, but as it stands now I can't get two on. What am I doing wrong?

Cheers,
Matt

 

Hello Matt,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Multy Boot Managing Software.

You do not need to have floppy drive physically in your computer to be able to install several operating systems using Acronis OS Selector. Please read my answer in another thread about how to do what you want.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

Do I have to go through the step of having the boot from floppy fail, and then enabling boot from CD? Currently my box is cofigured to always boot from CD first if possible. Also will it be the Acronis Boot Manager that complains about the lack of floppy? In that post you mention that the machine should reboot at that point, but in my experience it just sits at the OS selection menu when the boot from floppy fails.

Cheers,
Matt

 

Hello Matt,

Yes, you need to wait till the computer fails to boot from floppy. After that you may restart the computer and go on according to the procedure described. This step is needed to configure partition paths for new operating system. Actually you may do it manually but this needs a lot of knowledge and is rather tricky process because any little mistake may result in boot problems. It is much easier to follow the instructions I described even though you need to see the error message.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

Alackaday! New Dells don't allow booting off the floppy; it's not in the BIOS as an option on this box. Is there any other way to get this to work, or am I SOL?

Cheers,
Matt

 

I have had the same problem. Interested in a solution.

 

Hello Matt and Titmouse711,

It doesn't matter whether you have a floppy drive in your system or not. You just need to create this option and boot from it using Acronis OS Selector. This will arrange the configuration for your future operating system.

Thank you.
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Ilya Toytman

 

Sorry, if I'm being dense Ilya, but it is still unclear which part of the system complains about the lack of floppy. Let me describe what I think you are describing in the message you linked to above.

1) Configure my BIOS to boot from floppy first.
2) Set up the boot from floppy in Acronis OS Selector as per users manual.
3) Select the newly created "Boot from floppy" option and reboot my computer.
4) At this point my computer should fail to boot from floppy, and should restart itself. It should not make it to the Acronis OS Selector.
5) When the computer restarts, go into the BIOS and configure my BIOS to boot from CD first.
6) At this point, I can continue with the install as normal.

This all makes sense, but it doesn't work that with my box. With my computer I see:

1) My BIOS can only be configured to boot from CD or the C: drive.
I configured my computer to boot from CD first.
2) Set up the boot from floppy in Acronis OS Selector as per users manual.
3) Select the newly created "Boot from floppy" option and reboot my computer.
4) At this point, I get a chance to boot off the WinXP install disk if it is in.
5) Acronis OS Selector starts up and complains about the lack of a floppy drive.

I don't get an auto reboot at any phase. If at step 4 above I try installing WinXP, it does not install properly on to the partition I marked as active earlier. You said before:

Yes, you need to wait till the computer fails to boot from floppy.

However with these crappy Dells I don't think that is a possibility. Are my steps above flawed?

Many thanks,
Matt

 

Hello Matt,

You need to set up your BIOS to boot from the disk where Acronis OS Selector is installed. After you configure the "boot from floppy" option in Acronis OS Selector (not in BIOS) please reboot your computer and wait till you see the the menu of Acronis OS Selector. In this menu please click on the "boot from floppy" option you created. You will get an error message that there is no floppy found. After that please close Acronis OS Selector clicking on the upper right cross (as in usual applications) and the computer will reboot. After that please enter BIOS and set CD drive as the first boot device, insert the installation CD and boot with this CD.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

Thanks Ilya. That worked like a charm! That little summary would be darn handy in the user's guide.

Cheers,
Matt